Register
Purpose in Africa: Doing well by doing good: Brand purpose is one of the most powerful tools for growth and sustainability in a global marketplace
Retail customer marketing: you may be missing the point: Grocery stores are not just grocery stores anymore. Most South African retailers have added some form of
SA Businesses unaware of online transactional banking fees: South African businesses have low awareness levels of the amount they are spending on electronic transactional banking
Mobile leads e-learning revolution in Africa: Mobile is flourishing in Africa and local e-learning developers are increasingly focusing on apps as the most
Openness will define the future of mobile transactions: If your smartphone is near you while you’re reading this – and I’ll be surprised if it
Enterprise Development: Proceed with caution: One of the things that South Africans are unanimous about is how critical it is that we
Getting into the swing of POPI: Keeping track of the latest version of impending legislation as it makes its way through the South
Make people and branding your recipe for success: Human resource management or HR is quickly developing into a cutting-edge sector within companies, responsible for spearheading
Be careful of the hidden traps in research!: Every marketer should know that getting relevance right ultimately drives brand preference and sales. Yellowwood has therefore
Talent Leadership Audit Compeition Banner
A+ A A-

Write for the eye as well as the mind

Rate this item
(0 votes)
Write for the eye as well as the mind

Writing well is important, but so is making it look easy to read. Huge chunks of unbroken text just looks too scary, too long and too much like hard work.


Pay attention to format and appearance – because it’s likely more people will read what you’ve written:

  1. Give it a headline – grab your readers attention. Without one, no matter how good your writing is, chances are it won’t be read.
  2. Keep paragraphs short – whenever you see a long paragraph try to break it up into two or more short ones.

    The more paragraphs you use the more whitespace there’ll be in your text, making it more inviting.

    Like this one here.

    And this one.

  3. Harness the power of numbers – they capture both attention and keep the reader oriented.
  4. Use bullet points
  • They’re easy to scan
  • They provide a visual break for your reader
  • They draw attention to important information
  • They communicate information quickly
  1. Use upper and lower case – capital letters may seem like a simple way to make text stand out – in fact it makes text harder to read and best avoided.
  2. Add emphasis by formatting – put important points in bold or whole sentences in italics.
      • It makes it easy to scan and pick out the most important information at a glance.
  1. Subheads break up large masses of type – they keep your reader engaged, acting as ‘mini headlines’ and keeping them moving through the rest of your text.
  2. Use captions with images – they’re consistently some of the most-read text on a page. Make them long enough to intrigue your reader to dig further.
  3. Don't indent paragraphs – separate paragraphs with space, rather than indents. It looks neater.
  4. Single spacing between lines – double spacing between paragraphs.
  5. Use white space – they’re fewer ways to make your text more readable.

    By adding lots of white space it lets your copy breath. It says read me. I’m not hardwork.

  6. Add colour images – if a picture is worth a thousand words, why not use an image? What better way to break up large blocks of grey copy than by adding photographs, illustrations, charts or diagrams.
Last modified on Wednesday, 10 April 2013 11:10
James Hurford

James Hurford

James Hurford | Copywriter | Trainer | Coach | Owner of Passion – the copywriting company.
 
At Passion we specialise in copywriting in plain language for the financial services sector. With over 25 years of experience working for top international companies, we bring a vast amount of knowledge and copywriting expertise to every client we work with.

Call

Website:

Latest from James Hurford

Related items

  • Warren Buffett's guide to writing in plain English
  • 20 tips for better business writing
  • How to conquer your fear of writing
  • The secret of good writing
  • How to get a greater response from your marketing
Login to post comments

Advertise

Sections

Copyright © 2013 gdmc (Geoffrey Dean Marketing Corporation cc). All rights reserved. Material may not be published or reproduced in any form without prior written permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy. External links are provided for reference purposes. SALeader.co.za is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites.

Login or Register

Register