Tag: featured

The 5 Benefits of a Content Audit

The 5 Benefits of a Content Audit

Debra W Kahn (@debrawk.bsky.social)

If we’re honest with ourselves, we should be auditing our organization’s content more often than we do. A content audit, which is a survey and analysis of existing content, should encompass content that is online and printed, long and short, text, audio, video, and graphics. Or encompass at least the part of that whole that aligns with your organization’s current challenge.

If you’re having difficulty selling the need to conduct a content audit, this blog post is for you. If your organization has never conducted a content audit but you suspect it should let me help you understand what a content audit might reveal.

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The Secret to Consistent Voice, Tone, and Style 

The Secret to Consistent Voice, Tone, and Style 

Debra W Kahn (@debrawk.bsky.social)

Not long ago, I was asked what exactly I do. It’s not really a secret. I help organizations improve their existing content while making room for newly developed content—all while helping to ensure the final, overall experience for the target audience(s) is consistent. But the conversation got stuck on the word “consistent.”

Why is consistency important? How does one achieve it? Especially in technical content?

A consistent voice, tone, and style across documents and online content can be the difference between a cohesive user experience and a confusing jumble of instructions. We’ve all experienced it, right? That user manual or technical guide that feels like a dozen different people wrote it on a dozen different days. The information might be accurate, but the experience of reading it? Well, that’s another story.

So, let’s explore the real story of consistency in voice, tone, and style in technical communication, the pitfalls of inconsistency, and how to establish guidelines that ensure your content speaks with a single voice to the reader, no matter how it is generated or how many writers are involved.

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A Most Sophisticated Error in Technical Writing

A Most Sophisticated Error in Technical Writing

Debra W Kahn (@debrawk.bsky.social)

While writing plainly with clear terminology is always the goal in technical communication, sometimes we must create a complex sentence (like this one!) to convey our meaning. Or we find that we must include a noun clause (like this one!) or even (shudder!) a modifying phrase or clause.

First, the good news. Complex sentence patterns reveal intelligence and a tendency to write in a sophisticated way. Most experienced technical writers fall into this category.

The bad news is that these sentence patterns are easy to screw up. Let me explain why and provide some tips on how to avoid clouding the meaning of your sentences.

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A Guide to Storytelling for Online Content

A Guide to Storytelling for Online Content

Debra W Kahn (@debrawk.bsky.social)

In today’s saturated digital landscape, standing out as a brand or subject matter expert requires more than just presenting facts and data. It demands capturing the attention and emotions of your audience through the age-old art of storytelling.

Whether you’re a business writer crafting marketing collateral or a technical writer documenting complex processes, incorporating storytelling into your online content can significantly enhance its impact and resonance with readers.

The Magic of Storytelling

Stories, the oldest and most powerful form of communication, have a unique ability to captivate and engage. As Cynthia Lockrey highlighted in her presentation “5 Tips for Impactful Storytelling” (American Migraine Foundation, June 29, 2023), stories are more than just a sequence of events. They are a vehicle for knowledge retention. Research suggests that they can boost retention by 2 to 10 times better than facts alone. But what makes stories so potent?

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Chunking for More Accessible Online Content 

Chunking for More Accessible Online Content 

Debra W Kahn (@debrawk.bsky.social)

In our omnichannel world, where attention spans are short and the cognitive load is great (thanks, AI!), effective content design plays a key role in reader engagement. It’s more important than ever to structure online text so that our readers can easily scan, understand, and retain the key points.

Double underline that for readers who rely on accessibility aids such as screen readers.

The element of content design you’ll want to apply is “chunking.” Chunking refers to breaking up information into meaningful, bite-sized sections or “chunks” that are relatively similar in scope and intensity. Visually, this means that your paragraphs are short, and there are fewer of them under each subheading.

Richard Johnson-Sheehan, the technical communication guru, generally refers to this idea as “partitioning.” Rather than presenting a dense wall of text, you divide your content into well-organized subsections with meaningful headings.

I offer some techniques for applying this element of content design here. However, the starting point is to understand how chunking aids the reader.

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