As experienced web developers, we know that the heart of a great website is found in the user experience– the satisfaction that your visitors receive when navigating through the pages on your website. One of the major parts of fulfilling a holistic user experience is the readability of the content on each webpage. It is crucial that the language and visual appearance of the content is easily digestible. If a user cannot comprehend what your organization is trying to communicate, it is not as effective, which can decrease traffic and in the end, lead to a loss in revenue. If you are unsure if your website’s content is readable or not, here are three easy tips to use:
1. If you have to look the word up, don’t use it.
According to a recent study, the average adult can comfortably and preferably enjoys reading at a 7th grade level. Anything above this causes a decrease in comprehension, making the user highly dismissive of the content on the pages. Our general rule of thumb is if you have to look a word up, or you find you are using a fanciful term or acronym to simply demonstrate your expertise, DON’T USE IT! Remember that your website is supposed to be friendly, not daunting. Make your visitors want to do business with you through the way you present your content.
2. Choose your font and font sizes carefully.
Not only does the wording of your content have to be easily digestible, but so does its visual appeal. Just like Goldilocks, the font size can’t be too small or too large– it has to be just right. Also, try to avoid those extravagant “serif” fonts. Serif fonts consist of small lines that extend at the bottom of each letter, making it look fancy, but also creating much difficulty for visitors to identify each letter. To be on the safe side, use the simple “sans serif” fonts. Without the extended lines, these letters are much more recognizable to the naked eye, which also saves time for visitors who are trying to quickly navigate information on your site.
3. Know your audience.
Depending on what type of audience you want to attract may allow you to push certain boundaries and use words that only your niche market would understand. For example, businesses in the financial field such as investment banking or venture capital firms will use financial jargon because it is part of their organization. However, if your main focus is to simply generate some sort of activity online, you want to ensure that the audience you are trying to attract can easily read the information in order to navigate the site more efficiently. It is crucial that you know the audience your company is trying to reach and the objectives you want to accomplish before crafting the content for your website.
A website is only effective if the visitors to the site can quickly and easily get the gist of your organization in a few seconds. If you think the content on your website might be full of jargon and confusing terms, it may be time to take these tips and use them to make small adjustments to your site.