Occasionally you come across a study that backs up with science what you've learned through trail-and-error.

Over the past year I developed something I came to call "The Magic F". The word "magic" may sound silly, but it was the only way I could explain the observation that content organized in an F-shaped pattern seemed to encourage people to spend more time on Brainshrub.com, and, they were more likely to return later.

Last month, I finally found someone who had studied and described this phenomena in detail: F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content.

Go read it now, then come back here and we'll discuss a few extra thoughts on the matter.

Well? What are you waiting for? Shoo! I'll be here when you get back.

...

All done?

Good.

Web surfers rarely read entire blog posts. Instead, they scan them for relevant information then move onto another site. Therefore, your goal as a blogger should be focused on making scanning rewarding so that readers are encouraged to return day after day for more information.

My experience with my own site has been that this pattern works best for reader retention and return visits:



The red areas are where you should place the main points of your blog entry. The blue areas are ideal spots for pictures, graphs or bullet points that reward the human eye for scanning the page.

One of the most common mistakes writers make with their blogs is that they forget that the internet is not printed with ink. Unlike paper, computer screens are a strain on the eyes. Very few people have the patience to read 1,500 words of text on a monitor, no matter how well-written or astute the essay is.

If you want a blog that will help create social change, you have to be able to get your message across first. To do this on the blogoshere, work within the limitations of the medium: Reward the reader with images, keep your posts to under 500 words and make darn sure that your main points are written within the red zones of the "Magic F".

In blogging, how you lay out your text is more important than the quality of your writing.

Make the Magic F your friend, and you will be richly rewarded.

Cross posted here.