How to reduce word count in writing?

Are you a copywriter? If yes, then you must know the significance of the humble word count. Without paying any attention to it, the work you do would easily lose focus; it can be either too short or long for the task at hand. Likewise, keeping track of keywords and structure while preserving grammatical accuracy is critical if you’re to satisfy your audience and clients.

More often than not, writers need to decrease the number of characters or words in their writing. Reducing the word count of a document without losing the substance of your writing can be tedious. But there is no other option if you have to fulfil the requirements.

Built-in word count checker

The word processor you may rely on a daily basis will indisputably have some primary form of text analysis, including a word counter. However, there are free tools available on the internet that aim to take this element of writing to a new whole new level.

Built-in word counter tool like the one that comes with MS Word takes the guesswork by measuring word counts. However, there is a lot more to a word count checker, including what acceptable margins are for going under or over the count for a given assignment and what to do if you have missed the target length.

If you are not satisfied with the word counter that comes with MS Word, there are many others you can try. One such tool is Word Counter- a free and web-based tool SmallSEOTools, which is becoming popular among content creators and copywriters.

Reduce word count

The primary objective is to reduce your professional or academic writing to its bare bones, leaving only enough behind. This may make writing a little less pleasant to read, but not if it’s done right, and that won’t hurt you unless it’s a literature contest. Realistically, even literature contests usually have a word limit, which adds to the importance of the word counter tool. Keeping an optimal or required word count is all about getting your ideas and thoughts on paper in the least amount of words possible.

It is also crucial to consider that the person reviewing your work will go through it at a high speed. They may not even particularly notice your prose style; instead, look for the important points or content of your writing.

If you want to trim a long article or essay, you must know how to do the job best. There are a few tips that you can follow for writing that is over the word count and needs to be trimmed:

• Read the content line by line and refine the language.

• Consider the lead: Look at the lead; if it is a short assignment and you have used a hook style or anecdotal lead, is it necessary? Delete if it could be deleted and use the nut graph instead as the lead without changing the impression.

• Are there too many quotes used? In short or long assignments, quotes take up much precious space in your writing. Try to use quotes sparingly or paraphrase instead with the help of a paraphrasing tool.

• Are there too many examples? No doubt, examples and anecdotes add color, but they also add to word length. As long as you love the effort you have put in all your sources, if the piece is running long, you may need to skip one or more.

Conclusion

It is true that gone are the days of estimating the total number of written words by counting the words in a few lines and then multiplying the average number by the total number of lines. Today, the availability of the word counter tool has made it much easier.

Small SEO Tools also offer a range of other free tools like Article Rewriter, Grammar Checker, Backlink Maker, Keyword Position Checker and more. Try these free tools and give us your feedback!