Want to write powerful copy for your website? Learn about Jakob Nielsen's studies. The usability guru once categorized the typical way someone reads hypertext as an F.
He found that most of us read text from left to right
==========>===================>==========>
then return ||
<====================<=================<==
then read down the left side
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then go to the right and back again
==============>=========>
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| |==<=========<=======<==
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\/
and then down the left some more, forming a visual "F"
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\/
He also found that people, unsurprisingly, do not intensively read text (although they do scrutinize small text.) They scan the words.
How is this useful? Well, if you
1. emphasize the first two sentences of your text
2. use clear and powerful language at the beginning of sentences, the beginnings and ends of paragraphs. and
3. use bullets, subheads, and small graphics to highlight your main points
you will increase the likelihood your reader will get the idaes you want to convey.
Interesting expansion on the related usability concepts of eye tracking and heat maps here. I cannot vouch for the company's work, but their video example is very useful to better understand these concepts.
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