My ex-husband is a lawyer.

Whenever handed a contract, he would read every word of it.

At his law job, this was an obvious asset.

When we were, for example, signing the waiver forms for a rock climbing class… it could get a little much.

Some people read websites like my ex-husband reads contracts: Pouring over every word, determined to understand all the nuances and details.

Most of us?

Most of us are Skimmers.

We’ll sign our first-born child away to the climbing gym without quite noticing it.

We will NOT take the time to digest every word.

When reading a website, we’ll let our eyes ricochet from headline to headline, skipping the small font underneath.

We notice big, bold statements and colorful buttons.

We are not dumb.

We COULD read every word, and sometimes we do.

But we are busy and our attention is precious.

So mostly, we skim.

The lesson?

Write your website for skimmers, too.

✅ Make sure the headlines tell a complete story even if no one reads the other text.

✅ Make the call-to-action buttons SUPER obvious.

✅ Highlight the key phrase or word in a testimonial.

✅ Use bullet points and lists

It’s not that all those other precious words aren’t important.

They are.

But don’t forget the skimmers.

We are legion.

Thoroughly yours,

Rachel

PS – Go try this out on your website! Does it make sense if you only read the headlines? Do people know what problem you solve, why they should care, how to get it, etc.? If not, send it to me (just hit reply) and I’m happy to give you 5 mins of free ideas on how to fix it.

This post was originally sent as an email to the Magic Words of the Week newsletter list. Every week, I share reflections on a word, quote, or phrase I think will help you thrive in your life’s work.