Make it Snappy!

How to Keep Your Writing Clear and Concise

Good business writing is frequently described as “clear and concise.” Makes sense, right? None of us aim for “confusing and long-winded” writing. All writers want to make their points understood, and in business, clarity is a necessity. Yet, clear and concise writing is a facet of the art of writing, and that’s what can make it difficult to achieve. No one rule or easy trick will give an instant payoff. It takes awareness and practice. So how is it done?

Three main approaches will make your writing crisper. We’re diving into syntax here, but stick with me!

1. Use an Active Voice

When possible, use an active voice rather than a passive voice. In an active voice, the subject of sentence performs the action and therefore, the emphasis is on the subject driving the action. In a passive voice, the subject receives the action, which can be much less impactful.

Passive: The graphics were designed by Kiera.

Active: Kiera designed the graphics.

Passive: Change was initiated by people who had long suffered.

Active: People who had long suffered initiated change.

A passive voice can also result in sentences with unclear meanings when no relationship is established between the subject and the action. Because an active voice focuses more on what or who is driving the action, it is clearer.

Passive: Goals are being set for the team.

Active: Leadership is setting goals for the team.

Passive: Daily exercise is considered to be crucial for adults over 65.

Active: Research shows daily exercise is crucial for adults over 65.

2. Be Assertive

Make assertions and avoid noncommittal language. This can be done through sentence structure or word choice, for example, long is more assertive and direct than not short. And, there’s a bonus benefit: Often, using this approach also results in less wordy sentences.

Weak: He did not remember the meeting, and he was not on time.

Strong: He forgot about the meeting and was late.

Weak: Our coffee isn’t weak and we don’t close early!

Strong: Our coffee is strong and we’re open late!

Weak: The initiative’s strategy should be replaced with a new one.

Strong: The initiative needs a new strategy.

3. Trim the Excess

Look for words or phrases that could be removed or condensed without changing the meaning of your sentence. This not only saves valuable space on the page, but it also makes a piece easier for a reader to digest. Every word you strike is one less word a reader needs to parse. In some cases, a single word can be used in place of a lengthy phrase; other times two sentences can be combined.

Wordy: Paul submitted an application for the position.

Concise: Paul applied for the position.

Wordy: The statement never addressed the question as to whether they supported the initiative or not.

Concise: The statement never addressed whether they supported the initiative.

Wordy: There are three main areas of focus. These are growth, adaptability, and scalability.

Concise: There are three main areas of focus: growth, adaptability, and scalability.

Wordy: The company was forced to downsize. This action resulted in a staff reduction of fifteen percent.

Concise: The company was forced to downsize, resulting in a staff reduction of fifteen percent.

These three approaches – using an active voice, making assertions, and avoiding wordiness – will make your writing tight and clear. However, as with most good things, success calls for a bit of moderation. Good writing is also varied, and occasionally changing sentence structure will add much-needed spice to your writing. The passive voice is not forbidden, and in some cases its emphasis is appropriate. What is driving the action may be unknown, or unimportant. And, a long string of expressive, epic, imaginative adjectives might be the best line of attack to draw attention to your company’s latest advertisement. Tossing in a short sentence in the midst of longer, compound sentences is another sure way to capture a reader’s attention. Style is critical. But let’s face it, attention spans are decreasing, and readers usually want us to get to the point or they’ll tune out. Keep them reading by remembering these principles and delivering your message loud and clear.

No Room for Errors

Why Typos Mean Death for a Website

The typo. The bane of writers everywhere. Spellcheck alone won’t save you from describing yourself as an Assistant Manger, and the number of times the “L” has been accidentally omitted from “public,” resulting in utter hilarity for onlookers, is shockingly high. We rush, we’re distracted, we’re too familiar with our own work to see mistakes, and typos happen. Making a typo in an email to your boss or in a Twitter post is embarrassing but it can be shrugged off – we’re all human, after all. But on a company’s website, typos and grammatical errors can have major consequences.

The marketing and content teams at Website Planet sought to quantify the extent to which typos or grammatical errors impact companies online. The entire report is worth a read, but their two main takeaways are astounding:

1. In Google Ads, content with typos had 70% fewer clicks than clean copy.

2. Websites with typos on their landing pages had an 80% bounce rate (visitors who leave the entire site and trigger no other action after viewing only one page).

