How to Make Your Content Appeal to the Shortest Possible Attention Span

Anyone who is old enough to remember a time before the Internet has probably uttered a few complaints about the constant barrage of online content is making our attention spans shorter. Remember how your grandparents used to complain that TV was rotting your brain? Imagine if they were here now to see Tik Tok! Meanwhile, your content has to compete for viewers’ attention, even in the midst of all the constant noise. This is no small feat for law firm website, since the content on your site tends to be complex and to require more concentration than the average commercial content. You don’t have the most powerful gimmicks at your disposal, like offering desirable products at deep discounts for limited times, or images of heart throb celebrities. Legal blog content, by its very nature, cannot shout as loud as clickbait or advertisements or consumer products, but there are some quick fixes that can persuade visitors to your site to engage with your content.

Tell the Audience Upfront How Much of Their Time You Are Taking

Sometimes the best way to get people to read your blog post is to tell them upfront whether they have time to read it. If someone sees the words “3-minute read” under the heading of your post, they might read it, since they will have time to finish it before their train arrives or before they have to transfer the laundry from the washing machine to the dryer. In the case of audio and video content, it is already automatically obvious to the user how long the audio or video file is.

Long Live the Table of Contents

It may be that books are just for people with superhuman attention spans, but tables of contents are not just for books anymore. If your blog post has a clickable table of contents that enables visitors to navigate directly to the section they want to read, they can read the part of your post that is most relevant to them, even if they are in a hurry; after they read it, they may or may not stick around to read other sections. You can even make a table of contents for your video content. In the description of the video, include time codes that indicate when you start discussing each of the topics you cover in the video.

Let the Audience Choose Their Preferred Format

Some people prefer to listen because reading takes too long, and others prefer to read because listening takes too long. You can appeal to the readers and the listeners with the same content. Enable your blog posts with text to speech, so they can listen if they prefer this. Likewise, include transcripts of your videos, so the readers can read them.

The Quickest Fix Is to Hire Professional Content Writers

The professional legal content writers at Law Blog Writers have the resources and the attention span to research the kinds of content that will be most beneficial to your law firm and then create that content.

Sources

https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/articles/content-encourage-read-watch-listen