photo credit: Will Lion

Print ad, direct mail, email, Internet, doesn’t matter. When your message gets into the hands of prospects, they make two nearly instantaneous decisions based on simple questions: 1) is there anything in this for me? and 2) is this easy to read?

If the answers are 1) no and 2) no, then you’ve got a problem. See this article for how to deal with the what’s in it for me problem and let’s focus here on making sure your stuff is easy-to-read, using print for example.

There are four things you’ve got to worry about in order to get a yes to the easy to read question: Layout, font, spice and words. Length is not an issue in letters and print ads.

When your message is a solid block of type, it’s dead. Your prospect can see at a glance that it will be a pain in the butt, heavy slogging.

Loosen things up with a lead sentence of no fewer than 7, no more than 13, words, {in print} indents at the start of each paragraph, double space between paragraphs (if you have room), short paragraphs (but not staccato – vary the length from 1 to 7 or 8 lines, with most of the paragraphs 4 or 5 lines long), crossheads, and, one or two indented paragraphs.

This is a crosshead.

In print, pick a serif font, a classic serif font, like Baskerville, Caslon, Garamond, even the boring Times Roman. A serif is the little pedestal on which letters sit. San serif typefaces are okay (only okay, not great) for headlines and small sidebar boxes.

This is a serif face.

This is an indented paragraph.

When an art director wants to use a sans serif face for body copy, I ask just one question: Have The New York Times, The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, Forbes and Fortune switched to sans serif? Let me know when they do, then we might consider it.

If you never use reverse type or type on tone, you can’t go wrong.

Font size matters. Body copy should be between 12 point and 16 point.

You’re reading this in 12.

Spice is nothing more than a few tricks of the trade: underlining, italics, bold, handwritten notes, circled highlights. Used sparingly, as you would cumin or garlic when cooking, they boost readership and comprehension.

A short paragraph can be spice, too.

Now comes the hard part: words. Once people start reading your copy, they’ll stop as soon as they run into the wrong words.

Normal, simple English words work best. Forget fancy. Dickens started A Tale of Two Cities with a dozen simple, one syllable words: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …” Good enough for him, good enough for us.

However many words are in your third draft, you probably have 25% to 50% too many. Try chopping all the adverbs first (they’re going to sound like b.s. anyway) and then go after the adjectives. Turn all compound sentences into simple sentences. Use Anglo-Saxon rather than Latin words.

The passive voice must be eschewed. Get rid of the passive voice. You’re one of the finest writers in the world but some of your more pressing arguments might be construed as self-serving. Get rid of puffery. More about words soon.