While lots of people love a good scare on Halloween, your readers may not. They want the information promised to them early on in a headline, social media post, or in the beginning sentences of the content. Anything that stands in their way could very easily scare them off.
It’s time to avoid silly mistakes. The mundane things you write off as not important are the very things that will cause your readers to click away. I know you have an important story to tell. You know that you have an important story to tell. You have to convince your readers of this.
In the journalism world, there’s something called a stopping point. These go for your marketing copy as well, and you’ll want to avoid them. They scare your readers away.
- Misspellings and Grammar errors – You work hard every day in your business to establish trust. It’s one of those things that takes weeks, months or years to establish. It can vanish in a moment if your readers sense that you don’t have a strong command of the language.
- Rough Transitions – Maybe jumping from topic to topic is necessary to prove your point. But you need to do it clearly, and in a way that will bring your readers with you. Phrases like however, in addition, conversely, above all, for instance, and likewise all work to improve connection between thoughts.
- Long Asides – Your headline and opening should tell readers what your point is. Make sure that you keep this promise to your readers. It doesn’t matter how good the writing is, if it’s not proving your point, then it’s not doing it’s job.
- Long Sentences and Paragraphs – Writing long breaks flow. If you have to exhale hard, or can’t take enough air to get through the sentence in the first place, you might have a problem. Readers notice this type of thing, and will choose something a little easier to work through.
Remember to leave the Halloween scares to the professionals!
Matt Brennan is a Chicago-area marketing writer and copy editor. He is also the author of Write Right-Sell Now.
