1. We spoke about Plain English writing in class. Please answer the following in detail:
a. How would you explain to someone what “Plain English writing” is? (4 Marks)
I would explain that plain language is not the process of dumbing information down to the lowest educated reader, but taking information and crunching it into a clear, concise and correct format that is easiest for the intended audience to digest. The goal is to avoid any complicated words, jargon, or long sentences. This is meant to help the reader find and understand our content messages quickly and easily. When writing plain language it is important to respect the time that these people want to spend understanding what we are trying to say (Briscoe,w8 – A – Plain Language Writing (W25).pdf, Slide 3). For example, when getting instructions from someone, you want to be able to understand what they want you to understand as fast as possible. Sometimes people add too many words in the instructions which creates confusion, we want to save people time and make things as easy as possible to empower our readers and give them fast gratification for what they are searching for (Briscoe, Lecture, February 26, W8, 2025). When we understand our audience and what they already know we can cut out unnecessary fluff for them to dissect and just be as direct as possible to fulfil their needs. We also want to speak to them instead of at them so they feel like we are guiding them exactly where they want to be. In a nutshell, plain language is writing content for the reader’s clarity and convenience. Finding the words that will engage them best and bring them the fast results they expect when searching for answers online.
When writing in plain English we want to understand what the reader’s purpose for visiting the site is. When we understand this we can quickly write content that they can easily understand, and fulfill their purpose and organize the content in a logical way that makes sense for fulfilling their purpose. To do this we have to know what the reader already knows. This is essential for speaking concisely and cutting out any extra fluff. This is easier to do when we know what people need, and what they want to know moving forward. It allows us to be extremely direct when speaking to them and guiding them to answers on the page.
Writing for the audience will save us time and money by keeping them engaged. This will build a foundation of trust in our site and keep people coming back for clear, concise, and correct information! People appreciate clarity when reading on the web because most people are on the go and want answers fast. This prevents people from leaving the page because when looking for quick answers they will dread having to read through long in-depth answers. This way of writing uses simple and small articles and headlines that are easy for people to read and interpret. This empowers the reader and gives them a sense of happiness to be able to find answers quickly.
b. What makes plain English writing different? (4 Marks)
Pain language is much different that structured writing for many reasons. Number one we want to keep things as short and concise as possible (Briscoe, Lecture, February 26, W8, 2025). When writing an essay we may have long paragraphs, and complex words to explain ideas and answers, whereas in plain language we intend to format ideas into very short and direct headlines and sentences for the reader to sift through in a logical convenient manner. We want them to be able to see the bolded headlines and understand exactly what we are speaking on and then have just a few short sentences that sum up the entirety of the solution or information they are looking for without extending the sentence in any unnecessary way that may confuse the reader. When writing in plain language, our main goal is to make things easy for the reader to understand and find. This is the language of clarity and the language that best engages the reader’s attention span when looking for information related to their search purpose. For plain language, it is also important to note that we have to understand and respect the different audiences on different media platforms. It must stay consistent to the medium and not come across like we are trying to dumb things down, we simply want to write using verbiage that anyone will be able to understand so our message resonates and is understandable to a broad audience. To do this, we need to understand our audience, the platform we are speaking on and what they need.
When writing for the reader specifically, a difference from structured writing is that we want to speak in an active voice instead of a passive one. This way of writing encourages the reader to be engaged. For example, instead of saying “Your order has been shipped and will be arriving at your destination in a few business days”, we can simply say “We shipped your order”. When speaking actively it pushes the audience to take action which is very beneficial for advertising. It allows us to create clearly defined CTA’s. Writing this way may feel unnatural for us because it is so different from how we were taught to write, but for marketing, it is essential to adapt this skill. Active voice gets right to the point of our message and makes things easier for the reader to absorb. This is different because we are speaking to the reader in a way that makes them feel understood as well as engaged. It will help us be concise and guide them down our funnel in an organic and natural tone. It helps speed up these processes and respects the reader’s time and needs. Essentially, it is very different for us to write this way because as humans we want to be kind and courteous so we come off authentic. We also tend to over-explain ourselves, but research shows that an active voice will create better results than using a passive tone. People want to be guided and told what action to take next and don’t think too personally about this. People want clarity and that is a big difference between structured writing and plain language.
When writing formally, we write with much more redundancy than we would with plain language. We want to avoid making the reader confused. We want to write in a concise logical format that leads the reader to the answer naturally. This strategy will enhance clarity and efficiency which is much different from formal writing. Plain language is best utilized on the web because people don’t like websites that make information inaccessible by making paragraphs wordy and confusing.
c. What is plain language writing for the web and in detail and in your own words, why is it important? (4 Marks)
Plain language is crucial for content on the web because people’s attention span is so short while surfing on the web. We have approximately 15 seconds of attention before people decide if they are going to go look for answers on a different webpage. Using plain language and clear, concise, and correct sentences and headlines makes it very easy for people to find what they are looking for. People want to avoid having to dissect complicated paragraphs and verbiage so plain language is the most useful for web content. This is important for us to leverage as advertisers because anything that interferes with our reader’s experience will directly impact conversion rates (Briscoe, W8 – Writing Website Copy & Plain Language Writing).pdf, Slide 3). Even the most educated readers appreciate this format because it saves time and increases efficiency when searching. Using this language will make us money and increase the time spent on our page because we will be using plain language to guide the reader through the site logically and efficiently with their purpose of searching in mind. We want to take into account what they already know, and then make well-structured headlines and easy-to-skim short paragraphs that will guide them through what they want to know. This will guide them to the CTA we have crafted, making them want to return to our page. Using plain language will also lower bounce rates which will then increase conversion rates because we are trying to avoid any sort of interference or confusion. We know this is true because research shows that people are approximately 40% more likely to understand plain language, and 34% more likely to tell people that our copy is well written for web users (Briscoe, W8 – Writing Website Copy & Plain Language Writing).pdf, Slide 6).
When reading things on the web you do not want or appreciate when people don’t get straight to the point, A lot of people are on the go when Google searching. They want to get answers as fast as possible. We want to respect the user’s time. Another important factor for why plain language is important for the web is how we speak to Google. Google keywords are based on what the users are searching for and many people use very simple words and speak in an active voice when looking things up on Google. With these keywords being scattered through our content we must leverage words used by the general public. This works better for Google and the user which is number one when it comes to Google’s priorities when deciding if your site will be used. We understand that people on the web do not read, they scan. If we add too many words and instructions the reader will leave which will negatively impact the score. When we understand what the reader is looking for and simply provide good concise answers, we are giving the reader a better experience, especially for scanning.
Plain language will positively impact SEO because Google likes websites that provide easy readability for all their users. They like when topics are clear, concise, and easy to understand which is the intended purpose of writing in plain language. The content on pages that use plain language has better click-through rates which will also improve SEO ranking. People will be more inclined to click on websites that quickly answer questions than sites that are confusing and full of jargon. Using this language reduces bounce rates which tells Google that the site is immensely useful for readers on the web. Voice search is also becoming a more important factor when performing SEO writing. We want to talk in an active tone to simulate what people would say to the search engine. Another factor of plain language that is beneficial for the amount of people in society who are looking things up using their phones is that shorter more concise sentences are more mobile-friendly because it is easier to read on a screen. These short paragraphs and headlines are easier to skim and see using a small device which will help engagement overall.