This spooky season, we’re loving scary stories, but not scary copy. How can you check yours with Readable’s new ‘Reach’ feature to ensure your audience doesn’t close the door on you?
What is Reach?
In our latest Readable update, we added a metric to our offering called ‘Reach’. Whilst our ReadablePro letter grade is super helpful, we also wanted to help you put readability into perspective more.
‘Reach’ refers to the percentage of your addressable audience who will be able to easily read your content.
By ‘addressable audience’, we mean your target audience - whilst we have plans in the near future to make this customizable, it currently defaults to the general public.
It looks like this:
By having a reach of 92%, this example is easily readable by 92% of the general public.
How is Reach calculated?
When creating our Reach metric, we worked through a combination of OECD literary studies and readability studies. The product of our research and development was a guide to the real-world impact of improving your writing.
How can Readable Reach help my writing?
We’ve already had feedback from customers saying this will be great to show their clients as part of their copywriting package. But it’s great for any writer - sometimes you can get a little too close to your content and lose sight of how readable it is.
It’s easy to forget your audience when you’re so immersed in the subject matter. By keeping an eye on Reach and improving your readability, you can see that percentage increase - it’s pretty rewarding!
How can I improve the reach of my content?
Take the paragraph in this example.
Here’s the process of me improving the text.
I’ve taken the example of a really unreadable passage which is accessible for only 25% of the general public.
Having a look at the passage, I can see excessive wordiness - what’s more the whole paragraph is just one long sentence. Very few people want to spend their valuable time reading this self-indulgent and pompous piece of prose.
I split the paragraph into two sentences which can make a world of difference, but I also took it a step further. I looked at where multiple words were being used where a single word would do - for example, instead of ‘so very interested’, I chose the word ‘fascinated’.
The results speak for themselves, with the reach increasing to over 80% of the general public.
With just a few simple changes, I’ve transformed a text from alienating to inclusive.
Okay, my Readable Reach is pretty good now - what’s next?
Readability is the best foundation for any writing, but we also know it’s part of a bigger puzzle and can’t do all the work for you. To achieve the maximum content reach, you need to use readability in a combination of a number of other factors.
Utilizing keywords, for example, is a key way to give your content better reach. Be aware of the search terms your users are querying in relation to your topic.
Adequately promoting your content is also key to getting it noticed - failing to do this will mean nobody reads your earnest efforts to optimize your content for them.
So listen to our audience, use keywords well - use Readable’s keyword density tool to check you’re not overstuffing - use images, promote on social media and improve readability. All of these things used together will give your writing the boost it needs.
Ready to try it out?
Take advantage of our 7-day free trial and see how well you can improve the reach of your content. Let us know how well you did in the comments! ↓
