Sunday, February 12, 2017

Writing for the Internet, What’s Readable & What’s Not





            To answer this question we must first consider who our audience will be. Audiences are so very different. You could be writing to a single person you already know very well, or you may be writing to a mass of people all of which are total strangers to you, and even then, those individuals of that audience will be uniquely different from each other as well. 




            No matter who your intended audience may be, your opening message should interest the reader thoroughly enough to prepare his/her mind for what’s going to follow, but not give away the entire show. Effective writing begins with action and dialogue, clarity and transparency, then continues on until the reader is firmly hooked, but gently cuts back to interpretive information: the bringing forward of background, atmosphere, and characterization.


            Effective messages must have a beginning, middle, and end. Writers call this the rule of unity: This includes simple social media messages and other writings. It doesn’t make sense to present a beginning without an end. The ending, if written well, should echo the main theme, just as a good opening should sound-off importances in advance. First, we tell them what we’re going to tell them; then, we tell them; then, we tell them what we told them.


            There’s hardly anything more important than your reader. The more you know about the kind of person you are writing for, the better you’ll write. For instance: Young people like romance, adventure, and daydreams, and also happy endings. Older people like drama, the practical and down-to-earth stuff. 


             Don’t just write what your readers want to hear, study your audience and then write what you want to say to them in the form that is most likely to appeal to them. By all means, surprise them with something new. We live in an information age where people seek new and important information that’s personal to them.


            When writing for the internet, it is important to understand that most social media networking sites have common readability levels. People have readability levels. Those readability levels can be significantly different from one social media site to the next, and also from one person to the next. Understanding what readability level your target reader prefers, and better yet, determining the readability level of the channel you are using will greatly improve acceptability of your writing. 


            Consider for a moment that the written language is not as simple as you think. People don’t just automatically interpret word meanings one after the other. Instead, the reader’s eyes tend to move along the lines of text in rhythmic jumps. After each consecutive jump, they rest their eyes for a short time on one or more very specific words and then move on. This process is repeated throughout the entire reading process. The reader’s eyes are continually jumping over simple words. Words that they already understand quite well, but then jump back again to land on words that may create reading stumble or requires further explanation. 


            Understanding the fundamentals of how people read, really is key to developing your best writing. In-fact, all of those skipped over simple words are actually where your reader determines the right meaning of the message. To apply words to your message that you think are crafty, yet requires the reader to jump back and re-evaluate, can actually take away from your reader’s ability to easily and comfortably develop meaning. 


            To make your messages readable, don’t use strange words that have difficult spellings, or are unfamiliar to them.


            What everyone is looking for in today’s digital age, is that one big influential message that can represent their product/service in such a way that brings with it widespread attention and success. It is the holy grail of business marketing, of product/service marketing and of ultimate success or failure. It is through the use of words where the power of influence occurs. An emotional power so strong, yet, so very basic and instinctual, that success in today’s digital age is determined by it.


            Understanding the fundamentals of how people read, really is key to developing your best writing.

           
For more information about writing for the internet, creating messages, and making them readable and memorable 

Contact: 

Outstory PR Group
We’re not only bringing greater awareness to well-known organization, but to unknown organizations, too!

Our focus is on Solving Problems, Changing Attitudes, Creating Understanding, and Influencing Behaviors.

Outstory PR Group solves business and public relations problems. We serve organizations of for-profit, non-profit, governmental authority, and well-known persons. We develop and manage creative problem-solving campaigns for businesses small and large, both nationally and globally.

Call Outstory PR Group Today: 704-904-0682
Website: http://outstoryprgorup.com
Shawn Stoffel
Shawn@outstoryprgroup.com

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