Companies produce web articles for audiences on a regular base. Whether it's a blog post, press release, news item, or product information, articles are written and made public to the World Wide Web multiple times a day. Customers, clients, investors, and others seek out these articles for various reasons. However, have you ever wondered how many actually read the whole article? There are tools that give some insight into this. For example, on Google Analytics you can search for a certain page on your website and see the average amount of time spent on that page by viewers. Depending on the time length, it is easy to infer whether viewers are reading or scanning the article, or simply exiting right away from the article page. Usually, articles are written for a purpose-they hold valuable content. However, if within the first few sentences, viewers don't find that value or don't think it is what they're looking for, they will leave the page. How an article is formatted and how the information is presented makes a big difference in terms of how long an article is viewed for. The longer the average time, the more likely the article is being read in its entirety. Once a user has found an article through a search engine search, there are many things that factor into whether they will actually read all or part of it. There are certain ways that articles should be formatted to ensure good readership. 1. "How to" articles tend to have high readership. It is clear to readers from the beginning that they will be learning about something that is relevant to their search. 2. Utilize lists. Lists are useful in most types of writings. They stand out amongst paragraphs of copy, and they allow readers to more easily process the information they read. When writing about complicated topics (in particular), lists can help readers follow the information in an organized, ordered manner. 3. Connect the article to current events when possible. This can't be done for all articles, of course, but when it's appropriate, this is a good way to pique readers' interest and also show the relevancy of the content. 4. Story writing is a creative, unique way to reach audiences in an article. When done successfully, this technique will help build interest in an article and also help retain readers. Readers will forget they are reading an article, and will still get the necessary, important information-just relayed in a different way. Start implementing these different article-writing techniques and check your analytics program to see if the average time users spend on your article pages increases. Another way to gauge how much attention viewers are giving your articles is to check how many comments your articles get. Have fun writing! Have any questions about this article or want to learn more? Contact the author directly at www.liquidprint.com/contact_us! Authors: Rosanna Schatzki and Bailey Hewitt
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web content, content marketing, web articles, copywriting, writing for the web,
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