Paying attention to this ‘small’ detail could mean more people will likely read your pages.

If you want your web pages to sell and earn you money, you’d want anybody to read your page to the end or to where the Order Today link is.

Obviously you need an attention grabbing headline that moves the reader to start reading, followed by good lead paragraphs that promise the fulfillment of a need or desire the prospect is pursuing.

Good as you’ve done, there’s one thing that might have never occurred to you:

There’s something just about every computer user has observed The size of the vertical scroll bar button is inversely proportional to the length the web page. When someone starts looking at your page, they might notice a small vertical scroll bar button and wonder “Am I going to have time to read all this?”.

Now I’m not sure whether it was designed this way on purpose or is it because of some immutable law of computer science. What’s important to us is that a shorter button on vertical scroll bar indicates a lengthier document.

People are often short on time.

The individuals you are trying to reach, the ones who need and can afford what you are selling, are generally busy people. Money-making activities consume the greater part of their day. A lot of them struggle to minimize the number of hours spent on business activities.

Time is nagging them. Most people who buy things want information but they don’t like spending much time reading lots of sales rhetoric. Should your readers notice a tiny button on the vertical scroll bar, they might do one of three things:

· scan down the page to get a glimpse and idea whether this is worth reading. This is the reason why you use subheads, illustrations, and other devices used to keep readers interested.

· scroll down to the bottom to see the price or postscripts. The reader might balk for lack of justification of price, having not read the main contents of the page.

· bookmark the page to look at it later. Chances are good he’ll forget about it.

These things make it less likely that the page will bring potential customers to the point of sale – all because of that tell-tale small button on the vertical scroll bar.

Besides, people tend to read slower on a computer screen.

Studies have shown that for a document of a given word count of 2000 or more it takes noticeably longer to read it on a computer screen than on paper. This is probably one reason why paper books and magazines are still popular. Five hundred page books are common in bookstores but 500 page equivalent-length ebooks are rare.

Reading text on the Web is a lot more strenuous. You may not think so, but it takes about 25% more energy when you read something off your computer screen than if you have it on a piece of paper. Jack Graziano - President, PageSmith, Inc.

Considering how important it is for your pages to be read to the end, it would behoove you to do whatever you can do not to let them see a tiny button on the vertical scroll bar.

It’s been stated time and again that long copy generally out performs short copy. It’s true, long copy is less likely to leave readers with unanswered questions. However, assuming that our potential customers are as crunched for time as you and I, we must do our best to empathize with our prospects in this area.

There are certain measures you can take to minimize the amount of virtual real estate your selling script occupies.

Some have to do with writing style. Are your sentences and paragraphs excessively lengthy? Do you use a lot of “big words” without giving thought about your target audience (Doctors are accustomed to big words – truck drivers are not). Do you write in such a way that you use five words where three will do? Do you consider your writing style to be educational rather than having a conversational tone?

The last writing style is one that you can easily modify for the better. Pretend you are telling someone across the table about whatever you are writing about. You’d be surprised how much better your writing will look – and shorter your sentences will be.

Avoid excessive use of testimonials and third-party literature in line with the main text of the letter. I see this a lot on some web pages. Many readers don’t like to be forced to read lots of testimonials one after the other. Pick the most relevant testimonials and quotations from reliable sources and place them where they would have the most impact in context with the main text. Some writers place testimonials on a side bar. A side bar is a narrower column to the right or left of the main text. This area usually contains quotes, testimonials, links, banners and photos. Other web page writers place these extra items in click-up windows. I’ll go into detail about click-up windows later.

Excessive Photos, Illustrations and Graphics also make the page long. Make sure their use is appropriate for the subject matter. For example, sites about vacations, real estate and artists’ works are expected to be profusely illustrated. Should someone decide to scan down your page (by scrolling), they will see the photos as the reason why the page is long and will generally go back up and start reading. Nevertheless, make sure your graphics aren’t larger than need be.

Lot’s of irrelevant information - this is especially true when the author includes a lot of personal stories in the top part. This is often known as “Welcome to all about me”. A lot of writers go overboard with “history of the company” and “scientific breakthroughs”. Ask yourself:; “Why should your reader care about these things.” Try to focus on what the product does for anyone who would buy it. Whatever about what you’re selling that means a lot to your prospect. “What’s in it for me?”.

Technical Data and Explanations : These are topics which would be of interest to some but not all readers. For example, if your client is marketing an Options Trading Advisory Service, some readers might not understand what you mean by “letting an option expire worthless” but most readers in the target market would. It would be best to place such explanations in click-up windows. On your main page you would add a link to the effect of Click Here for what it means to let an option expire worthless. The link will display the click-up window.

How Click-up Windows can Improve the Functional Appeal of your Pages

In case you’re not familiar, click-up windows are small, separate browser windows that are displayed when you click on a link on the main page. These are useful for adding extra bits of information that would be of interest to some but not all of your visitors. One thing that makes pages excessively long is having to define and explain every new concept and principle behind your product or service.

A good copywriter should know what things most of the target audience are familiar with. For statements and paragraph that would raise questions in the minds of some readers, a link to a click-up window can be inserted on the line below the paragraph.

Once you put your copy into a web page, Maximize your browser window. Note the size of the button on the vertical scroll bar. If it is less than a square (tiny horizontal triangle) it could be reworked using the tips described above.

Make sure no important questions are left unanswered. Also make sure that everything written is important and not superfluous. Put it away and read it again in the morning. See if there are parts you can do without. Make sure that everything would be of interest to the customer. Finally, see if there are components that can better be included in click-up windows rather than on the main page.

A click-up window development kit is available as a Free Download from: http://www.ardipromo.com/vsbutton.php?q=ezavsb Here you can view the full length version of the article with links to examples of effective and excessive length pages.