Whether you are writing an advert, a blog, a sales letter, or maybe even a speech, I’m sure you will agree that good writing has the power to persuade and influence.
But what are the secrets of good writing?
It’s all about simplicity.
- Use short sentences and everyday words
- Cut the jargon and have a clear structure
If you read most stuff put out nowadays – it is indeed appalling. Badly written, dull - and often downright incomprehensible.
Yet bad writing is not necessary … if you can just count
This was discovered by Rudolph Flesch, an American, who spent years in the 1940s researching what makes easy reading. As a result he formulated some very easy rules.
The simplest is, make your sentences short:
- The easiest sentence to take in is only eight words long
- A sensible average is 16 words
- And, any sentence of more than 32 words is decidedly hard to take in
That’s because most people tend to forget what happened at the beginning of the sentence by the time they get to the end. Always write with your audience in mind and do make it easy for them.
And the same applies to paragraphs. Vary them, but keep them short, containing only one or two thoughts - especially the first one. A long opening paragraph is daunting.
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