Do you really know what you’re writing when you publish content onto the web?
Hopefully, the answer to that question is a firm “Yes!”
However, does your audience understand you? Do you write in coporate speak or do you connect with each and every individual reader?
Unless you write for a select audience then the chances are you won’t be able to cater for every reader’s reading comfort zone. You simply can’t please all of the readers all of the time can you? Surely, striking a balance between patronising your readers and confusing them with jargon just can’t be done?
Well, that’s what feedback is for so don’t be shy to ask for it and don’t make it difficult for people to give you feedback. Until recently, in order to comment on this blog you would have had to register a user account first. In my attempt to curb spam, I was putting up obstacles in the path of interactivity and feedback.
Another way to ensure your audience can understand you (I can read articles about sub-particle physics, but that doesn’t mean I understand them) is to analyse your writing style. What kind of education must a reader have in order to understand your writing?
One way to carry out this analysis is to use some sort of readability test that looks at the words you use and examines the way you string them together to form sentences.
Apparently, this blog is at the reading level of ‘Most popular novels‘ (Gunning Fog Index 8.48), which hopefully means I’m not alienating too many readers.
How easy to understand is your writing?
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