Run the ‘Hey, did you hear?’ test
Having trouble nailing that “business casual” tone you’re aiming for? Try reading your message aloud — after a friendly greeting or phrase:
Cut Through the Clutter
Stop wasting web visitors’ time with puffery
Web visitors ‘get visibly angry’ at verbose sites
Here’s an interesting dichotomy: Killing time is the killer app for mobile devices. But mobile users are in a hurry and “get visibly angry” at verbose sites that waste their time.… Read the full article
Why avoid adjectives or adverbs?
They make journalists cry ‘hype’ & more
Why cut adjectives and adverbs from your copy?
Because modifiers:
1. Strike journalists as hype
Writing media relations pieces?… Read the full article
Write like the Times: Keep words short
The newspaper of record covers rocket science & brain surgery in simple terms
When I recommend to my clients that they limit their word length to 5 characters per word, they roll their eyes and chortle.… Read the full article
What is the word length effect?
Long words are stuffy and hard to read
Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry spent eight years teaching businesspeople how to write better. As he told Time magazine:
Take a tip from Barry: Avoid multisyllabic exhibitions of verbosity.… Read the full article
World computer technical literacy 2013
16% of adults are technologically illiterate
Just 8% of adults around the world can manage conflicting requests to reserve a meeting room using a reservation system, then email people to let them know whether they got the room they requested.… Read the full article
How long should your listicle blog post be?
Don’t include too many items … or too few
Thank you, David Letterman.
The Top 10 list rules the web — or at least, Buzzfeed.… Read the full article
Harness the power of one
Single-syllable words can shock, jolt and pop
By Mim Harrison, author of Smart Words
“Samuel Clemens” meanders. “Mark Twain” stands up straight and takes charge.
John F.… Read the full article
Don’t commit verbicide: Choose verbs, not nouns
Action words streamline syllables
This just in, writes one of my favorite correspondents, sharing a sentence his subject matter expert has written:
Somebody just kill me now, my friend writes.… Read the full article
Write like Churchill — in one-syllable words
‘Short words are best, and old words when short are the best of all’
What do you notice about this passage, excerpted from an article in The Economist?… Read the full article