I’ll be honest with you:
We published an article that sucked. Big time.
The sole number of people who kept reading past the first 2-3 sentences can be compared with the Jaguar's new logo fan base.
This was surprising to me, especially because we took the time to add fancy words, funny analogies, all that spice.
So I went through it again with “fresh” eyes and realized that we started off with a grammar mistake.
Those fancy words we mentioned were actually over the top and unnecessary in most places.
And the cherry on top - in the attempt to sound smart, we sounded too arrogant.
To stop this from happening again, I went through other writings.
I started reading a story that kept my attention until my mom decided it was the perfect opportunity to bother me with throwing out trash.
I was pissed off because I was interrupted, and then it hit me - wouldn’t it be amazing if all our readers felt this way in similar situations?
The sole idea of someone being annoyed because they stopped reading my content felt so amazing that I dug in and found 3 crucial differences between boring and attention-grabbing writing:
Be like Noah
Noah is my high school friend who writes and talks like he was the sole inspiration for Sade’s Smooth Operator.
We used to watch a local soccer league together. One Sunday, about 50 people were in the stadium, and the game was criminally boring.
Suddenly, he started talking like a commentator.
He was so good and made the boring game so interesting that people started sitting around us wanting to hear more.
After the game, I asked him how he did it, and he gave away his secret - he wrote it all down first.
He had it prepared days in advance. Tweaked it on a daily basis.
And that is the first ingredient. Behind every good writing, there are many drafts that led to it.
Write your first draft. Let it marinate overnight. Update it tomorrow. Repeat.
Let it Slide
Is there a person in this World who would gladly go through any legal document with pleasure?
Maybe.
But the vast majority would like to actually enjoy their life. If you can make it possible with your writing - go for it.
One of the best ways to achieve this - use simple words that are easy to read.
No need to add technical terms and unknown jargon just to sound smart.
Your words should slide comfortably from one point to another.
Write like A Human
These days more and more content starts with “At this company we value this and that. This is where some nonsense meets another nonsense”
Doesn’t this annoy you?
Yesterday I had trouble logging in the PayPal. Started freaking out a bit.
I can’t message a human agent if I’m not logged in, so the struggle was real.
But worry not, the Assistant Bot was there to help.
“If you want to talk to a human you have to log in first”
Yes, that’s all the help I got. Lost 30 minutes of my life and got frustrated as a bonus.
Now imagine my happiness when I finally reached a human. Beyond belief.
And this is the exact way how you can reach your audience.
Write like you’re having a conversation with them.
Make it personal. Tailored for them.
It will skyrocket your responses.
The Bottom Line…
Attention is earned. Sentence by sentence. Paragraph by paragraph.
Talk soon,
Iso
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