• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Wylie's Writing Tips

Improve your communications with our training, consulting, and writing services

  • Home
  • Writing training
    • Topics
      • Content-writing classes
      • Email-writing classes
      • Persuasive-writing classes
      • PR-writing classes
      • Readability classes
      • Storytelling-writing classes
      • Web-writing classes
      • Writing-process classes
    • In-house writing workshops
    • Public writing workshops
      • Storytelling | July 11-15
      • PR writing | Aug. 15-19
      • Tight writing | Sept. 19-23
      • Email writing | Oct. 17-21
      • Writing process | Dec. 12-16
      • Past writing workshops
    • Association workshops
      • Case study: PRSA Puget Sound
      • Case study: IABC Detroit
      • Case study: IABC Lincoln
      • Case study: PRSA Alaska
    • Writing training clients
    • Trainer
  • Writing services
    • Ask Ann
    • Writing & editing
    • Writing coach
    • Writing guidelines
    • Writing training
    • Consulting clients
  • Writing tools
    • The Power Pack
    • Rev Up Readership: toolbox for writers
    • Art of Storytelling
    • Block Busters handbook
    • Clarify Complex Copy
    • Cut Through the Clutter manual
    • Get Good at Getting the Goods
    • Jargon: Start Making Sense
    • People Power
    • Think Like a Reader
    • Think Outside the Pyramid
  • Writing tips
    • Content writing
      • Relevant content writing
        • Relevant content writing resources
        • Relevant content writing quotes
      • Creative content writing
      • Structure for content
      • Readability for content
        • Resources on blog post length
        • Quotes on blog post length
      • Scannable web copy
      • Content writing resources
      • Content writing quotes
    • Email writing
      • Why email writing?
      • Subject lines
        • Resources on subject lines
        • Quotes on subject lines
      • Target your email
        • Quotes on targeted email
      • Feature story structure
      • Short, readable emails
        • Quotes on readable emails
      • Scannable emails
        • Quotes on how to write scannable email
      • Resources on email writing
      • Quotes on email writing
    • Microcontent
      • Skimming, scanning, reading
        • Resources on skimming, scanning, reading
        • Quotes on skimming, scanning, reading
      • Bulleted lists
        • Quotes on list writing
      • Callouts, pull quotes
        • Quotes on pull quotes and callouts
      • Captions, cutlines
        • Quotes on captions
      • Decks, summary blurbs
      • Headlines
        • Benefit headlines
        • Feature headlines
        • Web headlines
          • Quotes on web headlines
        • Quotes on headlines
      • Links, buttons
        • Quotes on links
      • Subheads
        • Quotes on how to do subheadings
      • Resources on display copy
      • Quotes on display copy
    • Persuasive writing
      • What’s in it for me?
        • Quotes on WIIFMs
      • Write about benefits
        • Quotes on verbs
        • Quotes on benefits
      • Write to, about You
        • Quotes on ‘you’ writing
      • Quotes about persuasive writing
    • Public relations writing
      • Why PR writing
      • Target readers with PR writing
        • Relevant releases quotes
      • Organize PR writing
        • Leads for releases
          • Press release first paragraph
          • Quotes on press release leads
        • Body for releases
      • Quotations
        • Quotes on writing a quotation
      • Readability for PR
        • Quotes on short press releases
      • Headlines, display copy for PR
        • Headlines for releases
        • Visuals for releases
      • Resources on press releases
      • Quotes on press releases
    • Readability
      • Why readability?
        • Information overload
          • Information overload quotes
        • Time spent reading
          • Quotes on time spent reading
      • Story length
        • Why short content
        • Measure A.R.T.
        • Tighten your story angle
        • Resources on writing short content
        • Quotes on writing short content
      • Paragraph length
        • Quotes on paragraph length
      • Writing with statistics
        • Quotes on writing with statistics
      • Sentence length
        • Activate the passive voice
          • Quotes on the passive voice
        • Resources on short sentences
        • Quotes on short sentences
        • Quotes about sentence length
      • Word length
        • Quotes on short words
        • Jargon
          • Quotes on jargon
          • Quotes on acronyms
        • Adjectives & adverbs
          • Quotes on modifiers
      • Readable
        • Resources on readability
        • Quotes on readability
      • Conversational copy
        • Quotes on conversational business writing
    • Storytelling and creative writing
      • Concrete details
        • Why concrete details?
        • Types of concrete detail
        • Quotes on concrete details
      • Description
        • Quotes on scent
      • Human interest
        • Quotes on human interest
      • Metaphor
        • Why use metaphor?
        • Complex copy
        • Creative comparisons
        • Simplify stats
        • Metaphor writing
        • Resources on metaphor
        • Quotes on metaphor
      • Storytelling
        • Why is storytelling important?
        • Find stories
        • Storytelling research
        • Elements of storytelling
        • Storytelling structure
        • Resources on storytelling
        • Quotes on storytelling
      • Wordplay
        • Alliteration
          • Resources on alliteration
        • Balance
        • Coin a word
          • Resources on coin a word
          • Quotes on coin a word
        • Quotes on the etymology of words
        • Rhyme
        • Rhythm
          • Quotes on using rhythm in writing
        • Twist of phrase
        • Quotes on how to use wordplay
      • Resources on creative copy
      • Quotes on creative copy
      • Quotes on boring copy
    • Type of articles
      • Case studies
      • Tipsheets
      • List-writing tips
    • Web writing
      • Why writing for the web?
        • Quotes on why writing for the web
      • Above the fold
        • Quotes on above-the-fold content
      • Tight web copy
        • Quotes on tight web copy
      • Scannable web copy
        • Quotes on scannable web copy
      • SEO for writers
        • Quotes on SEO
        • Quotes on SEO for releases
      • Quotes on crafting good web writing
      • Writing for mobile quotes
    • Writing
    • Writing process
      • Creativity step by step
        • Creative process
          • Quotes on the 5-step creative process
          • Quotes on foraging
          • Quotes on analyzing information
          • Quotes on incubation
          • Quotes on breaking through
          • Quotes on knuckling down
        • Quotes on creativity
        • Quotes from naysayers
        • Creative story ideas
        • Communicating with comics
      • Prewriting
        • Research blog posts
          • Research quotes
        • Tighten angle
          • Quotes on finding your focus
        • Quotes on prewriting
      • Freewriting
        • Quotes on freewriting
      • Writing difficulty quotes
      • Writer’s block quotes
      • Writing process quotes
    • Writing structure
      • Feature story structure
        • Why features structure?
          • Why feature structure?
        • Feature structure examples
        • Feature leads
        • Nut graph
          • Quotes on nut graph
        • Background section
          • Quotes on the background section
        • Body
          • Quotes on the body
        • Conclusion
          • Quotes on how to write good endings
        • Transitions
          • Quotes on transitions
      • Other story structures
      • Quotes on story structure
  • Writing newsletter
    • Current issue
    • What others say
    • Archives
  • Blog
  • Calendar
  • Why us?
    • About the trainer
    • Contact Ann

