Dumb Down Copy For More Sales
Have you ever read a website and it just seemed to "stiff" or "formal" to you?
Or you felt like they were talking over your head, using a lot of buzzwords and lingo you didn’t undertsand?
Me too.
That leads to this little tip that will REALLY help your copy make more sales (or generate more leads, or whatever you need it to do)…
Keep it simple! Yes, even "dumb it down".
Copy should read like conversation; it should flow naturally and be easy to listen to (or read).
Using big words and jargon might sound impressive, but it won’t get you sales. Which would you prefer?
Use strong, punchy words. Write simply and clearly.
Read Strunk & White’s Elements of Style - and follow its advice.
Avoid jargon.
I constantly have to remind myself to use more visually descriptive words. And, I try to not leave any questions unanswered.
Teachers have some interesting tools to help evaluate writing level.
Graphs have been developed that plot sentence length vs number of syllables to define writing levels.
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/fry/fry2.html
You can see from that graph to use short sentences and short words.
2 easy ways to evaluate your copy:
- recent versions of MS Word have this option feature built it.
- You can also submit a URL or a Word Doc to
http://www.readability.info/