A common mistake is to publish website content and ignore its readability.
Readability is a formula based on sentence length, average syllables per word and the frequency of personal pronouns.
Most word processors have this capability built in. Plus, there are countless online apps that score the readability of a piece of text.
Readability is even purported to be part of the Google algorithm.
Website Content That’s Too Hard to Read
One way to demonstrate readability is to provide an example. Here’s a snippet of text harvested from a popular health care website. It’s a mere 34 words:
Functional Medicine is a systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. Each symptom or differential diagnosis may be one of many contributing to an individual’s illness.
Readability is a function of the educational achievement required to read it. In this case? The 13.9 grade level. That’s college-level reading.
Hard work. Even for those with a college degree.
Most website visitors, especially the lay public, won’t work that hard.
So, they don’t. And they hit the Back button.
Website Content That’s Easy to Read
The truth is, most of us prefer easier reading. After all, we’re not studying for an exam!
In fact, the most popular consumer magazines aim for the eight-grade reading level.
Here’s the same passage, but in a more readable format:
What causes disease? Functional medicine finds and addresses its underlying cause. Or causes. An illness may produce a range of symptoms. So, we first conduct a differential diagnosis.
It’s a bit shorter at 28 words. And far more approachable at the 7.2 grade reading level.
Content For Your Health Care Website
Is your current website easy to read?
Find out by copying and pasting some text into this free online app.
If you’re looking for readable content for your health care website, arrange a Content Consultation today.