The 3 main objectives of plain English writing are findability, understandability, and usability. My revised introductory post for my business uses all three of these objectives in order to make it easier for my clients and potential clients to quickly find information, understand what my business is and what I’m offering, and then take action to become a potential long-term client. (W8, Briscoe, Plain language Writing, W25, slide #18,62)
Findability- Since people don’t read content on websites the same as they do with print writing such as books or magazines, instead they skim through the written content to find what they need and the most important information about the website because this saves time and it means that they don’t have to read word for word of the entire written content to understand what is going on or to gain valuable information. That’s why valuable important information is always put at the very top and clearly displayed, so it doesn’t go over anybody’s head. If I wrote information on my website with super long paragraphs that are all smushed together, people would instantly lose interest and leave to go find something that has a better layout because nobody wants to waste time reading article upon articles.
What I did in order to make findability a factor in my introductory post, I made sure to use bold headings for each section so people could easily tell where new information is being displayed and they can clearly see what type of information they’re going to get from the heading, I also made sure to use bullet points for most of my things since if I put my information such as the services we offer into paragraphs instead of using bullets, it would look super overwhelming and messy because I serve more than 3 different services plus products and I also give descriptions so it would just look unsatisfying to read and I know even myself wouldn’t want to read that because it’s not as clear as when you put it in bullet points because people can scan through it and sometimes they don’t even need to read the side descriptions they can just clearly see services that we offer. I also made sure to space out my text enough so that there are gaps in between and it doesn’t look all mushed together to give the reader a better experience to differentiate specific information from other information. By writing my content like this, it’s very easy to scan through it, and the reader can immediately read what my business offers, who we are and why they should trust us. (W8, Briscoe, Plain language Writing, W25, slide #74)
This is an effective way to write content on websites because the F-pattern style makes sure important information is written at the very top, adding supporting details in the middle, and then a call to action at the bottom. Since this is not an email, I didn’t want to put the call to action at the very top because I feel like that’s throwing it in people’s faces, and might look kind of annoying so I put it somewhere where I think it would make sense which was one at the very bottom because after a reader scans or reads through my content they can decide if they have any more follow-up questions or concerns so they can easily have a CTA to contact my business, And then I added two other CTA’s in the middle of my content encouraging readers to book a service or buy a product by giving them an exclusive offer that they get for signing up and booking a service. So I’m confident that this layout follows how people naturally read online, so it doesn’t cause any confusion or additional questions.
Understandability – Plain English doesn’t mean dumbing down your words or your content, but it means getting straight to the point and making sure the reader doesn’t have to work hard to understand the message. If writing is too formal and complex or full of unnecessary words, which is also considered as fluff, readers will get confused and leave right away. (W8, Briscoe, Plain language writing tips, W25, slide #all).
The things I did in order to follow understandability, was that I rewrote long or vague sentences into shorter and clear statements. For example, in my original introduction, the introduction was there, but it wasn’t easy to scan. It started off with one long paragraph with key details that were buried inside of it. It also explained what we do, but it didn’t stand out visually which makes it harder for readers to quickly find the services they need. They would actually have to go and read the paragraphs to find the information instead of just being able to scan it quickly. Instead of having too long introductory paragraphs explaining who we are and what we do, I added folded section headings so they could clearly see what kind of information they’re going to get from that section and then I kept the information in each section scannable and as short as possible while still adding all of the important key factors in.
This new layout that I fixed makes it easier to scan, and even though my original introductory paragraph did use the F pattern, it still wasn’t structured well enough to be scannable.
Usability – My original version ended with a call to action like my new version, but it was plain and easy to look past it. It simply said: “Ready to join the paws around the block community? Contact us today!”
I changed my CTA section to be stronger and more inviting by offering the readers something in return which will motivate them to want to book a service or purchase a product more effectively. I think that making my CTA more persuasive and benefit-driven instead of a simple “Contact us’ is way more effective. I now offer a free first-dog walk to encourage new customers to try our services without risk. I decided to add this in because it will get rid of any type of hesitation that readers might be feeling and give them a reason to take action quickly.
I also included a 10% discount for first-time bookings or any eco-friendly product purchases. This also was included because I’m giving readers the flexibility to pick whatever service they want or even to just buy a product and still get something out of it, I didn’t only want to offer free dog walking because other people might not even own a dog and are looking for other things and they might feel left out.
Having a CTA in the middle section of my content makes it easier for the readers to see it right away instead of having to scroll down because it’s important to keep all of our information on one page since yes, people sometimes will scroll when reading but the majority won’t. Then I have my other CTA at the very end of my content because if a reader gets through everything (hopefully) and still feels like some questions are unanswered and wants to know more information, they can easily click on the “reach us anytime” and go straight to our email.