![]() ![]() To keep readers from having to scroll to see your paragraph, pass Jon Ziomek’s 1-2-3-4-5 Test. These days, more than half of your audience members read your emails, your webpages and your content on their phones, not their laptops. Pass the 1-2-3-4-5 Test for mobile.īut online reading has gotten harder in the last few years with the growth of mobile screen reading. So keep online paragraphs to that: just two sentences. They also tend to read the first two sentences in a paragraph, according to research by the Nielsen Norman Group. That is, they tend to read the first two words in a headline, the first two paragraphs on a page and the first two words in a sentence. Remember the rule of twos.Īnother reason for super-short online paragraphs: Web visitors lean to the left. And online paragraphs should be really short. Long paragraphs: up to 18 sentences long.Medium paragraphs: 3 to 6 sentences long.Short paragraphs: 1 or 2 sentences long.What’s surprising about this study is how the Poynter Institute - the think tank of how we write in print and online - defines an short online paragraph: We’ve learned, again and again over time, that long paragraphs reduce reading. That isn’t surprising to anyone who’s researched paragraph length for more than a minute. Short paragraphs get more than twice the attention online, according to The Poynter Institute’s Eyetrack III study. We formatted it this way on purpose so you’d skip it.”īut how short? Use one to two sentences online. So if your paragraph is too long, then you might as well stamp on it in red ink: “Don’t bother reading this paragraph. That’s right: Readers skip long paragraphs.Īs Jon Ziomek, associate professor at the Medill School of Journalism, says: “Long paragraphs are a visual predictor that a story won’t work.” ![]() And because they look hard to read, people don’t read them. The problem with long paragraphs is that they look hard to read. You’ll leave with quantifiable targets, tips and techniques for getting web visitors to read your content. Want more tips for reaching readers on mobile devices? Join PRSA and Ann Wylie at Reach Readers Online, a web-writing workshop with live coaching calls, beginning Nov. ![]()
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