Website visitors are generally predictable.
As a business owner, this gives you a huge advantage. How come? It's purely psychological!
Understanding the psychology, habits, and patterns of your visitors allows you to tailor your content accordingly.
The following 15 visitor habits will help you be more effective in writing content.
1. Most People Read on Their Mobile Devices
The first thing you should understand about website users is that they are addicted to mobile. Most likely, they are viewing your content on a mobile device.
To find out how many readers are accessing your website on mobile devices, check Google Analytics.
How do you deal with mobile users?
- First, you get to know them.
- Mobile readers scan content more often than they read it word for word
- Mobile readers prefer accordion-style content
- If your above-the-fold content is interesting, they are more likely to convert or read further
Keep mobile users in mind when designing your website or writing content.
2. Rather Than Reading Every Word, Users Scan Information
The average visitor rarely reads all of the content on the site. As they move through fixed points, they scan them instead.
Subheadings, bulleted points, and short paragraphs of no more than three sentences are helpful.
3. Impatience Is a Common Trait Among Most People
Apparently, people are paying less attention now.
If your navigation isn't intuitive and you don't meet visitors' expectations, they're likely to bounce.
Provide easy-to-digest content. Make your opening paragraph strong and direct.
4. There Is a Lot of Interest in White Space
Breaking down and presenting complex information in a hierarchical structure offers a better understanding. Cognitive load, or mental load, is reduced as a result.
By leaving plenty of white space between blocks of text, you can create a hierarchy that makes sense to the viewer. In addition, this makes reading much easier in readers' eyes.
5. Bulleted Lists Catch People’s Attention
Personally, I find lists easier to digest when bulleted rather than separated by commas within a paragraph.
It's better to organize long lists of information into bullet points when there are four or more factors to consider.
6. UPPERCASE WORDS ARE ATTENTION GRABBERS
Does this sub-heading stand out to you more than the others?
Caps can be useful for generating interest when they are used correctly.
7. Minds Are Attracted to the Organization
There are many messy, chaotic things in life, but your website shouldn't be one of them.
Your website copy shouldn't either.
Visitors tend to respond better to a neat, tidy presentation of content. It makes them feel in control while browsing, and it doesn't overburden their brains.
Organizing content consists of two things:
- Conceptual organization. Analytical thinking, logical flow, and linear reasoning.
- An organized layout: Clearly formatted text, including short paragraphs, numbers, clean breaks, obvious headings, and bulleted lists. Use text blocks carefully, making sure they are well-placed, neatly formatted, and appropriately colored.
Avoid writing too much text!!!
8. Readers Value Consistency
Keeping visitors interested and excited about exploring further requires a consistent conceptual framework.
I like writing long-form content, including a lot of visuals, and using short, concise paragraphs as well.
Keep using whatever works for you, whatever your style may be. Consider fine-tuning until it works, and then follow through with it.
9. A Video Catches the Attention of the Eyes
There's no doubt that video thumbnails draw people's attention.
What does this have to do with content writing?
By strategically embedding videos into your content, you can instantly get more views and clicks.
10. Colors Influence People
When it comes to visual communication, color is one of the most important elements. Using it correctly can be one of the most powerful tools for communication.
Understand the psychology of your audience, according to your color scheme, and the emotions you'd like to convey.
Contrasting colors are advantageous when you want to emphasize something such as a call to action.
Also, to create a more intuitive structure, you can showcase sub-headers in different colors.
11. The Goal Is to Make Visitors Feel Like They’re in Control of Their Visit
Using popups to force visitors to notice something is very common.
Popups are extremely powerful and can even drive subscribers, but they should still be used with caution.
Visitors want to feel they are in control when they browse a website.
When a popup appears while they are scrolling through your content, it's beyond their control. The lack of an "X" to exit is particularly problematic.
12. Nobody Wants to Overthink
You might want to think twice before including content that leaves users mentally exhausted.
It is important to create a content architecture that is intuitive, simple, and understandable.
13. The Top of the Page Isn’t Everything
For a long time, most people believed that website visitors only looked at content above the fold. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule.
Here's the deal. Everyone looks at the top of the page first. Then, when they find something interesting, they'll scroll down.
The fold of a page depends on the device size and how much interaction is needed.
The majority of UX leaders consider CTAs below the fold to be a bad idea.
However, others have found that CTAs above the fold get more clicks.
Obviously, it depends on the situation. For example, put your call to action below the fold to encourage people to read and then click on a high-value or complex offer. On the other hand, in the case of one-and-done CTAs, above-the-fold CTAs are the best option.
Often, less content above the fold makes users curious about what's below, so they scroll or swipe.
The point is that long-form content gets attention, so you don't have to worry about keeping your important content above the fold.
Quality is all that matters.
14. A Person Is More Likely to Respond to Objective Language
Being overly promotional and sounding like an automobile salesman can be fatal.
For readers to relate to your content, you must use neutral language rather than exaggerated or subjective.
As a result, you should never bombard website visitors with irritating promotional content.
15. Follow Logical, Sequential Content, and Readers Will Love It
I know I mentioned this above, but the point bears repeating.
Jumping around sporadically from one topic to another leaves visitors in a state of confusion.
If you want to get their attention and keep it, make sure your blog posts, articles, white papers, etc., follow a logical order.
So, make sure you get all your points across in a systematic way.
Wrap it up
The better you understand website visitors' behavior, the lower bounce rates, the higher engagement, and the higher conversion rates. Also, our efficiency will be significantly increased if you are aware of your audience's habits and adapt your efforts accordingly.
Keep your readers on your site by understanding what motivates them and inspires them. By meeting people's needs, you will keep them on your website longer. In addition, they will help drive awareness about your company, which is key to your long-term success.
