I’ll tell you a secret.
I’m not writing this post.
I’m dictating it into my Sony digital recorder while heading down the freeway at 65mph.
See, I read a post on the Content Marketing Institute blog yesterday about the uses for an audio recorder in content marketing. Great post.
Earlier, while going through the initial stages of creating an editorial calendar, I realized that I didn’t have a topic for today.
I saw the recorder on my desk. Remembered what I’d read. And thought, “Why not?”
So I got in the car, stuck the recorder on my dashboard…and here we are.
The point I’m making here is very simple. You’re able to follow along with what I’m saying, right?
Which means this content is accomplishing its goal. (And I did it without revision after revision, staring at a computer screen until blood leaks out of my forehead.)
I’m just talking. As if you were sitting in the passenger seat next to me.
And therein lies a big part of developing clear content.
Talking To Yourself is the First Sign of…Content!
We’ve all heard the age-old truism. “Write like you talk.”
People say it to avoid getting bogged down in overly-complicated language, too many buzzwords, looooong paragraphs…
Why avoid them? Because they all disrupt the flow of conversation that occurs within the content.
And between the content & its reader. You.
That flow is best maintained as if the content on a webpage (or in a case study, or email) mimics the type of conversation you would have with a person sitting across from you.
When you don’t write like you talk, something funny happens. People will go to your website with questions. They’ll skim the website. They might hit on an answer or two.
Then they’ll call you.
And they’ll ask you the same questions. Questions (you thought) you answered on the site!
Message Unclear Houston, Please Repeat
Why is this? It’s because they weren’t following the conversation on the website enough.
It may well have answered their questions. But it didn’t do a good enough of being clear, of reaching them.
Clear enough for them to grab on. Enough to catch the idea and integrate it into their own thoughts.
So they did get an overall impression from skimming:
“These people know what they’re talking about. I should talk with them.”
But they didn’t spend the time to read through & get caught in the conversation your website’s trying to create.
Writing Like You Talk Creates a Conversation
Now that essentially means the website failed to do its job. But a lot of them do that. (Not pointing fingers.)
Let me reiterate the point. The point of writing like you talk is to create a conversation that you want to have with your reader.
Writing like you talk is how we describe content that mimics a live conversation. If you can write web content that reads like you and another person are chatting in Starbucks, you more than double your chances of the content
- Being fully read
- Being taken seriously
- Spurring people get in touch with you (for the right reasons!)
(At this point I swore because somebody cut me off. I’ll leave that out. You might be reading this at work!)
What’s the best way to do this?
Well, how did I write all this? I finished dictating this post before I reached my turnoff. 15 minutes of talking to myself. It may be crazy…but it works!
Ever talked yourself to a webpage? Or blog post?
