There are many, many elements of a website that help to determine its success. Most people are aware of the importance of a site’s design, its navigation, and the content. What some fail to realize, however, is that the text can actually have a big impact, either positive or negative. This include the style, font, size and color of the text on a website. The following are important points to keep in mind when it comes to the text on your plastic surgery website.
- Readability. It’s important to ensure that the text on your site is easy to read. Reading text on a computer is more visually challenging than reading in print. Many people will come to your site seeking information about plastic surgery so while providing them with valuable content, make sure that that content is easy to read. It’s best to use dark text on a light background. Don’t use light-colored text on a light background or dark-colored text on a dark background. Light-colored text can be used on a dark background but remember that this is harder on the eyes.
- Setting the mood. The colors you use on your site can help to create a mood, and this goes for the color of your text as well. Red can help to create a feeling of excitement, while blue can help to create a feeling of calm. Keep in mind, however, that using all bright text colors and backgrounds can appear unprofessional and even bother your visitors’ eyes.
- Getting attention. Headlines can be used to grab a visitor’s attention. These can be set apart from other text by using a different color or size.
- Emphasizing keywords. Important phrases or keywords can be highlighted in a number of ways. Bolding, italicizing, underlining or changing the color of keywords can help to emphasize them.
- Size matter. The size of your text should be neither too large nor too small. Small text can be very difficult to read. Larger text should be used to emphasize headlines and subheadings.
- Avoid all CAPS. In general, using all capital letters in your copy can appear unprofessional. Further, it can be harder to read. The only exception is when all capital letters are used in headlines, but even this can be done without.
- Appropriate font. Use a font that is appropriate to your site. In general, it’s best to use a common font that people are used to seeing.
- Spacing. The spacing on your site and between text needs to be both appropriate and consistent. Key points should be indented and bulleted, which highlights them and makes them easy to read. Whatever spacing you use for headlines, subheadings, sentences, paragraphs and so on should remain consistent throughout all of the pages of your site.
- Spell-check your text. All copy on your site should be checked and double-checked for spelling and grammar. Spelling errors are often a simple thing to fix, but when left alone can actually hurt your credibility.