Rule one of good audience engagement: avoid choppy copy. You know what I’m talking about: Sentences that are too short or too long, convey too much information or too little… there are so many ways good copy can turn bad, it’s hard to know sometimes if you’re doing it right.
Good copy, like any kind of good writing, has a sense of cadence and rhythm. Read your favorite novel aloud, and you’ll see what I mean. All the words fit together. There’s a sense of motion to the message.
Now think about this: In most cases, web copy is a lot less involved than a novel. A novelist needs to keep up the rhythm for hundreds of pages – you need to pull it off for about 1,000 words, give or take. It’s child’s play in comparison.
Now, I’m not trying to suggest that it’s easy, only that you get the job done faster. Here are a few things I look for in my copywriting company that tell me our writers are delivering quality product.
1. How Long Are Your Sentences?
Sentences that are 20 words or fewer tend to have the best sense of flow and rhythm. That last sentence was 17 words, this one is 15 and, together, they flow well. Now let’s try expanding to 33 words and you will see that it becomes more of an effort on the part of the reader to keep up with what you’re trying to say.
Did you notice how much more effort it took to read a sentence with 33 words? Tire out your readers, and you’re going to lose them. Short is often better. Moreover, alternating shorter sentences and longer ones also creates a sense of rhythm.
I’m not suggesting that you consciously sit there thinking, “That last sentence was 18 words; I need to shoot for 10 this time.” I am suggesting, however, that as you proofread your copy you also listen to it. Then, if something seems choppy or long-winded, you can make changes. Go back and either combine or break up sentences to create a better rhythm.
2. Does Your Copy Have “Synonym Synergy?”
Nothing breaks up a good rhythm in your writing like reusing words repeatedly. In fact, I can think of few things that are more jarring. Thesaurus.com is a great resource. It’s one that I recommend to my writers to ensure that the message in their copy remains clear but also fresh.
Making good use of synonyms is a great way to spend more time on a subject. The longer you stay on a topic, the staler it can become. That’s why I replaced more time with longer. I also replaced subject with topic. That wasn’t an accident; it was an effective way to make your brain think it was getting fresh information throughout both sentences.
Reusing words is like forcing your readers’ brains to play Tug-o-War with themselves. Every time they see the same word, they snap back to the last instance and get stuck on it. You can eliminate that issue easily with good synonyms.
3. Have You Considered The Stressed Syllable Rule?
I will admit that I’m a bit on the fence about this one, and it certainly isn’t something I have ever returned work to a writer to correct, but it is definitely something to consider.
The stressed syllable rule states that you should always end any sentence wherein a major point is concluded with a word whose emphasis is on the last syllable. The easiest way to do this is to end those sentences on words with just one syllable.
The logic here is that single syllables are stressed more often than not. Of course, this isn’t a hard and fast rule. Remember “The Little Engine That Could”? “I think I can, I think I can…” Only the word “think” in that sentence is stressed, but every word in the sentence is one syllable. Now look at it from a different perspective. Do you think I can’t make my point clearer? Well, I think I can. That sentence ends with a stressed syllable, and it puts a period on my point quite nicely.
Again, don’t obsess over it. If, however, you feel like a particular sentence is a little weak, you might want to consider altering it to have a stressed syllable on the end.
Those three main elements will take you far in creating copy that has a good rhythm. I will caution you, however, not to try to make everything you write fit into one specific mold. That’s not the point. The point is to make sure that every impression in the current mold fits. Figure out the identity of each page and make it consistent. That’s the last, and probably most important, element.