Start at the end when writing for the web

Readers move fast online. They scan and digest your website content at lightening speeds. If they don’t find what they are looking for, they are gone in the blink of an eye.

The inverted pyramid is a writing structure that puts your most important, useful and relevant information at the top of a web page where “impatient” readers can find what they need in an instant.

Traditional narrative style

A traditional academic or narrative structure begins with background information and rational. Next up are any supporting details and information that will ultimately build into a compelling conclusion. You have to read to the end to get to the punch line.

Reader behavior on the web

  • Most people scan-read the top of the page.
  • Some readers will scroll down for more information
  • Only a truly dedicated reader will read all the way to the end.

The power of the inverted pyramid

With this writing structure, the web copywriter front-loads the most important content at the top of the web page because this is the part that most people read. In other words you start at the end and deliver the punch line first.

Supporting and other details are handled in the order of most important. The writer places less important content such as history and background information at the end of the page.

Print and online media use the inverted pyramid structure to get the 5-Ws (who, what, why, where and how) across succinctly for break-news and other situations.

Journalists developed this storytelling method during the American Civil War when the high cost of telegraph transmissions sparked a departure from long-winded, flowery, story structures used at that time.

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