Know the Purpose and Scope of Your Document
Before you begin writing, know the purpose for which you are writing and what you want your document to accomplish. As you write, keep your primary objective in mind (you could even type it at the top of your document and refer to it throughout the writing process, if needed; you can delete it when you are finished with the initial draft), and never stray from it. However, if in the course of your writing you discover that your focus has changed, that’s okay. Simply make sure to revise your writing as needed to reflect your new purpose in order to maintain a clear, coherent document.
Tell readers early on how they will benefit from reading your document—what they will be able to accomplish, what information they will be able to gain, what product or service they will be able to purchase that will make their lives better or easier, or in what other way they will be able to benefit from reading your document..
Identify (and Write to) Your Audience
Knowing to whom you are writing will help you determine the tone and content of your document. If you’re not exactly sure who your audience is, ask yourself who you are writing the document for or who is most likely to benefit from what you are writing. If you are writing with the intent of selling a product or service to someone or promoting a cause, you may want to ask yourself: What age are my intended readers? What’s their background? Where do they live? What stage of life are they in? What are their interests? What is important to them? These and similar questions will help you to target and write to your audience.
As you write, do be careful of technical and other jargon, acronyms, and abbreviations. Unless you are writing for a very specialized field, it is best to avoid jargon and to spell out acronyms and abbreviations on their first use. No matter your audience, you generally don’t need to be overly stuffy or formal; a normal, conversational tone will usually do the job.