Keep your readers engaged
Occasionally, our clients may think we are pedantic about wanting to get everything about their communication just right. One often overlooked area is the words, or to use the trade jargon, the 'copy'. People judge - and will make decisions - about your copy based on how it looks. Yes, even before they read it. One of the most critical visual cues we give our readers is the length of a paragraph.
A communication packed with long paragraphs looks heavy and off-putting. In fact, your reader is likely to skip just one lengthy paragraph.
So how long is too long? Jon Ziomek, a journalism professor at Chicago's Northwestern University, has created a really simple rule-of-thumb. In fact, it's the rule of 1-2-3-4-5.
Ziomek suggests that your paragraph contains: 1 main thought, expressed in 2 to 3 short sentences, taking up no more than 4 to 5 lines on the page. More than five lines and your paragraph is over the magic 1 inch ... and that's too heavy for most readers.
What this means for you
Take a look at your website, brochures ... anything you want to be read. Take out an old fashioned Imperial ruler and count your paragraphs over 1 inch (25mm).
How do you score?
2/10 > Well done
4/10 > Room for improvement
6/10 > Call in the copy doctor
8/10 > It's looking terminal
10/10 > Stand up and step away from the keyboard ... now.
Posted by: Brad @ 10:11 PM, Tuesday, 12 September, 2005