Nobody says writing is easy, especially if you create lots of copies for a big audience. If you want people to read your whole blog post, you need to take care of its readability score.
No one wants to spend hours on an article only to understand that it will be impossible for a reader to understand the message.
We are not going to delve into how the readability score affects the understanding of a text. This article is aimed at showing how to make your copies more attractive to your audience. With these tips, you will be able to convey any information smoothly.
Choosing the `Right Level of a Reader
If you don’t want to appeal only to the nerds from your faculty, make sure your text is pitched properly for the general audience. Especially when it comes to SEO articles, everyone strives to attract more readers.
In this case, your posts should be more general in terms of lingo, but it doesn’t mean you should dumb down the material. There are numerous online readability checkers that ensure your post is understandable enough. Here some of the best options:
- Hemingway Editor;
- Gunning Fog Index
- Readable.
Use Common Words
The length of the words used in your sentences is as important as the length of the sentence itself.
Avoid words with multiple syllables, because chances are your reader can miss the idea. Short ones will help in making your article easier to read. Thus, the audience will be broader.
If the topic is tech-related, chances are you’ll become too focused on different terms and notions. Sometimes it happens to experts – even the most complicated terms seem a piece of cake to them.
In such cases, a writer can’t evaluate what words should be omitted, and which ones should be explained in more detail. The best solution here would be to sent the article to https://essaypro.com and ask professionals to polish the material. The specialists will help you edit the text according to the needs of the audience.
Short Sentences Are Better
For some, this one may seem like an obvious tip. Yet, many people underestimate its importance.
Someone wants to write like Virginia Woolf having every right to do so, but we are talking about readability here. So the shorter sentences you use, the better the text will appeal to a reader.
Also, people usually make fewer grammatical mistakes in the sentences which contain less than 20 words. Ensure your articles has only a couple of longer ones.
Write Explicitly
The more explicit sentences you will write, the bigger audience will be engaged. Here are a few examples to illustrate the point.
- “My friend advised me this cafe” is an explicit sentence because it has a precise subject: friend.
- Inexplicit – “This cafe was picked by advice” is not explicit, because “this cafe” is the subject, and we don’t know who has picked and advised it.
Chunking the Article
Writing short sentences is good, but not enough. When it comes to web content, writing an eye-catching copy suggests mixing the text with other elements. Spruce up the wording with headers of different levels, images, bulleted and numbered lists.
If the task description allows, you can also add images, videos, or even GIFs.
Write Concise Paragraphs
Make sure that all your short sentences form clear paragraphs.
Start each paragraph with the topic sentence. All you need to do later is to explain or elaborate on its idea. In other words, help the reader grasp the key point, one per paragraph.
Coherence Is a Must
Not everybody knows how to write a coherent article. You should learn how to make thoughtful transitions between the ideas presented.
There are many professional tips shared by experts in the field. Below you will find the shortlist of 6 tips first published by English professor Daniel Kies in the College of DuPage.
- Repetition. Don’t be afraid to repeat words, but do it consciously and only when necessary;
- Synonyms. You can use the strategy called “elegant variation.” It means one should try to use the very close synonym to the word they don’t want to repeat;
- Antonyms. Just like with the synonyms, wide usage of antonyms can bring even more value to your text;
- Enumeration. Use obvious markers of sequence like “then, after, before, firstly, since, etc.;”
- Parallelism. Remain a certain sentence structure. Subject-verb-object remains the clearest one, but it is not necessary to write only this way;
- Transitions. Use conjunctions or conjunctive adverbs to link sentences logically.
Use Active Voice
People tend to perceive passive constructions worse than active. To deliver the key message, try to use as many “active” structures as possible. Not many will reread the sentence if it is not understandable enough after one is through with it.
To this end, don’t rely on grammar checkers much here because they tend to skip passive voice if it is written correctly. Only proofreading the article by yourself can make sense if you want to eliminate sentences written in the passive voice.
Fewer Adjectives and Adverbs
Since school, we were told that adjectives and adverbs make our speech brighter and vibrant.
Yet, web content differs a lot from other types, and this rule can’t be applied here. The overuse of adjectives or adverbs creates semantic redundancy. This, in turn, only decreases the readability of each article.
Remember that the core of your text is about subjects, verbs, and objects. Adjectives and adverbs are just fillers. If you want to throw a dozen of descriptors in the text of eight hundred words, be ready that someone with the attention span of a hummingbird will click the article away.
Final Words
But still, in a rush to provide a good copy with great SEO, don’t forget the people you are writing for.
Even in our fully digitalized era of content, good copy is a rare treasure. Adhering to the rules above can help you make each post more readable.