These short-term results are shocking, but there is another long-term consequence as well – the reduction in clicks and high bounce rate for these sites also resulted in lowered rankings by Google’s algorithms. Lower rankings mean a lower position in a user’s search results, which can be lethal for a site. Studies have shown that almost 95 percent of users will click only on those sites that appear in the first page of organic results (non-paid ads) in a Google search. Even then, over a quarter of the overall traffic goes to the top result, and the tenth site listed enjoys only 2.5 percent of the clicks.

Of course, no one wants to let a mistake slip into their website. Yet, it’s not uncommon for business owners to try to avoid the expense of hiring a digital content editor or proofreader. Maybe they’ve done fine writing on their own so far or they feel that readers won’t be picky. But think for a moment about businesses that always seem to be one step ahead and do it flawlessly. I can almost guarantee that they use an editor – in-house or freelancer – to ensure their attention to detail holds true across all platforms. They know that a single typo can damage credibility, erode trust, and impact their bottom line. The really smart ones know that typos can mean death.

People simply do not trust a website that contains errors. Mistakes in website copy will not only tarnish the professionalism of a business, they can cost good money. Losing potential customers because of a sloppy mistake is an avoidable catastrophe, and fortunately, it’s easily remedied. Google’s algorithms are always changing, and its crawlers are constantly combing through sites to rank and re-rank. Positive adjustments to SEO, including fixing typos and errors and improving written content to better target keywords and relevancy, will allow a site to work its way back up the rankings.

It’s never too late to hire a professional to comb through your online material and stay ahead of the game. Far and Loud offers copyediting and proofreading services that can meet the digital needs of any sized business. Contact us today to ensure your business is putting its best foot forward to keep your website healthy and thriving.

Proofreading vs. Copyediting

What's the Difference?

A recipe calls for salt. But does that mean kosher salt, table salt, or sea salt? Some people would say that all are salty and can do the job, but a chef would tell you each type absolutely has a specific use. Swapping in sea salt where you should use table salt just won’t give the same results.

I’m not a chef, but I’ve ruined enough dinners to know I should trust their advice.

I’ve heard similar comments about copyediting and proofreading: “Aren’t they kind of the same thing?” Would you use sea salt in your snickerdoodles??

Let’s break it down.

Copyediting: Strengthening the Writing

What it is: Copyediting is potentially major review of text to ensure it is concise, clear, grammatically correct, and accurate. This also often involves fact-checking, rewriting for better flow, cutting to fit word counts, checking for consistency, and confirming correct style guide usage. Copyediting aims to let the author’s voice and message shine by improving readability, accuracy, and structure. Good copyediting can elevate writing to make it excellent.

When to use it: In the middle of the process – after the writer is finished with their draft and before formatting and proofreading.

Proofreading: Perfecting the Page

What it is: Proofreading is a final review of text to check for any grammatical, formatting, punctuation, or mechanical errors. This will catch mistakes as small as an extra space or as large as misnumbered pages or an incorrect caption. Proofreading doesn’t involve changing the writing itself; in fact, there is typically NO rewriting, even if the text could use it. Proofreading will not necessarily make writing better, but it will eliminate typos and mistakes, and add polish. It’s the step that adds professionalism to published work.

When to use it: At the very, very end of the process – after a piece has already been copyedited and formatted.

But wait, how does a writer know which they need? Well, just as many recipes call for salt during cooking and salt at the very end, most writing needs both copyediting and proofreading. Skipping copyediting to only proofread at the end will result in a text that might be typo-free but is likely not cohesive. Alternatively, skipping proofreading is risky. Formatting can introduce many mistakes, as can the many hands a file passes through even after it’s copyedited. That’s not to say these approaches can’t stand alone; a menu or calendar may only need a proofread since there’s not much text, and an author may decide to only copyedit a document that will be proofread and published at a later date.

Keep in mind that there are even more types of editing not mentioned here, just as you can find even more types of salt in a fine-dining kitchen. Line editing and developmental editing are often used with prose, but here at Far and Loud we offer the two main forms of editing that businesses use, copyediting and proofreading. Both have their place and when used correctly, will combine to make your writing delicious.

And, for those of us who could use it, here’s a handy guide to cooking with salt.