Have you ever read something unnecessarily complicated? Yes? Then I imagine it probably frustrated you. Experts in their fields have a habit of using big words to make them sound like experts. Funnily enough, this is almost the opposite of what you should do when writing content.
When you do write content, you should make this readable to the beginner levels of your chosen area. It makes reading it far more accessible, and just as enjoyable to those that are experts.
If you respect your users, you make things short, clear, and to the point.
So let's see how we can make our content easier for those reading. I must preface that I'm not a copywriter. Nonetheless, these tips should help any of you make better content:
Use simpler words
It's in the title, but make your text simpler if you can. It's the same as fractions. With fractions, you could say "I've got 72/96", or if you simplify this, you could say "I've got 3/4". The same logic applies to words. Where you could say "Internationalisation", you could have said "Translation".
Make it simple.
Don't use technical jargon
Similar to the point above, don't use technical jargon, you're limiting the content to those who understand those terms. Be inclusive; use simple language.
Don't use crazy punctuation
Most of the world still struggle with punctuation, and I'll occasionally include myself in that group. Don't use unnecessary punctuation if you can. When there is a lot of usage of colons, and semicolons, it raises the required reading level of your users. On the note of reading levels, the average reading level for the UK is that of a 9-year-old, I don't think many 9-year-olds understand colons and semicolons.
Get to the point
Users are reading the content, don't waste their time with useless content.
Put yourself in the user's shoes
Imagine you aren't the expert reading this, but someone that doesn't have all of your knowledge. By putting yourself into this position, you can consider what that user would need to know to make your content simple. With this mindset, what you write should have empathy for your user.
End note
There aren't too many tips in this post, but hopefully, it'll give you some things to consider when you're writing content.
