Whether you’re assigned to write for official company social posts, press releases, or website blogs, you should learn how to sound professional.
Is being a professional tantamount to being boring? Of course not. Your writing should have the best possible quality. It does not mean you use vulgar or informal language just to attract the reader’s attention.
How to Write a Truly Readable Blog
According to Harvard Business Review, we already have the skills in readable writing. It’s up to us on how we make use of our capabilities.
To prevent boring writing, Harvard listed five things every writer should do. These are:
1. Talk like a human
It’s normal to think that you’re representing business for the rest of your time as a business writer. This is what you applied for anyway.
The horror is that you forget that you’re writing for humans and not for businesses. How do you overcome this stage?
Think of yourself talking to a friend in writing. This is one way of being mindful of the types of words you’re using in the conversation. It also facilitates the words used for the first-person point-of-view.
What does this mean?
It means your write-up will end up like you’re talking directly to your reader. This is a good thing since readers don’t like blogs that are too formal.
2. Cut complexity in sentences
If you do away with using complicated sentences, you keep busy people from misunderstanding your content.
Make sure that your article caters to different types of readers. This way, you’re helping every reader see the value of your idea once you put it into words.
You must also avoid words that are hard to comprehend. It will ease the challenge of getting the right message from your text.
Let’s take blog visitors from the United States. A recent study showed that 43% of US adults have literacy skills that are basic or below basic.
This is where cutting complexity helps. You can give them the correct context of your message when you meet them halfway in creating your blog writing.
3. Format your content properly
Write so that a person who wants to skim or scan the content can see the major focus of your article.
Don’t be afraid to use the following formatting styles:
- Bullet points
- Numbered lists
- Bold
- Italics
- Underline
It is better to make an emphasis than none at all. Your message becomes clearer and easier to remember to readers who are busy or on-the-go for information.
According to a Nielsen study, only 16% of readers are reading all the words of a text. Others are just skimming the content and finding the words and sentences they want.
4. Get to the point
Like journalists, you should summarize an idea in the first paragraph. Then, you provide supporting details in the next paragraphs.
In short, you must write your blog in a way that it’s short and simple. This makes your content easy to scan and skim. In turn, your content leaves your readers with more energy and interest to take action on your message.
5. Focus on human benefits
According to Tam Henderson, a copywriter teacher on Udemy, you sound like a robot when you use features in anything that you write.
Online customers don’t have much time decoding the benefits of these features. It pays to be upfront with what you can give them in return.
When you’re advertising the penthouse of a hotel, which among the given options appeals more to the public?
A) Our penthouse has four air-conditioning systems. You also get three luxurious king-sized beds and the latest version of the smart home automation system.
B) Live like a king in our Penthouse with spacious beds perfect for your family. Get help in completing simple chores with a Smart Home assistant. And, stay cool in the summer with our air-conditioning systems.
Do you see the difference? Option B sounds more engaging to the readers and clearer in describing what the writer has to offer.
On the other hand, Option A gives out the outline of what you will get with reserving the penthouse. It sounds robotic as it didn’t connect with the audience’s interest.
So, what’s the bottom line?
Pay attention to the people who will read your blog.
Instead of sharing your ideas directly, visualize and learn your readers’ level of understanding first. Only then can you write something that gives value to your target readers.
If you don’t have time to practice your blog writing skills, our professional content writers can help. Send us a message today.