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Readability

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Make every piece you write easier to read and understand

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  • 01 Message length
  • 02 Paragraph length
  • 03 Statistics
  • 04 Sentence length
  • 06 Word length
  • 07 Jargon
  • 08 Adjectives and adverbs
  • 09 Readability scores
  • 10 Conversational writing style
  • 11 Spelling, punctuation and grammar
<strong>Words have power, and short words are more powerful than long ones</strong> So stop stressing over the number of words you should hit in your blog post or other content, and start focusing on the number of characters in your words.

How to hit the best word length for blog posts, other content

Choose Anglo-Saxon words, write to ‘you’ & more More than 80 years of readability research demonstrate that short words are...
06 Word length / Readability
<strong>Short and sweet</strong> Why write <em>employment</em> when you can write <em>jobs</em>? Save your readers processing time by choosing short words. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-june-28th-2018-word-1122939719" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Image by chrisdorney</em></a>

What’s the best length of a word online?

The New York Times averages 4.9 characters An editor once counseled me to change all the instances of employment in...
06 Word length / Channels / Readability / Web
<strong>Does your writing measure up?</strong> Learn how you can use readability measures to produce readable content. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/closeup-womans-hands-measuring-bar-graph-144543284" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Image by ESB Professional</em></a>

Measure, manage & report readability

4 more ways to use reading ease Paying attention to readability will help you reach readers, improve communication and boost...
09 Readability scores / Readability
<strong>Hit the right target</strong> What readability scores to aim for on three top readability tests. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/businessman-dart-bulls-eye-87320695" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Image by Creativa Images</a>

Measure reading levels with readability indexes

How to calculate readability with the Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid and Gunning Fog tests Since 1847, scholars and others have...
09 Readability scores / Readability
<strong>Count them out</strong> Just one-third of Americans have even intermediate skills at understanding stats. <a href="https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/human-crowd-forming-number-four-gm941195680-257255102" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by MicroStockHub</em></a>

What’s the latest U.S. numeracy rate?

Fewer than 10% of U.S. adults are good with numbers Just 9% of Americans can identify the percentage of men...
Readability
<strong>Can they read you now? </strong>Half of Americans have basic or below-basic skills. <em><a href="https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/newspaper-paper-strips-gm509293542-85692799" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Image by Queensbury</a></em>

What’s the latest U.S. literacy rate?

Just 2% of global adults read at top level Little confession here: I’m a geek. While you’re out partying on...
Readability
<strong>Come out of the closet</strong> When cutting clutter from copy or closets, change your focus from what repeats deck; please change goes out to what stays in. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/white-shirts-hanging-on-rack-built-155388371" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image from TaraPatta</em></a>

What closet tidying taught me about editing

Audition your words to go in, not out When Lynn Wylie, aka Best Sister Ever, sent me an Unfancy blog...
01 Message length / Readability
<strong>That’s ROI</strong> Get your message read and shared by boosting your readability level.

What’s the value of readability [research!]?

Save money, make money and more with readable messages What are the benefits of making your message measurably easier to...
Readability
<strong>Avoid statistics soup</strong> Use only the numbers that are necessary for the reader’s understanding.

Don’t do a data dump when writing statistics

Don’t make your readers’ eyes glaze over “Great clots of numbers dropped into a story with a steam shovel create...
03 Statistics / Readability
<strong>Visual aids</strong> The way you present, or frame, statistics changes the way people — even experts — perceive them.[/caption]

What’s the effect of statistics in persuasive writing?

Reframe the data to improve decision-making People in one study rated a disease that kills 1,286 people out of every...
03 Statistics / Metaphor / Readability
<strong>News for you</strong> The BBC makes the most serious news easy to understand with highly readable copy. Does your organization do the same?

Benchmark readability against the BBC

How does your news measure up? The BBC covers the most serious news known to man — West Bank stabbings,...
09 Readability scores / Readability
<strong>How long is too long?</strong> Make sure your reading materials are readable with these free online readability apps.

Measure readability with these 6 readability apps

Test your clarity with these free online tools There are a million readability tools out there. Here are 6 of...
09 Readability scores / Readability
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