When people are online they read very differently to when they are physically reading a book or a magazine. Online users very rarely read content posted online word for word, instead opting not to read a piece of content completely until they have established it is of use to them. In order to do this internet users scan web pages picking out certain words or sentences, and if they are looking specifically for a certain keyword they may use the shortcut ‘Ctrl + F’ to search for it. This results in large sections of text on a webpage simply not being read at all.
This laziness of internet users when it comes to reading on the web is extremely bad for businesses whose main source of revenue comes from the internet. The reason for this is that web users will decide whether or not they like a companies website in less than a second and a large amount of words on a companies homepage can be a real put off. Internet readers do not want to sit and read through large amounts of words just to figure out what a website or company is about. Take for example online shopping, when individuals are shopping online the last thing they want is to have to read 10 pages of market talk. Instead they just want a short list of features, set out in a short and easy to read way such as bullet points explaining everything they need to know and no more.
However, although reading patterns are different on the internet it doesn’t mean that you have to remove large parts of your content from your site and bullet point everything and here is why…
As mentioned earlier when reading online people tend to scan a piece of content before deciding to read. This does not mean that people do not read large pieces of text, in fact it means the opposite! When people come across keywords or phrases that they are looking for they will then decide to read through the piece of work that they find it in. As you have probably worked out internet users are pretty lazy to say the least, but you can help them out even more by saving them the effort of having to scan through your content and deciding whether it is of use to them..
“How can I do this?” you say.
The answer is simple by using a perfectly designed explainer video on your website.
The benefits of doing this are great and there are a couple of reasons to why this is.
- The first reason is that it allows the internet viewer to simply click play and find immediately what your product or service is about, saving them the hassle of having to read a single word.
- Another reason explainer videos are beneficial is that when using text you cannot convey a tone as easily as you can with a video. This may mean that when people read your content they may not fully understand how you are trying to put a point across which may leave them confused. Using a video can take care of this problem and ensure that your company or business will come across just how you want it.
- Last but not least using a video will allow you to give the viewer a lot more information in a shorter space of time. You may have head someone say ‘an image is worth a thousand words’ and you know that web users are lazy, so using a video with some really strong images can really help you get important points across.
By using a short explainer video on your website you can capture peoples attention, making them eager to read through your content and find out some extra information about what your really about. The use of video on the internet is becoming increasingly popular on the internet so there is no time like now for you to jump on the bandwagon.
How video ads can boost your business by Leoni Dizon. Leoni is an advertisement specialist working for Flikli Animated Productions and now writes about how to create attractive business explainer videos, educational and instructional videos, and screencasts that brings concepts to life in a simple way.