When Less Writing Is More
By Mara Braverman
Often people say too much. Ironically, paring back what you say can push more of your message through to the reader, not less. Few readers want to work their way through complicated text or many examples that illustrate the writer’s point. Readers tend to wander off. Think of how often you’ve clicked to another website rather than put effort into figuring out what the writer is saying.
Many websites give eight reasons why you should buy now (or I should say, Buy NOW!!), rather than two. They list the 16 services the business provides, although few readers will look through a list that long. These sites look like the writer couldn’t decide what was most important to say, so she said everything.
The result is that readers turn away. Instead of reading and potentially remembering the author’s one or two points, readers give up on the document or website and take nothing in. Your best strategy is to decide what one point you want the reader to remember no matter how little time he spends reading your work. Then make that point clearly and succinctly. Don’t bury it in a sea of words.
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February 2nd, 2010Share
Chris
This is such good advice. We need to write for the reader but we often fall into the trap of writing for ourselves. What matters is not how much communication we put out — it’s how much communication our audience takes in.
Vanessa
Thank you Mara for your helpful writing advice! This article helps me to think from now on before I hit “Publish. ”
Every day I realize more and more that the “net’ is to be a wealth of information and anyone wishing to contribute needs to realize a more” interesting” post or article is just a click away. Also, the harsh computer light can be rough on the eyes, so I think that has something to do with any reader’s– and prospective customer’s–attention spans.