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Five

content

writing

hacks
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1. Lose the fluff.
Let positivity ring through in your writing. The odd exclamation mark
or confetti emoji is great!

But if we use them in every other sentence, they start to feel a bit
forced and insincere.

The same goes for superlative words like ‘great’, ‘lovely’, and ‘awesome’.

If we use them all the time, they start to lose their power. (If
everything’s awesome, then is anything really awesome? ).

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Let’s not get started on ‘delighted’.

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2. Use an active voice.

Be clear about who’s doing what.

Example:

Passive voice: ‘A decision has been made to restrict your access.’

Active voice: ‘We have decided to restrict your access.’

Using active voice helps to show responsibility and remove ambiguity.

Don’t risk creating problems that don’t need to exist.

Need a way to remember? Think ‘what would pandas do?’ . Add ‘...by

pandas’ to the end of any phrase you think might be passive. If it still

makes sense, then it’s passive. Example:

‘A decision has been made to restrict your access... by pandas.’

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Using ‘...by pandas’ won’t make sense if you’re using an active voice.

‘We have decided to restrict your access... by pandas.’

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3. Ditch the avoidable.

If possible, cut extra expressions that don’t offer value to your writing.

Example:

‘During the course of the research, the users did not like the navigation.’

can be:

‘During the research, the users did not like the navigation.’

or even:

‘Research shows that users do not like the navigation.’

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4. Use sentence case.
Consider these:

1. WHY LETTER CASING IS IMPORTANT FOR READABILITY

2. Why Letter Casing is Important for Readability

3. Why letter casing is important for readability

User psychology and eye-tracking software tell us that people tend to

read sentence case easier (number 3 above). Consider this when you’re
writing titles, headings, and labels.

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 5. Be human.
“Good communicators make themselves look smart. Great
communicators make their audiences feel smart.”

Easy to get through

Patronizing writing

(or else a book for kids)

Best writing

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Makes user feel dumb Makes user feel smart

Frustrating, if not
Rewarding, but hard to

terrible writing popularise writing

Difficult to get through

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Read more on Medium:

https://laurenmacneish.medium.com/

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