How to Get Your Reader’s Attention

How to Get Your Reader’s Attention

To immediately get your reader’s attention, use a killer title/headline that stirs curiosity and make the first paragraph four lines maximum. We only have five seconds in which to engage. A nice short paragraph increases probability that your reader’s are going to read the article.

1. Write at a level that is optimum for your reader. Consider your reader’s “time” and focus on what they want and make it EASY. Anything written at greater than the 8th grade level takes more time.

2.  Make each sentence an average of about 15 words per sentence. Switch it up so you have some shorter sentences and some longer sentences.

3.  Readability potential. Keep each paragraph no longer than six to eight lines. Long paragraphs give the perception of the reader is this is going to be hard to read.

NOTE: Your reader’s perception is your reader’s reality. If they think it’s going to be hard to read, they won’t try and you’ve lost that five second advantage (even if you start them with a nice short paragraph).

4.  Writing in the active voice is one of the best things that you can do to write better. Active voice is the current preferred style. Even though we know it’s better to use the active voice, we universally ignore this advice.

When you change to an active voice, your writing is better and clearer.

Some additional tips:

· Use bullet points and numbered lists

· Use bold, underline, or highlight to emphasize key points

· Use images or video if they help illustrate a point. See the image below that shows the Readability Statistics for this article

readability-statistics-microsoft-word

For your information, this article is 426 words, the average words per sentence are ~13, and there are no passive sentences. The readability ease is 64.6, and the Flesch-Kincaid grade level is 7.4 (below 8). Run your next article through the grammar check and make the necessary changes.

Using Microsoft Word, the Readability Statistics you have to pay attention to are:

  • The word per sentence that gives me the average words per sentence
  • The number of passive sentences
  • The Flesch Reading Ease
  • The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level

How to Get Readability Statistics from Microsoft Word

Display readability statistics from the Standard toolbar: click REVIEW, Spelling and Grammar.

To Change Your Settings in Microsoft Word
  1. Click the Microsoft Office Buttonclip_image001, and then click Word Options.
  2. Click Proofing.
  3. Make sure you select ‘Check grammar with spelling’ in the menu.
  4. Under ‘When correcting grammar in Word’, select the Show readability statistics check box.

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