Power Up Your Writing with the Active Voice!
The active voice moves readers, while the passive voice gives them pause. So when you’re writing marketing content for your website, the last thing you want visitors to do is hesitate to contact you because they’re trying to figure out what you’re asking them to do — all while keeping their mouse pointer hovering over the Back button. Tell them what to do — buy now or contact us!
Active voice relies on action verbs rather than words that refer to something happening in the future — anything that takes place later. For example:
- Passive voice: “You’ll be taken to task for not using active voice.”
- Active voice: “I’m taking you to task for not using active voice.”
If your boss said one of these to you, which one causes you to snap to it? And which one gives you time to straighten up and even ponder the ultimatum? Or is it an ultimatum? We wrote it, and we can’t even tell!
Get ‘Er Done
Active voice supposes that the noun is doing something. Passive voice infers that the noun may do something in the future. And with that inference comes the possibility that the noun won’t even do that thing. For example:
- Passive voice: Using this blog post as a guide for good writing can help you get more customers.
- Active voice: Use this blog post as a guide for good writing to help you get more customers.
See the difference? When you use words like “can,” “may” or “might,” you leave room for interpretation that infers, “on the other hand, maybe not.” The active voice tells you that, yes, this is a fact to which you should pay attention. There is no ambiguity to active voice.
You’re the Authority
Perhaps one of the reasons so many writers use passive voice goes back to their upbringing: they’re taught to not act up in polite society. Don’t be pushy. Don’t assume that everyone agrees with you. Don’t tell people what to do; ask them nicely.
But marketing — and in particular, content marketing — is the exact place to define and exhibit your authority. Readers and clients want to believe you. They need to believe you. When visitors to your website and readers of your blog see the indecisiveness of a wishy-washy passive voice, they wonder just how much you really know about a subject.
You know your industry. You know your company’s offerings. So tell your readers. Give them the facts. Establish your authority by using the active voice in all your writings. For example:
- Passive voice: Ray Access may be able to help you improve the conversion rate of your website.
- Active voice: Ray Access improves the conversion rate of your website.
And It’s Just Plain Easier to Read
Besides providing the ultimate calls-to-action without actually sounding like sales-speak, sentences written in the active voice flow better and are easier to read. According to the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin, passive voice sentences usually rely on excess words, and they’re very often vague. Typically, using the passive voice leads to a jumble of prepositional phrases that sometimes require two or three passes to digest.
On the other hand, using the active voice leads to active buyers, not further contemplation and confusion. Read the difference:
- Passive voice: We can be contacted online through the contact form.
- Active voice: Contact us online through the contact form.
Read it and do it!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
