Web Marketing All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition
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When designing your website for marketing your products, be aware that website visitors rarely read text word for word; instead, they scan information and wait for something to catch their interest. One important element of a website that captures people’s interest and attention is font size and font type.

  • Font size: Some designers like to push the limits by using huge fonts or really tiny text.

    The Internet is a great place to test different methods, but don’t get too carried away or your sales can suffer quickly.

  • Font type: Use one of these fonts listed in order by popularity: Arial, Comic Sans, Verdana, Trebuchet, or Georgia. These are by far the most widely used and readable fonts on computer screens and browser types. Specifically, here are the strengths of each font

    • Arial is great for headlines and subheadings.

    • Comic Sans gives a site an informal look and is a good font type to use if your business has a more casual audience.

    • Georgia is a good all-around font for screens with easy-to-read text for primary content and italics.

    • Trebuchet is another good all-around font but only in standard 10, 11, or 12 point — or larger sizes like 18, 20, and 24.

    • Verdana is the most readable font overall among web-based text fonts, but Trebuchet is becoming increasingly popular.

Be careful not to use more than two or three font types or colors for your website text. Also, don’t capitalize everything in a sentence. In all capitals, it’s like you’re yelling at your visitors.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book authors:

John Arnold is the author of E-Mail Marketing For Dummies and coauthor of Mobile Marketing For Dummies.

Ian Lurie is President of Portent, Inc.

Marty Dickinson is President of HereNextYear.

Elizabeth Marsten is Director of Search Marketing at Portent, Inc.

Michael Becker is the Managing Director of North America at the Mobile Marketing Association.

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