4 Traditional Writing Rules You Can Break When Writing Digital Copy
Since the first day of Kindergarten, everyone is taught a variety of rules that allow us to effectively communicate through writing.
We are taught rules on the correct use of grammar, proper formatting, spelling and punctuation in order for our articles and essays to make sense to those who read it.
And, while the majority of these rules should be strictly enforced, there are a few of that deserve unique consideration when developing copy for webpages.
Creating digital copy for businesses and brands has a completely different purpose than academic or traditional writing.
While the goal of academic writing is to teach basic principles, digital copy is geared toward marketing a product or service in a creative manner.
Of course, many of the writing rules we learned in school should not be ignored, but some of the more traditional ones may hinder your ability to communicate with a company’s target audience, in order to persuade them to buy a product or convert into a lead.
Here are four specific rules to review before writing your next blog article or creating your latest landing page:
First and Second Person
We can all remember being scolded by our English professor to never use “I”, “you” or “us” in essays or other forms of academic writing.
Through our education, we have mastered the art of writing in the third person voice to the point where we often don’t dare to include an alternative perspective.
For essays, research papers and other forms of academic writing, it is better to keep an objective, non-personal take on a subject so that the reader has an unbiased understanding of the subject’s entirety.
However, in the world of digital marketing, online copy is meant to engage users, which typically includes using the dreaded first and second person to communicate your point.
In order to sell a product, you need to connect with your audience in a way that establishes trust so that they feel comfortable using a particular service.
Using the third person voice creates a detached persona that may inhibit your ability to relate to your reader, making it difficult for them to buy into what you have to say.
The “Five Sentence” Paragraph Rule
As students, we are told that our essay paragraphs should be at least five sentences so that you can cram as much related information in one body of text. However, the larger the block of text, the harder it is to read and scan from a digital perspective.
As more people read content from online sources, shorter paragraphs become more necessary in order to keep the attention of the reader.
When writing digital content, try to keep paragraph length at two or three sentences so the content is not only compelling, but also easy to browse through.
By building paragraphs that are longer than five sentences, you increase your ability to distract your reader and lull them away from viewing the rest of your blog article or landing page.
Indentations and Spacing for Paragraphs
Along with shorter paragraphs, paying attention to your indentation and spacing can help your reader keep up with your content.
For academic papers, we are taught to write continuous content and indent the beginning of each paragraph to show the locations of the paragraphs within the paper.
However, online users engage digital copy differently than traditional offline mediums. Online users are typically interested in finding exactly what they want and moving on to the next step in the conversion process.
With this in mind, it is important that digital copywriters and content strategists remove indentations and spacing out your paragraphs in order to break up the writing and allow it to flow easier.
Paragraph breaks not only show when the article moves to a new thought, but also supports readability when combing through long, tedious articles.
Instead of including an indent along each paragraph, separate each point or subject with clear headers.
The Oxford Comma
For years, the debate over the usage of the Oxford comma has split grammar camps since its inception.
The Oxford Comma is the point of punctuation that is placed before the conjunction in a list of items. The Oxford Comma is accepted and encouraged in many style formats like MLA and Chicago Style, but it is not accepted in AP Style, which is the standard for most news and web writing.
Many English teachers will vouch for the Oxford comma’s clarity with particular sentences such as, “I ate dinner with my grandparents, the president and the pop star.”
It’s hard to determine if the president and the pop star are accompanying the grandparents for dinner, or if the president or pop star are the grandparents themselves.
Despite its popularity, AP Style omits the Oxford comma from web writing due to space concerns. Since web writing is geared toward short attention spans, brevity in writing is a desired goal.
As a result, the Oxford comma is typically not welcome in content writing with the exception of complicated lists.
Write For The User – Build Interest That Leads To Conversion
The ultimate goal of content writing is to reach an audience to the point where they trust you enough so they find a way to purchase from your site.
If your content is difficult to read or isn’t personal, your audience may not stay on your page very long and will move to another site.
By providing relatable, readable content, you better your chances of turning a mere view of interest into an actual transaction.