“Estimated reading time” is the average time taken by a reader to read an article or a blog while maintaining reading comprehension. Of late, there are many websites that mention the estimated reading time at the beginning of the article. So, why should you set up an estimated reading time? Does it serve a purpose and is it worth mentioning? Read on to know more.
The importance of ERT
Mentioning the estimated reading time does have positive impacts. Firstly, when estimated reading time is mentioned at the beginning of the article, it increases the time that the reader spends on the site. There are several statistics to support this. Since there is an improvement in the reader’s engagement, it reduces the bounce rates. Estimated reading time enhances the overall user experience of the page.
Secondly, estimated reading time aligns with the habits and needs of the reader. Letting your users know the estimated reading time helps them to make a quick decision about whether to read your article or not. Nowadays, everyone is pressed for time. A reader does not want to waste their time thinking about whether he has the time to read a particular blog. Sometimes a person starts reading an article only to realize midway that he does not have the time to finish it. For example, if the estimated reading time in your article is 15 minutes then the reader knows exactly how much time to spare. This helps the reader plan, and he could probably set aside 15 minutes during his morning commute to read the article. Therefore, this increases the probability of reading that article makeeover.
Thirdly, mentioning estimated reading time goes beyond increased engagement, and it has a positive impact on your sales funnel. The more you are able to retain the attention of the customer, the better the chances that he would scroll through the other contents of your site. Slowly, you have converted the customer from being aware to being interested in your purchase funnel.
Lastly, estimated reading time impacts your SEO. Search engines determine whether to rank your content based on bounce rates, reading time, and page views. A user lands on your page, reads the article, and navigates to another page. The search engines will view your article as valuable and relevant. This will make your article more findable.
How to apply ERT to your website?
There are several tools and manuals available online that you can employ to obtain the reading time for your article.
To find out the reading time manually, here’s what you need to do powerful idea:
- Count the total number of words. For example, the length of your article is 825 words.
- Now you need to divide the total number of words by 200. So 825 divided by 200 is 4.125.
- The first number of the decimal figure is the minute. So, in this case, it’s 4.
- Next, we need to take the second part of the decimal figure which is 0.125, and multiply this with 0.60. These are the seconds. So it is 0.075 or 7 seconds if we round it up.
- So, an article of 825 words will take 4 minutes and 7 seconds to read.
Do note that as per various research, it is believed that an adult can read around 200-250 words in a minute. Hence, the number 200 has been used biographyer.
There are some online tools as well to find out the estimated reading time. Read-O-Meter, Read Time, and Words To Time work well. These online tools are simple to use and will provide you with the estimated reading time. For example, Read-O-Meter you can simply copy and paste your document and the site will provide you with the estimated reading time. In Words To Time you can mention the total number of words, and it will give you the estimated reading time.
If you want to further enhance the reading effectiveness for your readers, you can use a reading bar in your article. Users only spend a few seconds on a webpage before they decide to stay or leave. Thus, it is important to have a user interface enhancement that can engage the reader. You may have noticed many popular web pages using a reading progression bar at the start of the article. A progression bar tells the reader how much of the article is left to read and encourages them to finish reading the article.
In Conclusion
To sum up, adding estimated reading time in your article requires some effort on your part. But, doing so will yield positive results and big dividends. Estimated reading time improves SEO, increases reading effectiveness and reader engagement, and enhances sales metrics. Finally, estimated reading time will help you achieve the final goal-which is conversion.
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