When I was studying to be a teacher, I developed passionate viewpoints about many things:  

• life-long learning
• educational equity
• instructional design 
• learning styles 
• & reading comprehension 

 

These are all pieces of the Education puzzle we teacher-folk take into consideration, with the end goal of levelling the playing field. 

We want to make learning accessible to as many kids as possible, so that they can have a better experience,  and ideally, a better life after school.  (Lofty goals, I know).

 

The key to much of this “better outcome”  is reading comprehension. Reading the words isn’t enough- you have to understand what you’ve read, and retain something, so that it can be useful to you. 

 

Why am I telling you this? 

 

Because if you are writing copy or content that’s being published on the web, (that’s everybody) reading comprehension is important to you, too. 

 

Let me explain what I mean, with an example.

I was talking to an old friend the other day, and the conversation came around to health disparities. This particular friend teaches Public Health at the Graduate level. He asks his students to create brochures and other written publications about public health issues. 

He tells his students to write for an audience that reads at the 6th grade level…and what he often hears is  “I don’t want to have to dumb down my writing. Can’t people read?”

 

The short answer is yes, many people can read, but you might be surprised at how well.  Beyond questions of basic literacy,  there are many reasons why people struggle to comprehend, or grasp the full meaning of the text they read online, none of which imply a lack of intelligence- 

• Second-language learners
• ADHD/ADD/ other attention disorders
• Other Distractions (kids, pets, multi-tasking)
• Reading style (skimmers & scrollers)
• And writing style!

 

From this standpoint, it’s not about dumbing it down- it’s about accessibility: it’s about wanting to get your message across to as many people as possible. 

When we’re talking about public health, it might be obvious why language needs to be accessible, but what about websites and other digital media?

A lot of website copy assumes that readers have a certain level of reading comprehension. Many also assume that readers already know about whatever is being offered. Sometimes, this is true, but often, people visit websites because they are looking for information about something they don’t know much about.  

If the language isn’t accessible, are they going to get the information they need? 

Part of traditional copywriting is about using words to convince or persuade- but that’s not really where my interest lies. 

I’m interested in language comprehension and language disparities. I’m interested in copywriting as a style of writing that allows as many people as possible to grasp the meaning of those words- writing designed to level the field. This is a big part of my WHY.

 

As a business owner, it’s in your best interest to make sure your copy is accessible to as many of your potential ideal clients as possible. Writing that is easy to read is known as having a high “readability” score. In concrete terms, this means:

• More engagement
• More connection with readers and trust of your brand
• Easy to read = Quicker to read  and easier to understand 
• Good for SEO, good for humans

 

If you’re not sure how to tell if your writing is accessible, you can try this free tool: https://goodcalculators.com/flesch-kincaid-calculator/

Or this paid one: https://readable.com/

 

My rough draft of this document was assessed at a Grade 10-12 level. My aim is to get it to a Grade 8 level, or below. 

Here are some of the things I’m going to do to improve the readability of my post before I publish it:

• Forget what my high school English teacher taught me about compound and complex sentences 
• Add headings and subheadings
• Shorten my sentences
• Break up my paragraphs with bullet points
• Reconsider word-choice, and if I really need that big word, make sure I include an explanation of it
• Reduce my use of jargon or cultural nuance
• Make sure I’m using an “active” voice.

What do you do to make your website copy easier to understand?

If writing for the web using easily accessible language is something you are interested in, too, I invite you to leave a comment below.