The most important first. Use the reverse pyramid and rewrite your texts.

Everyone says they know how to write inverted pyramid-style, but very few actually handle the technique.

Providing the conclusion first is probably the single most important you should learn about writing for the web. But even experienced web writers have troubles writing with the most important first.

Here’s why the inverted pyramid still is important:

• We read web pages from top to bottom. It makes no sense to begin with what’s least important.
• Web users are impatient – they want to read and solve the potential task fast
• We read more at the top of the page than the bottom, shows eye tracking studies
• The lead text is an opportunity to engage and attract the reader

The conventions of the inverted pyramid require the writer to summarize the text, to get to the heart, to the point, to sum up quickly and concisely answer the question: What’s the core of this text? The pyramid approach addresses the most important questions at the top of the story.

Through school, education and academia we are trained to write the opposite style: We start with the beginning of the story, we discuss and investigate a theory, presents empirical evidence and then we conclude.

And even more important: when we think, the conclusion comes at the end. For many, including myself, writing is thinking.

This is why even experienced writers tend to conclude at the bottom of the story and why the most important point in the lead always is the last. We have to force our self to write the opposite.

Find the core

You have to find the core of the text, the essence and write from there. Start with the main points (who, what, when, where, why and the how) at the beginning of the article, and then go into more details towards the end of your piece.

Here is a writing technique that helps you identify the essence of the text

1. Write the text
2. When finished, read through your draft
3. Use a yellow marker pen and highlight important sentences in the text
4. Identify the core: the 1 or 2 sentences that are the essence of the story
5. Rewrite the lead, the title and the rest of the story based on your finding

My point is this: the first writing is always a draft and you’re seldom aware of the main point of the story. Writing is about selecting, prioritizing and removing. You have to read the text with fresh eyes, from a reader’s perspective to identify what’s really important and what’s not.

Ask the following questions to find what’s REALLY important

• What’s the point you’re trying to convey?
• What really matters?
• What’s the one thing your reader needs to know?
• What’s interesting?
• What will be in your lead?
• What’s new?
• Can you think of a good title for this?
• What is your story about?
• No, what is your story REALLY about?

These are questions that help you to achieve focus. As the photographer tries to focus the visual image through adjustment of the lens, so the writer tries to see the story as clearly as possible.

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