Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You’re only a stranger once.

January 9, 2007

Reluctant Readers: Content Is King, But . . . I’m Too Tired to Read

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 9:00 am

What This Is Not: This is NOT a design critique. It doesn’t take into account, the elegance, usability, great content, SEO, or revenue values of the fabulous blog discussed here: Read/WriteWeb, which is one of my favorite reads.

What This Is: It’s an exercise in point of view, how readers look at things. It also only addresses one value — how folks read. I choose a great blog to illustrate that even the greatest blog can challenge the patience of a tired, reluctant reader.

We’re All Reluctant Readers

reluctant readers

In literacy education, there’s a euphemism, RELUCTANT READERS. That term is meant to name adults and children who come to print after having failed at learning to read. They come with specific needs. It’s hard to catch and keep their attention. Most educators use the term to identify folks who read below the level of the average population.

I use the term more literally. I think, at times we’re all reluctant readers — no matter how strong our skills are. Any time we have to read when we’re out of steam, we become reluctant readers — even if it’s our favorite topic. Then there are the times when we just aren’t interested. we’re definitely reluctant readers at those times too.

If you question that you’re ever been a reluctant reader, try this — pick up a legal document you don’t care about, and dig in for entertainment. . . . Bet you’ll wish for some pictures and some subheads.

Serving and Being a Reluctant Reader

Last night I was a reluctant reader. I decided to go with it. I looked at pages as an a naive, intelligent customer. My quest was to see when the page made it hard for me to read the content. What I found was that the question of supporting reluctant readers is only one value.

Beautiful blogs have many values.

Here’s a page from Read/WriteWeb, a blog I read regularly. This particular page features a post on Web Previews. The screen shots that follow tell the story.

Read/WriteWeb: the page full width.

Read WriteWeb with Ads thumbnail 2

Read/WriteWeb: same page main text only.

Read WriteWeb without Ads

To get the fullest effect, visit the Read/WriteWeb page itself.

Feeds are a moot point in this discussion. Readers can’t see the ads, but they also can’t respond to them. Some questions to consider about folks who see the whole page:

Read/WriteWeb is an excellent blog. with great content, great design, and a loyal readerhip. They’re in a business that is sponsored by advertising. That’s what lead me to realize that accessing the content has to be a partnership between the blog and the reader. Each has a part to make the experience work effectively.

What do you see that supports a reluctant reader? What might you do to draw that reader into the content?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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8 Comments to “Reluctant Readers: Content Is King, But . . . I’m Too Tired to Read”

  1. January 9th, 2007 at 10:26 am
    Robert Hruzek said

    Liz, great points! When I read posts via my feed reader (bloglines), there are no distracting ads, etc. that take my eye away from the content. But, sometimes I like to go directly to the page itself (without passing Go or collecting $200 mind you) because the actual pages are so much more visually stimulating/interesting/energetic. Even if I never look at an ad, the added visual interest sparks my own interest in the content.

    Here’s a thought (warning: metaphor alert!) - Content may be King, but even the King needs subjects! It’s not a “lone ranger” thing, but part of the total package.

  2. January 9th, 2007 at 10:31 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Robert!
    Welcome!
    I like your metaphor. I do find feeds to be a bit like ghost towns. They don’t draw me in enough. On the other hand, I can’t read a post that makes me jump over ads to get to the next sentence when I read.

    Thanks for your insights and your metaphor. :)

  3. January 9th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
    Jesse said

    Thanks for the resources, Liz. I took to heart your mentioning this earlier, and you are definitely right about lazy eyes when you’re wiped and trying to read a long line.

    As for the feeds, I find one I like enough to click the title to read the post in the feeder, and if I want to read the post after the first sentence or so, I click the post again to see it in the format it was meant to be seen in. I enjoy my reading so much more that way.

  4. January 9th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Jesse,
    Yeah, I’m not a feed reader by nature either. I want to read a post in its “natural habitat.” :)

    Great to see you, Jesse!

  5. February 19th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
    Successful “And Outstanding” Blog^gers at SmartWealthyRich.com said

    [...] She helped me a lot in tweaking, fixing, and “understand” blogging as a whole (a huge thanx to you Liz!). And told me about Performancing.com, which i believe is an incredible source of valuable information! I read a lot of her posts (that post on “reluctant readers” is awesome!) on her different blogs/sites and i must say i always find then interesting, intriguing, and relevaant! Liz your posts help me a lot with my business! And i mean A LOT! [...]

  6. April 2nd, 2007 at 9:56 am
    Are You Making It Hard For Your Readers? at SmartWealthyRich .com said

    [...] Now, do you read your posts at least 2-3 times before hitting the publish button? If not, maybe you’re missing on something. Take some time to read this post Liz wrote about Reluctant Readers! It’s definatly a must read, and i linked to it before because i feel it can be of help to many of us! (By the way i have to say Liz is one of my favorite blogger, i check out her blog every single day since i started blogging! She defines herself as a relationship geek, and her blog is definatly successful!!) It happens to me too often, i find a site that looks extremely good, that is so well-designed, that is overall really good looking.. but i can’t read… i keep skipping lines and can never get around to read a full post (good thing RSS exists, it makes reading much easier, but still!) my eyes just don’t want to! [...]

  7. October 31st, 2007 at 3:33 pm
    Great Find: Tax Girl - Liz Strauss at Successful Blog - Thinking, writing, business ideas . . . You’re only a stranger once. said

    [...] taxes is boring. I, myself, have actually said the following words many times in the past. We all reluctant readers, if you don’t believe me, pick up the tax [...]

  8. June 25th, 2008 at 11:48 am
    Max Elliot Anderson said

    High Interest, Low Reading Level Books Encourage Readers .

    The web site, About.com has just completed their analysis of how my books for boys are written. I thought you might find it interesting. Use the following link.

    http://booksandboys.blogspot.com/

    Max Elliot Anderson

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