People skip long paragraphs
Readers take measure of — and make decisions about — your copy based on how it looks. One of the most important visual cues is paragraph length.
If your message looks too hard to read, people won’t read it. So hit Return more often: It’s one of the easiest ways to make your message more readable.
How often should you hit Return?
We turned to The New York Times to find out how long their paragraphs are. We analyzed 99 stories in a recent issue of The New York Times. (We skipped the sports pages.)
On this day, the Times’ average paragraph length averaged 36 words and weighed in at a median of 37 words.
The Times is no fluffball news outlet. Can’t you make your paragraphs as inviting as the Times?
Cut Through the Clutter
When you make your writing easier to read, your audience members will read it faster, understand it better and enjoy it more.
Master a seven-step system for making every piece you write easier to read and understand at Catch Your Readers — an online persuasive-writing workshop on Oct. 5-9.You’ll learn how to avoid causing your reader to skip your paragraphs … how long is too long for sentences that are easy to understand … tricks you can steal from Shakespeare, Lincoln and Churchill for rallying readers with your words … and a free tool you can use to measure readability.
Save up to $100 with our group discounts.
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