February 8, 2008

How to Write Scannable Copy for the Web

I feel like I talk about how to write for the web all the time (and even wrote a long how-to back in August), but we could always use a refresher. Here are six quick tips for writing scannable copy:

• Use an appropriate line length.
• Break the text into many paragraphs.
• Use headers and subheaders.
• Lists and bullet points, please!
• Use bold and italics typefaces (but not at the same time--that's just stupid).
• Images are your friends (but the image has to be real and relevant).

Church Copy Sucks
And these tips still apply to all things churchy, including sermons, event announcements, letters from the pastor, business meeting minutes, theological exhortations or whatever copy you have.

Basically, if you want people to read it, you need to make it easy to read.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:37 AM
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April 10, 2007

Help Wanted: Good Editors

I couldn't help but give everyone a good solid example of how little mistakes become big ones. The Dallas News Religion Blog reported on a press release blunder for a new book, The Spiritual Fragrance of a Woman. I quote the press release:

"Many are comparing the books popularity to Bishop T.D. Jakes' "Woman, Thou Art Loose."

Oops! I guess a little editing would have gone a long way to fix the numerous mistakes in the release, especially that big one. I can't imagine Bishop Jakes would have had the same success with this title. From the perspective of an optimist, at least it's free press, right? (link via Monday Morning Insight)

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:32 AM
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July 5, 2006

The Paradox of Copywriting

Church Relevance looks at the paradox of copywriting and explores the difficulty of writing good copy for churches. It should be short and sweet, but don't be afraid to write long--if it's good.

I can never overemphasize the importance of short, scannable copy.

• Keep it short.
• Make it scannable.
• Use headers and bulleted lists.
• Short and to the point is better than cute and long.
• Be consistent. If all your announcement have dates, times and costs, format them the same way so people know where to look for the important info.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:04 AM
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March 30, 2006

Writing for Busy People

by Cory Piña, Guest Blogger

After reading the Church Marketing Sucks guidelines for guest blogging, I came across this post from lead Firefox engineer, Ben Goodger. Ben writes: "It's great when people make contributions in the form of ideas and proposals, but it's even better when they're written for busy people."

Here are some of Ben's tips for writing for busy people:

• Make important points up front.
• Clear taxonomy of headings, and lots of them.
• Write clearly and succinctly.
• No long, unbroken paragraphs or tracts of text.
• Prefer bulleted lists with clear points to paragraphs.
• Use of emphasis in formatting to make important things clear.

As someone who is trying to learn what types of promotional materials to create for our camp, I'm finding that I would rather read a list of highlights than a few long paragraphs in a brochure. I read recently, "Don't tell them you're surrounded by a beautiful forest. Show them."

I'm beginning to believe that the less on our promotional materials, newsletters, etc., the better. With a web site packed with the information everyone needs (written with Ben's tips in mind, of course), I want to point them online. The other promotional materials, I believe, may just need to catch their attention. Let the web site do the rest.

Posted by Guest Blogger at 11:56 AM
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March 20, 2006

Starting a Church Style Guide

If you have any sort of background with words you understand the importance of a style guide. Is it Gospel or gospel? Are pronouns referring to God capitalized? Is it Church or church? Oxford commas, or no? In many cases either option can be correct and it's a matter of opinion. But having both options in the same brochure would be kind of silly. Consistency is the key, and for that you need a style guide.

Kem Meyer to the rescue! As usual, Kem offers some great wisdom on church style guides:

• Make it friendly
• Use examples
• Give rationale
• Include at-a-glance pages
• Don't recreate the wheel
• Allow yourself room for exceptions

Check out Kem's entry for the details. Wired Churches offers a communications manual for sale if you don't want to start from scratch. And if you're really into Oxford commas and the like, you should check out Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:19 AM
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February 22, 2006

I'm Ready to Something Remarkable With You

It looks like that New Year's resolution to proofread everyting twice isn't going so well. Here's more proof.

Earlier today marketing guru Seth Godin pointed to a young graduate looking for a job who gave up boring resumes and built a web site. The kid's got moxy.

But he doesn't proofread. The short and snappy text on the homepage included the highlighted line: "I'm ready to something remarkable with you."

Notice something missing? It's like "All your base are belong to us," only there's not a funny story about mistranslation.

Continue reading "I'm Ready to Something Remarkable With You"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:39 AM
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July 25, 2005

The Importance of Punctuation

Signs at bus stops in North Miami Beach declared:

Say 'NO' to Drugs from the NMB Police D.A.R.E Officers.

See what happens when you don't pay attention to grammar? A simple lack of punctuation can turn D.A.R.E. officers into drug dealers. Oops. (link via Think Personality)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:09 PM
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October 20, 2004

I'm Sure She Had the Breast Intentions

Sometimes choosing the right word can be so important, as Dawn Eden points out in her aptly titled blog entry (which we're so conveniently borrowing).

Dawn points to a cringe-worthy example from the anti-abortion lobby. In response to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision not to hear a lawsuit based on a link between abortion and breast cancer, the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer president Karen Malec said in a press release, "The court's decision is a miscarriage of justice."

Cringe-worthy indeed. (link via bloggedy blog)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:12 AM
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October 12, 2004

Sharpen Your Writing

Writing can be the overlooked component that makes a church newsletter the talk of the atrium or fodder for the recycling bin. Whether you're writing a monthly letter to the congregation or announcements for the bulletin, anyone writing could stand to sharpen their skills.

And what better refresher than a new tool to review or learn every week? The Poynter Institute is halfway through its Writer's Toolbox, offering of one writing tool every week for 50 weeks. You can read new and archived tips online and sign up to receive new tips by e-mail.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:55 AM
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October 4, 2004

Common Writing Mistakes

If people aren't reading your church newsletter, maybe it's because it's not worth reading. Shoddy writing can sink any communication.

Literary guru Pat Holt offers 10 Mistakes Writers Don't See, a list geared for fiction writers but full of advice for the pen pusher behind church newsletters. The list covers repetition, adverbs, passive voice and commas, among other common mistakes.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:40 AM
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August 30, 2004

Punctuation Makes All the Difference

While editing announcements for my youth group's newsletter I came across this line in a blurb about fall Sunday school classes:

Parents’ sex will be discussed with the junior high Sunday school, if there are any concerns or questions please feel free to talk to the Youth Coordinator.

A colon instead of an apostrophe can make all the difference:

Parents: sex will be discussed with the junior high Sunday school, if there are any concerns or questions please feel free to talk to the Youth Coordinator.

Editing and proofreading is a vital part of any marketing project, especially if you want to avoid an awkward junior high Sunday school class. But it's not always easy. Speed and laziness conspire against us. Last week I posted some updates to this site and was quickly e-mailed about mistakes I should have caught.

All you have to do is be patient and diligent. That means grabbing a dictionary for the word you're unsure about (like I just did with "diligent"). Sometimes it helps to read your copy outloud. You'll be forced to read it slower and will be more likely to catch mistakes. It also helps to have another set of eyes proofread your copy. But whatever you do, don't trust a computer's spell or grammar check. Grammatically, there's nothing wrong with either of the above sentences.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:01 AM
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