The content you provide to your audience is the fuel that drives the success of your site’s design. How they engage with your content is just as important in your ability to meet your online marketing goals.
Many users consume content on their desktops while others depend on mobile devices to keep up with the businesses they connect with. An even more important segment prefers to print a website’s page to read and share with others.
But many businesses overlook the importance of creating printer-friendly content. As a result, they fail to meet all of the needs of their target audience.
Why Bother With Printer-Friendly Content?
Most businesses assume that print media is no longer a viable option for marketing your products or services.
But today’s mobile devices have been unable to completely replace the demand for printed books, magazines, and newspapers.
Print media isn’t going away anytime soon, and today’s consumer still relies upon all forms of media to consume content.
So helping users take advantage of whatever works best in any given moment enhances the user experience your website provides.
Today’s Users Want Printed Content
Issues related to readability, the special needs of users, and practicality make it even more critical for you to understand how to include printer-friendly content on your website.
Content viewed online may be hard to read. In some cases, this may be due to poor website design, and it should be corrected by your web development team.
In other cases, it can be due to the limitations of the user. Visual impairment is common in older adults or those with medical conditions.
Accommodating all users improves the quality of your site’s design and ensures that they get the information they need.
Some users may find it more practical to print out your content. This is especially true for information meant to be used as a resource for meeting some objective.
How-to articles, technical reference materials, and other guides may be more useful when printed out and kept on-hand as supporting material for a given project.
Assuming users only engage with content online is a big mistake. Taking a closer look at the ways your content can serve them will help you determine how you can address the needs of your target audience.
How to Create Printer-Friendly Content on Your Website
Printable content should be displayed in black and white. In addition to making your content easier to read, it prevents the use of costly color toner in your users’ printers.
Links should be underlined when in print. This makes them easy to identify, giving readers an indication that they may want to reference the digital version for more information related to your content.
Consider the non-essential elements on a website page. Navigation buttons, sidebars, advertising, and images may not need to be included. Remove these elements to simplify the printed version and reduce the use of printer ink.
But don’t remove important information related to your business. By-lines on articles, headers and footers that contain business information, and page URLs help readers identify the source while supporting lead generation when printed content is shared.
Knowing how to create printer-friendly content enhances the user experience and positions you as a reliable resource for those whose problems you solve.
This increases the long-term success of your website’s design and increases the reach of your marketing message.
