People Do Not Read

People do not read.

They skim.

That does not mean people never sit down and read something from start to finish. Of course they do.

But when people are scrolling through social media, looking at a website, or deciding whether to watch a video, they are usually trying to understand one thing:

Is this worth my time?

You do not have long to give them an answer.

People Look for the Point

Think about how you use the internet.

You probably do not carefully read every word on every page you open. You look at the headline. You notice a few words. You scroll around.

You are looking for the point.

Your customers do the exact same thing.

This is why good marketing should be built for people who skim.

If someone can look at your content for a few seconds and understand the main idea, you are doing something right.

Make the Important Stuff Easy to Find

If something matters, do not hide it.

Your most important point should not be sitting at the bottom of a giant paragraph.

Put it where people can see it.

This applies to almost everything you make.

Your headline should tell people what the page is about. Your thumbnail should help them understand the video. Your first few seconds should give them a reason to keep watching.

Even your paragraphs should make the important ideas easy to find.

The goal is not to make people search for your message.

The goal is to make your message impossible to miss.

Say More With Less

There is a simple question I like to ask:

How quickly can I get this idea across?

If something takes 20 words to explain, can you say it in 10?

If a thumbnail has eight words, can it work with four?

If your video takes 30 seconds to get to the point, can you get there in five?

Shorter is not always better.

Faster to understand is better.

There is a difference.

Sometimes you need more words to tell a great story. Sometimes you need more time to explain a hard idea.

That is fine.

Just make sure every second and every word is doing something.

Skimmable Does Not Mean Empty

Making something easy to skim does not mean removing all the substance.

It means organizing the substance.

Use clear headlines. Keep paragraphs short. Break large ideas into smaller pieces. Put the most important information first.

You can talk about very complex ideas this way.

In fact, you probably should.

The harder an idea is to understand, the more important it becomes to make the way you explain it simple.

Do Not Make People Dig

Your audience should not have to work to figure out what you mean.

Every extra second it takes to understand your message gives them another chance to leave.

So make the headline clear.

Make the thumbnail clear.

Make the copy easy to scan.

Get to the point.

You can always give people more information once you have their attention.

But first, they need a reason to give you that attention at all.