The internet’s a fast place, and if your digital copy reads slowly most browsers will leave your page without a second glance. Writing that’s pacey and authoritative stands much more chance of keeping consumers engaged. But sustaining it while maintaining your company’s unique tone of voice is quite a challenge.
We’ve listed our top five tips to help you write with urgency:
- Use active language. It puts action at the heart of your copy, whereas the passive voice is ponderous. ‘We build X for Y’ is immediate and authoritative, while ‘X is built by our company for Y’ lacks confidence. The active version is also three words shorter.
- Avoid inverted sentences. Beginning with a subordinate clause is rarely a good idea. ‘Wearing blue overalls and using the latest equipment, our engineers can solve your problems’ relegates the message you’re trying to get across to the end of the sentence. ‘Our engineers use the latest equipment to solve your problems’ is much sharper.
- Don’t overuse commas. The comma is great for breaking up sentences to further meaning. But using too many fragments your copy, making it difficult to understand and slowing the pace. If your sentence is filled with commas, it’s probably got too many clauses.
- Full stops are underrated. No sentence is too short. Keep things moving quickly with plenty of full stops. The message you’re trying to transmit will be clearer, too.
- At the same time, vary the length of your sentences. A passage filled with short sharp sentences can seem too abrupt. Don’t be afraid to throw in the odd longer sentence, to make the reading experience as interesting and natural as possible.
The web’s filled with successful companies, communicating with their own distinctive tones. But successful copy that rambles along before getting to the point is rarely effective, particularly online.
To inject urgency into your digital copy, please contact the Stratton Craig team today.