b. What was the most challenging aspect of applying the F-Pattern and Plain English writing principles? How did you overcome it? (5 Marks)
The most challenging aspect of applying the F -Pattern and Plain English writing principles to my new introductory post was shortening it while keeping the valuable information. This was challenging for me personally as I was struggling deciding what to remove and what to keep, especially when describing the usages of the ingredients.
To overcome this, I made sure to prioritize keeping keywords and phrases that match the search intent and language of my audience (Briscoe, W8 – Writing Website Copy & Plain Language Writing (W25).pdf, Slide 26). After learning more about plain English language, I have a better understanding of what web users read, and what they will most likely skip over (the end of sentences/paragraphs). I also had to be honest with myself and see the post from the perspective of my audience by asking myself the question “If I knew very little about EcoPureGoods, what would I care to read in this post”.
Another thing I did to overcome this was to ask myself the questions:
- Who is your audience
- What do they already know
- What do they still need to know
- What are you going to write to get them there
(Briscoe, W8 – A – Plain Language Writing (W25).pdf, Slide 29)
This was something that I had not initially done when I wrote the original blog post. This helped me decide what to keep and what to delete based on who my audience is and what they need to know. For example, if they are interested in natural ingredients, they probably already have a base knowledge on ingredients such as baking soda. Therefore, I could get rid of the more technical definitions and just keep the important usage and benefits.
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