Who are the best communicators?

The press and advertising copy-writers have many years of experience in communicating effectively through print and graphics. We ignore these lessons at our peril. This does not mean that we should use worldly underhanded methods in evangelistic writing. Much advertising copy is designed to make people unsatisfied with their current lot in life and then offer satisfaction and fulfillment only in association with the product. Hey, wait a moment... Of course, done in a worldly way, advertising strategy is to rob the reader of self-esteem (no-one has a kitchen/family/appearance that good) and then offer the illusory dream of happiness only when the product is purchased.

However, we should look at the practical side of copywriting. These rules are validated by research done by advertisers, and come from the classic Confessions of an Advertisng Man by David Ogilvy, still easily available secondhand and libraries.

For advertising agencies, it is commercial life or death whether someone reads through to the end of a short advertising feature. They have carefully analyzed what strategies hold a reader to the end. Although they are recommended for creating adverts, they apply equally to readable articles. This is the way that information best flows. It's what our eyes and brains can best respond to.

1. A subheading between the headline and the body copy will heighten the reader's appetite for the feast to come.

2. Start the body copy with a large initial letter - i.e. a 'drop capital'. This increases readership by 13%.

3. Keep the opening paragraph short. A long first paragraph frightens readers away. And all paragraphs should be short. Use leading (i.e. a gap) between paragraphs, not just an indent, which increases readership by 12%.

4. Use frequent 'subheadings' above new sections. They keep the reader marching forward. Some should be written as questions, to excite curiosity in the next section.

5. Set copy no more than 40 characters wide. Newspaper columns are usually no more than 26 characters. The wider the measure, the fewer the readers.

6. Insert illustrations from time to time.

7. Help the reader into your paragraphs with arrowheads and bullets.

8. If you have sequential related facts to deliver, use numbered points (as here). Don't put them into one paragraph. If they do not relate sequentially, use a bullet list.

9. Don't use reversed copy (white type on a black background) and don't use text over strongly colored backgrounds.

10. Set your main headline, and all text, in lower case. Capitals are harder to read because the brain recognises word shapes, not individual letters.

11. Avoid small fonts.

Exceptions for the Web

Two of Ogilvy's recommendations have been left out - they don't work on a computer monitor. 'Sans serif' fonts (those without 'feet' on the letters) are easier to read on a monitor, whereas he recomemends serif fonts for paper. Research has shown that serif fonts will slow reading on a monitor by 20%. Verdana in particular is clear, as it was designed for computer monitors. (This page is set in Verdana.) Switch fonts on this page to see the differences. verdana | helvetica | arial | default sans-serif | default serif | times new roman. A majority of browers will display text in Times New Roman if you do not specify a font face. (This page is set in Helvetica.)

Ogilvy also suggests breaking up the monotony of long copy by putting some paragraphs in bold or italic. On a monitor however, italic characters are not easy to read because the angled risers of letters become very pixellated. Bold text can be overpowering. Consider putting appropriate paragraphs or quotations in narrower 'blockquote' sections instead to give interesting variation.

The issue of characters per line is very important. Research has shown that on a monitor, anything over 65 characters per line becomes harder to read. The obvious conclusion from this is that the text on a web-page should not occupy the full width of the monitor. Wide margins are needed. A common page structure is that with very wide left-hand margin which may include some navigation links, graphics, and/or a different colored background. The situation is complicated by the fact that there are widely-differing screen resolutions in use, which will alter the number of characters per line for the end-user. Style sheets can be used to create wide margins, and by careful choice of the appropriate units of measurement (you can use pixels, points, percentages, or ems), flexible layouts can be achieved which look good at different screen resolutions.

Paragraphs

Ogilvy's point #3: print publications often indent new paragraphs, without any gap between paragraphs, to maximize word count on a limited area of paper. On a computer monitor, where white space is "free", there should always be a full line-break between paragraphs, and paragraphs should be shorter than is common in print media. See example of the same page: [indents, no linebreaks] [linebreaks]

Drop Caps

Drop capitals can be specified with CSS though not entirely successfully. Far better is a larger-font uppercase letter ('raised cap') - as used on this page. The simplest way to do it is enclose the initial capital in <big> tags, though there is a neater and more configurable CSS solution.

There are many other factors to make web-pages readable and usable, therefore holding rather than losing visitors. See:

• Usable Web
• Jakob Neilsen's Alertbox
• Usability News
• Journalistic Writing - PDF style-guide from BBC: although written for radio, the need for clarity and brevity applies equally on the Web. Download it to your hard-disk using the 'save a copy' tool at the very left-side of the Acrobat toolbar.

Headlines and subheads

Learning to write enticing headlines and links is vital for retaining visitors.

Frequent subheadings are even more important on the Web than in print - see sample page: [no subheads] [good subheads]

The use of color is also very important in communication.

Other pages on writing:

• Avoiding idiom
  
• Avoiding Christian jargon
• Assuming zero Christian knowledge
• House-style and grammar guide
• Writing enticing headlines and titles

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