Website designers should strive for simplicity, invoke
emotion to boost online revenue
As newspaper sales continue to decline, many news
organizations are searching for ways to improve readership and revenues from
their online presences. Now, University of Missouri researchers have found that
news organizations should target readers with certain personality traits in
order to optimize their online viewership. Paul Bolls, an associate professor
of strategic communication at the MU School of Journalism and a 2011-2012 MU
Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellow, has found that news consumers who have
“reward-seeking” personalities are more likely to read their news online and on
mobile devices, and to engage with websites, by leaving comments on stories and
uploading user-generated content.