| Dear Direct Response Letter Subscriber:
The quickest and simplest way to make your writing easier to read
is with the “4 S” formula:
#1: Small words.
Small words make writing easier to read because almost all your
readers know and understand the small words you use.
Conversely, when you use long words to impress readers with your
vocabulary, many of them won’t understand the words you are
using.
And if they don’t understand the words, they don’t understand
what you are trying to say.
Back in the day, our elementary school teachers told us that, any
time we encountered a word we did not know, to look it up in the
dictionary — a popular method of improving one’s mastery of
English.
But your readers are busy adults who have neither the time nor
the desire to look up a word in their paperbound or online
dictionary.
And so if you use a word whose meaning they do not know, they
won’t get the full message you want to convey.
Use small words. Remember, you write to express, not to impress.
Mark Twain said, “I never write ‘metropolis’ when I get paid the
same penny a word for writing ‘city.'”
#2: Short sentences.
Short sentences are easier to read than long sentences.
How do you know if your sentence is too long? Use the breath
test.
Read your sentence out loud, at a moderate space, without taking
in a breath before you start.
If you run out of air before the end, the sentence is too long.
Easy fix: divide the sentence into two or more sentences at the
point where a new thought or idea begins.
#3: Short paragraphs.
At the beginning of your document, the first three paragraphs
should be one or two sentences each — no longer.
If you lead with an extremely long paragraph, the large chunk of
text is a roadblock to readership, and it will discourage many
people from reading further.
If a paragraph it too long, break it up by starting a new
paragraph wherever a new thought is introduced.
#4: Short sections.
Sections should have boldface subheads or be numbered.
Numbering makes it easier to have a table of contents.
Short sections and subheads make scanning easier for the reader
and also enable them to find the information they need more
rapidly.
Plus, overlong sections bore readers, and the temptation is to
skip ahead to a shorter section.
These tips won’t make your copy, in and of themselves, more
persuasive.
But they do encourage readership, which helps increase clicks and
conversions.
And that’s the 4 S formula in a nutshell — easy to follow, easy
to execute.
Don’t worry about hitting it on your first draft, either.
It’s easy to take your first draft, make these 4 simple changes,
which all relate to using smaller words, shorter sentences,
shorter paragraphs, and shorter sections with subheads.
Use them and your document will be 2X to 4X clearer and easier to
read.
You will get your message understood and save the reader time and
frustration. |