Element #3

Headers are used to summarise blocks of text (paragraphs) in long web page sales copy. Your headers are mini-headlines in themselves. They should be used to summarise the main points for the accompanying paragraph/s of text.

Less is definitely more in your headers. They are there for one purpose only: to provide your visitor the means to ‘scan’ your information. When drafting your ‘copy’, regularly review your chosen headings and sub-headings. What they ‘say’ must enhance the ability to scan each screen quickly. These vital navigational tools are what your customers rely on in their reading - but be careful that they don’t become out of ‘context’ if you rework the paragraph text below them.

Presenting content intended for a website is very different from communicating with your customers on an A4 piece of paper. Some visitors really just want to be able to visually skim your site. They do this by following your sub-heading and highlighted text as their ‘sign-posts’.

Therefore, if you have insufficient “markers”, your audience may become frustrated, bored, or worse, irritated. Your target customers are online in the first place, because one of their ‘characteristics’ as a customer group is that they demand instant information, presented logically, and in a manner that won’t hinder their objectives.

Once you have completed your web page sales copy, make a list of the headers, by themselves, and put your headline at the top. Review to ensure that your headers give readers a clear overview of your message.