It happens all the time.
We recently searched for great Twitter accounts to follow. One headline read something like “Top 50 Twitter Influencers in Your Niche.” Bingo!
But there was a problem…
The presentation was cumbersome. First, the Twitter accounts were in an unordered list, and there were no subheads to delineate which account went with which niche. That meant we needed to read the entire list to pick out the accounts we wanted to follow.
An even greater sin: none of the Twitter accounts were linked! That meant we needed to copy and paste, independently search or manually type information to view those Twitter accounts.
This list is not categorized, and the Twitter pages are not linked. This makes it difficult for the reader to get to the resource they want, and they’re likely to leave your site underwhelmed
We left the page, which made such a poor impression on us we can’t even recall which site it was on. This is not how you want your readers to view your site.
The takeaway? Stop making your readers do the work.
Instead, identify ways to not only make your content easy to digest, but also to make it easy for them to take whatever action they’d like – even if that means leaving your site. Your goal is to be an authority in your field, a useful and trusted resource your audience can rely on.
Look, we get it: it’s not ideal to send your audience elsewhere… but would you rather they go somewhere else because they appreciate your advice, or because they can’t understand it?
In the case of the post in question, the solution would have been easy:
- Create a subhead for each niche
- List associated Twitter accounts under each subhead
- Link to those Twitter accounts
This list is categorized, and each Twitter account is linked, so the reader can quickly find the resource they want and view it. They might leave your site, but they’re more likely to regard you as a useful resource – and come back later
It’s really super simple, and only takes a few extra minutes of work from you to eliminate work for your audience. After all, you’re trying to convince them that you’re the solution to their problems, not another aggravation.