2023-10-04
“Content is King” in the digital sphere. Creating concise content, digestible for consumers is a superpower that you should develop.
Websites must move beyond offering high-quality content that informs and educates them. Content serves as the primary reason for attracting users to your website. Even within an e-commerce setting, eye-catching visual design alone may not convince users to make a purchase but content that describes the advantages of your products can.
Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it's decoration.
— zeldman (@zeldman) May 5, 2008
Generative AI bots including ChatGPT, Bing, and Bard have streamlined the process of accessing information for users. People now rely on these bots to consume precise and concise information instead of information foraging, which involves surfing through numerous web pages and piecing together fragments of information.
Studies have proven that most readers in today's world don’t read, they skim. This led to the creation of clean and concise content that is essential in a fast-paced era.
Here are 5 hacks to take your digital writing from good to great.
Writers may fall in love with the words. A piece of advice given to creative writers, Is to disallow yourself from falling in love with words and get straight to the point instead of specific phrases, words, and paragraphs you love.
Integrating AI tools into businesses will help you stay ahead of competitors.
instead of,
Artificial intelligence is the future of technology, and the growth of this industry is exponential. Integrating AI tools into businesses will help you stay ahead of competitors
Expletives or Swear words don't add more meaning to your writing.
For example:
It is/was/will
There is/was/were/will
Keyword research before writing content for websites is important.
instead of
It is essential to do keyword research before writing content for websites.
Modifiers are words added to a noun to create specificity. Some Modifiers count as clutter and should be removed. To find these problematic words include adverbs such as, very, or exceptionally.
Writing in the 21st century is different from writing in the 20th century.
Instead of,
Writing in the 21st century is very different from writing in the 20th century.
Adjectives are one efficient way to modify nouns. Using adjectives makes sentences shorter and simpler.
A well-monitored project will create quality outcomes.
Instead of,
A project with proper project management will create quality outcomes.
Using passive voice is not wrong, but using active voice makes more content more readable and does not break the flow of the reader.
The project manager asked designers to redesign the website.
Instead of,
Designers were asked by the project manager to redesign the website
Redundancy, or words and phrases that reiterate the same idea. Redundancy can be present anywhere— from multiple clauses to a single word.
Unlike in the previous examples, where you could look for patterns or specific parts of speech, identifying redundancy requires a thorough reread of your content. When reading, ask yourself if any part of your writing repeats an idea you already stated.
In the example below, ‘so on’ is redundant because ‘such as’ already implies that the listed examples are only a part of a larger list;
AI image generators, such as Dall E-2, Mid Journey and Jasper Art are likely to change the internet.
Instead of
AI image generators, such as Dall E-2, Mid Journey, Jasper Art, and so on, are likely to change the internet.
Clauses can be grouped into two categories: dependent and independent clauses. An Independent clause is already a sentence, while a dependent clause must be joined with an independent clause to create a sentence.
Since dependent clauses are not essential for a proper sentence, they can often be removed for brevity.
To ensure quality outcomesProject managers must work with many different stakeholders
Instead
As we all know, Project managers must work with many different stakeholders
Constantly ask yourself if your reader will need this information to understand your point; if not, it can likely be removed.
AI has grown substantially in the past 5- years.
Instead of,
The field of AI, or Artificial intelligence, has grown substantially in the past 5-years
Sometimes, briefing content is unavoidable. You can prepare for these sections by removing unnecessary words in other places. Formatting, Trimming and Rephrasing can also eliminate clutter content, which increases the ease of readability and consumption.
Remember,
The greater the conciseness, the clearer the message and the faster users can grasp it.
What hacks do you use when writing for the internet?
