Why write for the eyes?

If you look at magazines and even books today you’ll notice they have shorter paragraphs and fewer chapters. Some writing experts claim that this is due to the internet boom, where writers discovered that content was frequently read if it was visually digestive.

And this is true, but it’s not just web media that affects the way we read. Though if you write for the web you may want to change the way you write. Here’s why:

Our readers are television viewers first, skimmers second, and readers third. Telling a story or reporting an event is no longer just about captivating the imagination you have to draw the readers in visually.

You have to tell your story within a package as opposed to starting on page one and ending on page one hundred. Your piece needs more entry points, more exist points and more places for the reader to catch his breath than before.

Your job is not just to get your reader to read, but to help your reader read.

Think about it. Your reader has the challenging task of taking in hundreds of little marks that up make your document. They need as much help as you can offer to get them from one paragraph to another.

Writers now write for the eye as well as the brain.

You have to grab the eye first with the visual. If you can turn them into skimmers and then readers, they will sit down and read your lengthy article. But you have to get them excited to get them into that lengthy article to start.

You can achieve this first and foremost by breaking up your paragraphs. If your reader is overwhelmed by the layout of your piece you can almost be certain they won’t want to read it.

Take a look at the following paragraphs taken from an article I wrote

“Many people don’t take internet marketing seriously because they don’t regard work from home agents as professionals but rather dilettantes. And you can’t blame them. Starting a home business has never been easier. Anyone with sometime and a computer can start a business. It doesn’t even take hours out of your day. If you can spare a couple hours here and there then you can become an internet marketer. And there are plenty of net marketers who build successful businesses a few hours at a time.
However, those people are few because majority of net marketers see their business close within two years. The one’s that don’t are dedicated to making it work. They try, fail and try again. They spend less time looking for magic millionaire formulas and more time applying their creative intelligence and learned marketing techniques.”

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“Many people don’t take internet marketing seriously because they don’t regard work from home agents as professionals but rather dilettantes. And you can’t blame them. Starting a home business has never been easier. Anyone with sometime and a computer can start a business.

It doesn’t even take hours out of your day. If you can spare a couple hours here and there then you can become an internet marketer. And there are plenty of net marketers who build successful businesses a few hours at a time.

However, those people are few because majority of net marketers see their business close within two years. The one’s that don’t are dedicated to making it work. They try, fail and try again. They spend less time looking for magic millionaire formulas and more time applying their creative intelligence and learned marketing techniques.”
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I haven’t changed anything about the article except for the layout and the second example is much easier to take in. Some would say that I could have broken up those paragraphs even more.

Make sure your paragraphs are no more than four sentences. And leave enough white space for the eye. Also cut out confusing, wordy sentences. If you can make your statement with five words don’t use ten.

The fact is, your reader does not mind if your piece is long it just can’t look that way.