Blog | Aug 15, 2012 | 4 Comments

[You Have 2 Seconds to Get Attention]

Everybody has something better to do than read your website content. As a communicator, how can you possibly compete with the distractions?

We used to worry about just being interesting. Now we need to be irresistible.

If everyone is distracted, your web content needs a fast hook to interest readers, and easy ways to digest to the rest of your messages. Think about adding these elements to your communications bag of tricks:

Grabber headlines
The ability to say more while writing less (tighter-than-tight sentence structure)
Text blocks that are easy to scan and read in spurts
Arresting photographs
Interesting infographics
Excellent humor
Provocative ideas

Also, assume that a lot more people might read your message on a social networking site than on your website.

In 2012, being online means being social. No matter what else people are doing on the web, chances are that they also have at least one, if not several, social networks open at the same time. You should plan to reshape your web content for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube—any social site that makes sense. You’ll definitely increase your chances of being heard and understood.

I’m done now. You can go back to whatever you were doing before I interrupted you.

P.S. I don’t know where that two-second rule came from, but it’s become gospel in internet marketing and web design. Here’s a good article about how to put together a web page that grabs attention.

Image credit: wwarby on flickr

Author: Claire Wagner

I'm a seasoned freelance writer/editor and an enthusiastic community manager. I'm passionate about developing and sharing good content.

4 Comments

Good guidelines, Claire – thanks!

[Reply]

Anne Janzer

8/15/2012

Anne, I don’t think you need these – you are a pro!

[Reply]

Claire Wagner

8/15/2012

Because I write so many tutorials, that 2 second rule doesn’t count for much on my site. Folks tend to spend an average of 6-8 minutes on most of my posts. So, I do have to wonder what type of sites were included in any study that could come up with a 2 second time limit.

[Reply]

MaAnna

8/20/2012

Yes, MaAnna, you are all about education about sometimes complex technologies; people recognize that it takes time to learn from you. But those of us that write more about trends and commentary are going to have to work harder to demonstrate our value – and that’s only fair, I think.

[Reply]

Claire Wagner

8/20/2012