Do you use WordPress for blogging? Then you may recognize the “Flesch-Kincaid
Readability Score” in its critique of your content.
The platform gives both a percentage and a critique. Sometimes, it may find your content is “hard to read.” There may be suggestions, too: things like
too much use of passive voice, for instance.
Word Press Readability Critique
So, does your post content need more work? Maybe yes; maybe, no.
The WordPress critique also gives two thumbs up if your post
is a mere 300 words long. For many blogs
(especially those focusing on legal topics) 300 words is not enough to get the
job done.
So my first point is to take the WordPress editor with a big
fat grain of salt. It’s not all one size
fits all out there.
The goal is to do what’s right for your reader. Be
smart. Be savvy.
.
How Readability Tests Work
This is not to say that I don’t like the idea of a
readability test. After all, its purpose
is to help you connect with your readers by insuring your writing corresponds
to their reading level.
How? Like a magician,
the readability test throws several things into its top hat before pulling out
its white rabbit: things like how often you use passive voice, the complexity of
your sentences, the length of your paragraphs, and if you use adverbs.
Cut and paste your content into their tool (which
automatically happens in WordPress), and voila! You have a readability
score.
The Writer
discusses readability tests and reports that 65 is a good score on
Flesch-Kincaid for “business
writing.” And it points out that the
Flesch-Kincaid
Readability Test is one tool; there are others, as well.
In fact, RavenTools has compiled a list on its blog
described as the “ultimate
list of online content readability tests.”
If you’re curious, then go check out their collection.
.
It’s All about Your Reader
Here’s my second point.
It’s not about the readability score as much as it is about the writer
understanding his or her reader.
If you are writing a legal blog discussing new SCOTUS
opinions, where your readers are fellow lawyers and legal scholars, then your
writing will score differently than if you are writing a blog explaining a new
SCOTUS opinion to the general public. (Wow, look at that long
sentence!)
You aren’t writing for yourself. You’re writing to
convey a message. If a readability test helps you to visualize and
understand your reader better, then that is the best reason to use it.
IMHO.
.
Have Some Fun with It
Oh, and one last thing. Have some fun with these
readability tests. Go grab some of your favorite writing and plug it
into the thing.
Say, throw some David Foster Wallace into your WordPress
blog platform. What pops up in the critique?
Or try Ernest
Hemingway, Nora Ephron, Truman Capote, or James Baldwin. See how
they score (and think about their intended readers).