Mean what you say and say what you mean.
Attention span on the decline
It is clear to everyone the 'Attention Span' of surfers is declining by the day. Companies use all kinds of metrics to try and answer this $64,000,000 question.? Anecdotal evidence abounds, the attention span of surfers is scarcely 10 seconds on a good day.
True for elders and middle age, 6 seconds is a stretch for young adults and Generation Y. TV advertisers switched to 30-second spots from 60-seconds and despite Madison Avenues best efforts, there is a nationwide move afoot for 10 second ads while some markets notably are pressing for 5 seconds. We are all in business of email marketing. We create messages every day but the question is "Do we really want people to engage and read or are we just filling blank pages?"
Media Guru's tell us it is a scientific fact that anything over 500 words in any preliminary article goes to 'delete'. Exceed the legal load limit for your message and you guarantee losing audience. The truth is if you can't explain your message in 250-400 words, you either need a good content copywriter or are not sufficiently familiar with your product as will be needed.
Create trust/concern/care......make your words prove these attributes are essential to who you are, what you have to sell or give.
Prove value/relevance/applicability....know or say what are the issues the customer/client may have for which your product or service is a solution. Don't go to a grocery store if you haven't eaten first, don't take a child to a toy store if you have no money.
Speak directly to the person who is your audience. If you have three audiences, grandmas, kids and teenagers, figure out the voice who speaks to those people, in words they can 'HEAR' and write your story accordingly. It doesn't do well to say 'goo-goo' to students and 'Yes Ma'am' to children.