Connected Writing Made Simple

If you want your written content to stick to your audience, there must be a word dance between expertise and relatability to make a strong connection.

One side of the pair is all business, while the other partner is the social butterfly.

Connected writing necessitates both, just like most relationships need both partner types for a healthy balance. All business is boring. All chat is fluff. But, when both come together in your writing, the result will be magnetic.

Remember who should be part of your conversation.

It doesn’t matter the industry you are in, the fact is whether you’re revamping your website copy or writing a blog, you’re talking to humans. It sounds obvious, but read enough websites, and you’ll see that people forget they have audiences. I’ve read many websites where the company appears to be talking to themselves or writing an operating procedures handbook.

Think of your website as a movie preview for your business. It should quickly capture and woo, inform, entertain, and beckon its readers to return back for more.

Why keep it interesting?

Your website and company-generated content exist for one reason- connection for conversion.

Connected writing will get you more clicks, shares, and people who want to come back for the sequel! They’re going to want to know what you’re bringing next. Use these small hacks to deliver your messages in a way that leaves your audience informed but also delighted.

Tweak #1 Lighten up and insert a little humor. Humor helps to humanize your content. Humanizing your content builds trust, and people buy from who they trust. Tell a funny story that connects to a concept you’re trying to share. Come up with a funny headline or email subject line. Please keep it clean and appropriate, but a little funny goes a long way to create connected writing.

Tweak #2 Fragments are your friend. I hope my 5th grade English teacher, Mrs. Fowler, will forgive me for giving you this advice, but it’s ok to have fragments because writing for your audience isn’t technical writing. Totally acceptable. {See, you just read that, and it sounded ok to both of us!}.

Connected writing flow should be conversational. A conversation can be formal or informal, but we don’t always speak in complete sentences. Fragments will help make your points clearer. They’ll also help your delivery be a little punchier.

If you’re a good writer, writing in fragments might make you twitch at first. When I started professionally writing, my A+ technical writing skills had to learn to chill. My 5th grade teacher gets all the credit for why I can write a bang-up case study, but those same skills made some of my early writing clunky and rigid. Don’t be stiff. Try writing an incomplete sentence.

Tweak #3 Create a little drama… There was power in that ellipsis, right? It signaled a little intrigue. And the italics. You read the phrase a little different simply because of how I typed it. Use an ellipsis, periods, a dash, caps, or italics (sparingly, please) to add tone and texture that keeps your audience hanging on. your. every. word.

You’ve got this.

Keep in mind… your audiences are people just like you and me. They’re looking for content to sink their teeth into or that’s highly readable to get the gist of what you do and can provide for them. So play with your words and use these three little, but highly effective tweaks, and your audience will eat up what you’re dishing out.

Have a website or writing project that needs my magic wand? Let’s connect. Your words should be working for you like the 7-11. 24/7. I can help you deliver a message that will drive your profits through conversion.