Comments on: How readable are those blogs?

By: Liz Strauss

Liz Strauss — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 02:14:59 +0000

Hi, as someone from educational publishing . . . readability tools are widely varying. I can show you the same book coming out at second grade and college level.

This one is probably based on number of syllables per word and number of words in a sentence. If you link your readability is too high, write shorter sentences.

I kind of figured I would come out at elementary school.

By the way, one of the most complex sentences to understand is at a first grade (age 6) readability.

It’s . . . To be or not to be.

smiles,
liz

By: a1-fan-fun » More on that blog readability issue

a1-fan-fun » More on that blog readability issue — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:11:16 +0000

[...] post about the Blog Readability Test generated more interest than I [...]

By: Karthik

Karthik — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 04:04:42 +0000

Thanks for the link

Honestly, I take pride in my blog’s Elementary degree - it means I reach a wider base of audience

And yes, its a conscious effort to keep it simple. You can get higher rankings by using more complex words, but I’m a firm believer of KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid!)

By: Jason A Clark

Jason A Clark — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:45:41 +0000

I found this to be really interesting. My blog turned out to be College (Undergrad). I thought it was funny, though, when I tried Target.com and found out it’s a Genius while almost all of the presidential candidate’s web sites are listed as Elementary!

By: Lars-Christian

Lars-Christian — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 15:27:13 +0000

I just checked my own blog myself, and apparantly after the more recent changes I’ve made (using only excerpts on the front-page) has transformed it into Genius. Not sure how good that is to be honest

By: Julie Joyce

Julie Joyce — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:47:09 +0000

We got “junior high school” because we all wear turquoise stirrup pants and long sweaters most likely. I can’t imagine any other reason…

By: Lin

Lin — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 12:24:24 +0000

I got High School. I’m happy with that grade, because I sometimes find blogs that write using words that require dictionary.com open in a new tab just to complete the article. Sometimes I end up leaving without finishing it, ’cause who should have to work that hard?

By: Markk

Markk — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:25:17 +0000

That’s very interesting. I can see only Problogger is a “Genius”. Is it any wonder he’s one of the tops, LOL. Surprising that Copyblogger is only “College”. I’d thought he would into the Genius category. Seriously, it’s still a good indicator of your level of writing.

By: Monika @ The Writers Manifesto

Monika @ The Writers Manifesto — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:23:56 +0000

LOL Karen,

Cool tool, I wonder what indicators are being used to come up with the results? Glad my readers don’t need a PHD to understand where I’m coming from.

Monika

By: Terry Didcott

Terry Didcott — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:16:20 +0000

Hi Karen,

I wasn’t too surprised at my result either. I think that as far as a blog’s readability by the majority of visitors goes, a lower (but not too low!) result is best. When you’re writing style is so complex that you’re going to score at advanced level it might actually put most people off. Except maybe for a few.

At the ehnd of the day, you want maximum visitors to your blog so I say write for the masses, not fo rthe few college professors that might stop by once in a while!

Terry