How to Write Better: 7 Tips from Best Seller Ann Handley

If you set out to talk about a topic you don’t know, you must research and think about it a lot. Otherwise, the text is forced and full of information gaps. This phase is called think before ink. Ask these questions before starting to write: 

• What is my purpose with this text? 
• What is my point of view on this matter? 
• Why does this matter to the people I seek to impact?  

As a content producer, the idea is that your text will serve those who read it, not yourself. So before you start writing, look at the topic you are going to write about from the point of view of your target audience. Ask yourself:

• What experience does this text create in the reader? 
• What questions can readers have? 
• Am I making the reader go to great lengths to understand what I mean?  

The start of a sentence should make a friendly impression on the speaker, encouraging him to continue reading. The tip is to eliminate unnecessary terms from the beginning of sentences.

Phrases to avoid at the beginning of sentences: 

• “In my opinion
• According to… 
• It is necessary/essential / suggested that… 
• I believe that… 
• The purpose of this email/post/article…  

Assume that your reader doesn’t know anything, but never that he is stupid.

The ideas you write should be clear and easy to understand. This thought is in line with item 1 of this post since clarity of view is often followed by the clarity of writing. Empathizing with the reader also helps to write more understandably.

•  Avoid jargon, clichés, and buzzwords that say little. 
• A thesaurus can help you get to the exact word you are looking for. 
• Jargon is a term that means what you mean, not what you think it means.

If you do Content Marketing, this tip sounds very familiar. Instead of selling to the reader, the idea is to convince them how your product or service solves problems for the target audience.

Set a daily goal for your writing, especially if you are working on a large project. 

If you need to write 5,000 words, divide the amount by the number of days available to finish the job.