Does the fold still matter?

Visitors spend 84% of their time above the fold

Does the fold — the first screen of a webpage — still matter?

Does the fold still matter?
Above the fold People spend most of their time on the first screen of a webpage — “the virtual equivalent of being above the fold” in a newspaper. Image by Olu Eletu

Yes, it does, according to the research:

  • Most visitors scroll through about 60% of a page, according to an analysis by Chartbeat. 10% don’t scroll at all.
  • When viewing ads, people look most (a median of 68%) at the page fold, according to a study by Google (PDF). After the fold, viewing drops off to a median of 40%.
  • “The average difference in how users treat information above vs. below the fold,” usability expert Jakob Nielsen writes, having taken all the research into account, “is 84%.”

And now that more than half of your visitors are coming to your webpage via their 3.5-x-6.5-inch smartphone screens, the fold matters more than ever.

Location, location, location

So why do people look so much more often at the top screen?

Blame interaction costs, writes Amy Schade, a researcher for the Nielsen Norman Group.

How low do they go? The 100 pixels just above the fold were viewed 102% more than the 100 pixels just below the fold, according to an analysis of 57,453 eyetracking fixations by the Neilsen Norman Group. People look most often at the red sections, less often at the yellow sections and barely at the white areas. Image by the Nielsen Norman Group

Visitors can see the first screen without clicking — aka, paying an interaction cost. But they can see below the fold only if they scroll. And that’s an interaction cost.

Often, they’re just not that into you

3 ways to beat the fold

So how do you beat the fold?

  1. Pass the 1-2-3-4 test: Get the message across in the first four elements of your page.
  2. How low do they go?

    Pass the 1-2-3-4 test What can visitors learn from the first four elements on your page?

  3. Offer a menu on mobile: Tempt visitors below the fold with jump links, accordions and mini information architectures.
  4. How low do they go?

    Jump ahead Jump links, like these on the EPA site, give visitors an outline of the page, show them what’s below the fold, and make it easy to get to the section they’re looking for.

  5. Weed out the top: Don’t bury your message under sharing buttons, bylines and chrome.
  6. How low do they go?

    Don’t blow your top Get to the point faster on the first smartphone screen of your webpage, e-zine or blog post. HubSpot, left, focuses on sharing buttons and chrome; The New York Times app, right, gets to the point faster with content.

Win the 84/16 rule.

However you handle it, you must deal with the fold.

“We don’t go to a page, see useless and irrelevant content, and scroll out of the blind hope that something useful may be hidden 5 screens down,” Schade writes.

“What we find at the top of the page helps us decide to continue scrolling, navigate to another page, try another site, or abandon the task altogether.”

More for you
Make mine to go Learn to manage the fold and otherwise overcome the obstacles of getting the word out via smartphones. Join me at our mobile web-writing Master Class on June 12-13 in Chicago.

Save $100 when you book by May 12.

Register now.

Email   Print   Digg   Facebook   Twitter

“Not a tiny tweak but new form of writing.”
— Eve Gelman, APR, director of marketing, communications, events and business development, Peddler’s Village Partnership


  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • WhatsApp
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Email
  • Print

Primary Sidebar

June 30, 2022

Master the Art of Storytelling - Ann Wylie's creative-content workshop on July 11-15

Save upto $100 with our group discounts.

Register for Master the Art of Storytelling - Ann Wylie's creative-content workshop on July 11-15
  • Cut a long story shortCut a long story short: Would your story be twice as good if it were half as long?
  • What goes into a press release boilerplate?What goes into a press release boilerplate? Boil your company down with boilerplates
  • How to write funny contentHow to write funny content: Try self-deprecating humor
Archives

Wylie Communications, Inc. logo
    Training
  • In-house writing workshops
  • Public writing workshops
  • Association workshops
    Services
  • Writing guidelines
  • Ask Ann
  • Editing and rewriting
    Tools
  • Learning tools
  • RevvingUpReadership.com
  • Free writing tips
Subscribe to our ezine
Upcoming Workshops

Master the Art of Storytelling - Ann Wylie's creative-content workshop on July 11-15

NOT Your Father’s PR Writing - Ann Wylie's PR-writing workshop on Aug. 15-19

Rev Up Readability - Ann Wylie's tight-writing workshop on Sept. 19-23

Think Inside the Inbox - Ann Wylie's email-writing workshop on Oct. 17-21

© Copyright 2022 · Ann Wylie · All Rights Reserved
May not be duplicated and shared without authors permission. Contact us