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If you want to sell or persuade
effectively, then your words must be crafted
carefully to fit your audience and to fit the venue or medium in which
you are communicating. What may be powerful and appropriate word crafting for one venue may be entirely ineffective for
another.
For example, the way you construct a
press release and the words you choose for it would sound awkward and
artificial in a speech. Not only do you have a different audience, but
also an entirely different environment in which your message must
function and thrive.
Let's say you take that same message,
word for word, and use it as Web site copy or as a passage in an annual
report. Maybe even as a chapter in a book. Most likely, it will fail
every time, even if it worked in the format for which it was originally written. Your words must be
"massaged" or reworked for each new format for the message to
retain its intended impact.
Understanding
the Differences
Let's explore several common
communication venues over the next few issues. I hope to give you an
understanding of the nuances and unique challenges of communicating
persuasively in each arena. I will also provide you with tools and tips
to help you target your situation and your audience.
In this issue, we'll start with how to
write persuasive Web copy. To that end, here are ...
Seven Keys to Persuasive Web
Site Communications
1.
Suck Them In
With few exceptions, online readers are impatient. They will click away
in a heartbeat if they don't immediately get a sense of what you are trying
to tell them and whether or not they care. Therefore, your first words
are the most critical. This includes the title and your first paragraph.
Clever is nice, but direct and enticing are better. Titillating, if it
fits your audience, is important. If you want to suck them in to your
site -- to capture their attention and persuade them to read on, write
concisely, memorably and pointedly.
2.
Get Chunky with It
Chunk up your content visually. Web visitors rarely read things in the
order you write. They skim. They scan. They dart with their eyes, rapidly
determining whether this is something of value to them. Only after this
initial scan will they consider reading the whole thing from beginning to
end. With that in mind support that skim-and-scan reader by creating
stand-alone chunks of content in the way you structure your message. No
matter where their eyes stop to read, they should understand and enjoy
what they are reading. Here's another tip for making your message more
visually appealing:
3.
Use Shorter Paragraphs
Look for any legitimate excuse to break up your
paragraphs into smaller ones. A paragraph that looks visually heavy will
overwhelm those skim-and-scan site visitors, convincing them that they
simply haven't time to read the article. Yet, if you break that long
paragraph into two or three separate paragraphs, they are more likely to
read the article.
4.
Write Shorter
Sentences
With
each successive generation, reader patience has diminished in all writing
forms. I can show you famous literary works with sentences containing
more than 150 words. Don't imitate them! Especially when writing for the
Web, keep your sentences short and sweet. Consider this sentence I
recently read:
"In today's market, especially
considering the myriad of competitors, yet taking into consideration the
reduction in those numbers due to current economic challenges, our sales
campaign must nonetheless contain some strikingly original elements, or
else our advertisement is likely to be overlooked by the masses, according
to our research."
While this is not a graceful sentence
for several reasons, let's look at its biggest problem: length. This
rings in at a mammoth 49 words. In almost any form of business writing today,
40 to 45 words maximum in any
sentence is a good target. For the Web, less than 35 words per sentence is best. Here's that same message, broken up into
smaller, more readable sentences:
"In today's market, we face a myriad of
competitors. Certainly, they are fewer in number, due to the current
economy. However, our sales campaign must contain some strikingly
original elements. Otherwise, our advertisement is likely to be overlooked by the masses. Our research supports
this."
This same message, reduced to 45 words, is now divided among five shorter sentences. If you
were in a hurry, which version of this message would you find most
persuasive? Keep those sentences short, and ...
5.
Use Numbered Lists or
Bullet Points
Whenever
you're making several concise points in what may be currently a long,
laborious paragraph, see if it might be something you can brake up into a
list with bullets. This is much easier for your reader's eyes and
comprehension when skimming through. As a general rule,
unless the list is sequential in nature, or is described in quantity
("Three Tips to Prosperity"), use bullets instead of numbers.
6.
Employ Subheadings
If your site visitors are skimming, make it easy for them; give
them eye-catching subheadings to land upon that let them quickly size up
your key points. Otherwise, even if you've kept your paragraphs short,
the whole article will appear as symmetrical as stair steps. Boring.
Subheadings break up your article visually in to easily digested
sections.
7.
Write with Plain
Language
While
not talking down to your audience, do not assume too much either. Be
careful when tossing out terms that may not communicate universally.
Likewise, don't try to impress people with big words and grandiose
language. Web readers are usually in a hurry, whether they graduated at
the top of their class, or never graduated at all. They will be less
impressed with the breadth of your vocabulary than with the clarity of
your message.
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When Your Words Must Count …
These tips should
help you on your way to creating words that sell to an online audience.
However, even if I could teach you principles of rifle marksmanship (no,
I couldn’t), I'm sure you would still want to hire a professional marksman in a situation where your life depended on
the accuracy of the shot, rather than tackle the job yourself. Likewise,
when your words must count, it's time to rely on the services of
wordsmith professionals. If your company’s reputation could be hurt by
errors in the document, or if the persuasiveness of the document will
impact revenue or help close a sale, invest in a wordsmith hit man. Or wordsmith hit
woman.
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