Achieving Clarity In Your Web Content
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The professional writer has always tried for the shortest most accurate route to make his or her point, and since the idea of web content management has taken hold, clarity in writing has become important like never before. Whether you are writing or editing, the purpose of working with the words is to make the meaning clear. To that end, there are several things that the professional writer needs to keep in mind so that they might keep the piece they are working on focused.
The first of these guidelines pertains to good writing in general and web content management specifically. Although it might seem a little surprising at first to many scribes, it’s always a good idea to use the simplest words and phrases possible. Remember that when the text is too complex, readers might not understand what you mean and one of the best ways to avoid that is to use clear simple language.
It’s important to recognize that no two words have the same meaning. For example, there are many derivatives of the word ‘understand’ and they include options like ‘appreciate’ and ‘comprehend’, even though the most widely recognized is the first option. It’s necessary to understand that the professional writer’s job is not to show off how much they’ve learned about their chosen craft, but to express ideas and concepts.
Writers concerned with getting web content management right look to keeping their sentences short for the same reasons that they choose simple words. Some novices think that long sentences are impressive but the professional writer knows those types of sentences only turn readers off. They know that it’s actually much harder to write short sentences that are clear and get right to the point of the subject. Shorter sentences are easier to understand and they are also easier to punctuate correctly.
The experts stress that the professional writer that can keep the sentence length down to between 15 to 20 words is doing a good job of web content management. One handy trick for editors is to look for the words like ‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘who’ that often mark the point where the sentence can be broken in two. You can also try reading the sentence aloud to yourself and listening for the point where your voice drops as another indicator of where a sentence break should be. Although there are conventions like academic writing where the opposite of these concepts for clear writing holds true, most web content management holds to the idea that shorter is better.
Robert Starr is a professional writer/editor with several published books and a degree in journalism. He’s brought 20 years of experience in the craft to his own on line writing/editing service. You can reach him at
robstarr
