Tag: web copy

Content Writing Instructional Design

Do you Care for an Aging Parent?

Ten thousand boomers turn 65 years old every day in America. We’ve been talking about this coming crisis for decades, and now it is here. So 1 in every 3 employees holds down a job and volunteers for an average of 5 1/2 years to assist their loved ones.

CareWise(tm) Solutions help employee-caregivers stay productive on the job while providing superior care for aging or disabled family members. 

Right now, we are soon launching a Crowdfunding effort to develop a smartphone APP for working carers. This APP frees up employee-caregivers using remote technology, collaborative schedules, customized organizational tools, and access to resources. 

As our crowdfunding efforts move forward, I’ll update you on how to pre-purchase the APP for your family or your organization. Companies purchase the APPs as part of an employee benefits package because of the increase in productivity seen by employee-caregivers and their teams. 

In the meantime, check out the Lifeworkx website to learn more about CareWise Solutions. 

Instructional Design

Instructional Design, Anti-Money Laundering!

If you’ve known me for some time, you know I have an instructional design (ID) background. I studied instructional design at UBC back when we handed papers in, on paper. Then, I also spent over 25 years working as an instructor for Dale Carnegie Training in BC. Most of the courses I taught I did not design, but I did create many company workshops and conference type meetings.

What Is Instructional Design?

It may seem obvious, but basically instructional design is the process of presenting information in an order and manner that make it memorable for the learner.

Poor design leaves the learner:

  • sitting through a lecture that is all over the place
  • wondering what the teacher is getting at
  • walking away learning nothing
  • not remembering what the lesson covered
  • bored

So, I am thrilled to say that the first phase of the Anti-Money Laundering Course through Innova Learning is complete. If you require Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance training, be sure to register to be sure you are notified when the course is available.

Other Applications

Innova is clearly an application for ID. There are many online courses available now. Some are required by governments, like this one. Others are offered by companies as employee training. Some are available to the general public to learn new skills, especially in the high tech field.

In addition, I write for school teachers, a Singapore public speaker and a series for a US government department. I am also helping develop a series of courses for energy work and self-healing.

Instructional design is an increasingly large portion of the work I do. Mostly though, I still write the words on the internet.

Lifeworkx, an employee caregiver support organization, has offered me the opportunity to write many of their internet and non-internet words. I even wrote the scripts for these videos. If you are caregiving, or know someone who is, the resources there are incredible. Also, they have resources for employers because employee caregivers are now creating a labour market crisis.

Instructional design and writing the internet. So, that’s some of what I have been up to lately.

Greetings from Ecuador!

Melody

Content Writing Hire a Freelance Writer Web Copy

Readability Scores

Readability Scores

Choose Your Level

This week readability scores came up more than once. A few complex topics needed simplifying. My clients want to simply inform their current customers about complicated topics, without condescension. So, we discussed the concept of “Readability Scores” and what that really means.

Some of what goes into web content or blog readability is about image placement, subheadings, bullet points and other things on a page that make it easier to read. That’s not what I am talking about here.

The Flesch Readability Scores Test

People mostly scan content on the web. Posts that are easy to read and scan make sense. The Flesch Reading Ease test scores the complexity of copy and rates it on a scale of 0 to 100 (see below). Generally, a score between 60 and 70 (8th to 9th grade) is considered typical for most industries.

Then again, many industries easily support more difficult text. A government website I worked with this week scored at a 20 to 30 level. The client preferred that the information from that website be rewritten for his customers in that 60 to 70 range.

 

Score

School level

Notes

100.00-90.00

5th grade

Very easy to read. Easily understood by an average 11-year-old student.

90.0–80.0

6th grade

Easy to read. Conversational English for consumers.

80.0–70.0

7th grade

Fairly easy to read.

70.0–60.0

8th & 9th grade

Plain English. Easily understood by 13- to 15-year-old students.

60.0–50.0

10th to 12th grade

Fairly difficult to read.

50.0–30.0

College

Difficult to read.

30.0–0.0

College graduate

Very difficult to read. Best understood by university graduates.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Why Readability Scores Matter

Your readability scores influence how much time your visitors spend on your website. It may seem counterintuitive, but the easier readability scores tend to keep website visitors for longer. Readers bore easily. (Thanks for staying with me here!)

When your visitors stay on your website longer, your SEO ranking goes up. Google watches how long people stay on your site. If your nearest competitor engages readers for longer than you do, they are ranked above you.

Deliberate Choice is the Key

If you know me at all (and if you don’t, here’s a clue) you know how strongly I believe in deliberate choice. So, just like anything else, choose your readability score to fit with your audience, your subject and who you are. It is that combination that will make for successful web content.

Melody

P.S. The Flesch Readability Score of this post is 71.1

The picture is the view out my window. The mare’s name is Paloma (Dove), and the colt is Luz (or often Lucita, which means “Little Light”). The bushes are a salak (snake fruit) and mangosteen in my tropical fruit orchard here in Ecuador.