Written Content Optimal at 8th Grade Level.

[Salient]

The content writing forum needs a breath of life!

Take my advice for what it is worth to you. You may have an audience at your websites that does not fit the typical literacy level for general population.

I have been writing content for the web for about seven years now and the one thing that has remained constant throughout, is the ability of my readers to comprehend the message.

A rule of thumb for me is to write at the 8th grade level. Do not write for the Wall Street Journal reader. Rather, use a paper like USA Today as a guide to help you prepare your dialogue for the masses.

I post this thread because I have been using the FOG scaleto help me determine the reading level of my content. There are other scales like; Flesch Reading Ease, and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level tests which output scores based upon the number of sentences, words, syllables, and characters in your dialogue.

These are basic reading scales, there are more powerful tools out there to use. However, for general purposes these scales are sufficient.

You can find out more about these scales by typing them into your favorite search engine. I often use the "free" readability analysis tool at LiteracyNews.com - readability analysis link is located in the header.

Hope this is helpful to someone.

Stuart.

[laertes]

That might be a good rule of thumb, but I think it really depends on the audience you are trying to reach. There are many verticals where writing like USA Today would be a detriment.