Why You Should Be Persuasive
To be persuasive means your writing has the ability to make someone do or believe something through strong reasoning or temptation. Your readers are in search of facts, tips, and solutions to their problems and at the same time, they expect your writing to engage, entertain, inform and motivate them. Essentially, you want all your readers to say “Okay, you’ve convinced me, and this is what I have to do next.”
Tips to Adding a Persuasive Edge to Your Writing
1. Readers Hate To Wait
Long, boring sentences are not persuasive; they’re actually quite irritating. Make sure you are up front in your article’s title and introductory paragraph. In the body, deliver everything you promised in the title and if there’s a Resource Box, treat it as a call-to-action where your reader can find the next logical steps.
2. Inform with Quality Evidence That Supports Your Topic
Don’t forget to backup your claims with facts and statistics you’ve gathered. Plus, you can quote reputable sources to support your claim. Remember, readers are persuaded by what is true and most importantly, valid.
3. Try to be Direct and Avoid “Useless” Fluff
Readers always prefer information that gives them value. As a writer, you can get the competitive edge when you deliver fresh and unrepeated information 100% of the time. Stay away from fluff because it is rather empty and doesn’t contribute anything to your valuable content. Remember, your readers are not interested in reading fluff. In fact no one loves reading extra words that are useless.
4. Use Active Voice and Edit Your Writing
Using active voice helps your writing to be direct and concise. Don’t forget to edit your articles to get rid of extra wordiness. Here’s how you can improve your writing.
Remove needless words such as “the reason for this is”. You can use “because” instead Use emphatic words especially at the end of a sentence Try to add emotive language carefully to grab attention Include nouns and verbs as they are more powerful than plain adjectives and adverbs
5. Use a Pleasant Format
Take off strain from your reader’s eyes by making your writing easy to read. Avoid huge chunks of text and include bullet or number lists when applicable. You can also incorporate meaningful headings and subheadings to make your content more clear.
Start today and use these tips to add a persuasive edge to your writing. You can then easily convince your readers to act!