Whether you write copy or review copy that others write, these simple guidelines can help improve your response:
Break It Up. Avoid long, dense paragraphs of text. Use lots of subheads and bulleted copy. Short sentences and short paragraphs help, too. It’s easier for people to absorb small chunks at a time.
Use Action Verbs. Speed up sentences with words conveying action. Whenever you can, replace words like is, are, and was.
Use Active Verbs. For example, Commercial farmers developed our product packs more power than Our product was developed by commercial farmers. Similarly, Harvest leeks any time reads faster than Leeks can be harvested any time.
Reduce Prepositional Phrases. If you’ve forgotten your parts of speech, prepositions are words like of, by, with and on. See how many you can eliminate. For instance, change Each of these products offers… to These products offer….
Write Like You Talk. Forget what you learned in school. Avoid using an artificially stilted voice. As long as what you’re saying is clear, don’t be too concerned about being grammatically correct. If you wouldn’t use the words you’ve written in a conversation with a friend, rewrite them.
Keep these guidelines in mind when reviewing copy, and the end result will undoubtedly keep your readers more engaged.
