Make sure every word counts

By Yorkshire journalist Andy Hirst from Huddersfield PR company AH! PR

The written word is at the core of every business, every day … but do you know how to write simply and effectively?

And, more importantly, do you want to?

The written word is everywhere – from blogs to adverts, from emails to memos – but in every instance the same principles remain. It needs to be read quickly and easily understood. If anything needs re-reading, then the writing wasn’t right in the first place.

When I was a news editor, journalists would sometimes ask me how long a story should be. They’d always get the same answer. What it’s worth. Never over-write to fill a page. You’re wasting your time and, even worse, your readers’ time.

So here are Yorkshire copywriter Andy Hirst’s top 10 tips to writing simply.

1. Ditch the long words. Write in a conversational style that flows, that’s easy on both the eye and the mind.
2. Use short sentences and short paragraphs.
3. Think of keywords when writing website content, blogs and press releases. More information on this at http://ah-pr.com/blog/learn-the-vital-basics-of-keywords-and-seo-in-under-5-minutes/
4. Use an online thesaurus if struggling for the right word … never accept second best when only that killer word will do.
5. If writing a press release make at least a third of it quotes.
6. Make every word count – we’ll have no fluffy descriptive nonsense here.
7. Write with energy and passion for the subject, not woolly-minded flim-flam. Who on earth wants to read that?
8. If you’re struggling to write something then the reader will definitely struggle to read it.
9. If you ramble, your reader’s attention will definitely go off-piste – in short, they’ll stop.
10. If anything you’re writing doesn’t add meaning then don’t add it in.

To learn more about the arts of copywriting http://ah-pr.com/blog/the-best-formula-for-copywriting-in-under-a-minute/