Writing like a journalist is still relevant in the digital age.
It gives the reader what they want and makes them want more.
Every story I wrote as a newspaper reporter used the inverted pyramid technique.
The most important information was at the top and the details were at the bottom.
What is the inverted pyramid technique?
This writing technique is simple.
The most important sentence of the story is the first one: the intro.
The intro contains a summary of the most important information in the story.
This is the who, what, where, when and why.
Newspapers UPPERCASE the first word – so if you could start your story with a
great word, it would get more prominence.
The shorter the intro, the better.
Great reporters were able to distil their story into five words. My average was about eight words but most stories had an intro of about 11 words.
Next, comes the next most important information: expanding the intro, giving key background, quotes and more information about what happened.
At the bottom of the story came the details and more background.
Why did newspapers use the inverted pyramid technique?
In a newsroom, a reporter wrote a story before they knew how important it was compared to all the other news of the day.
When sub-editors assembled the page, they would literally cut the story from the bottom if it didn’t fit.
Reporters had no idea of where this cut could happen, so the story had to make sense even wherever it was cut.
Newspapers were also fighting to keep their readers’ attention.
Why writing like a journalist works online
In today’s digital world, attention is the new currency.
When you are writing online, the aim is to keep your reader on your content for as long as possible.
Reading online is harder than in print and your reader is probably busy or distracted when they read your content.
This means they drop off the page in seconds.
Putting your most important information in the first sentence and front-loading your sentences will help your reader.
They can work out if they are on the right page or get the information they need quickly.
The inverted pyramid also makes it easier for search engines to digest content.
So, put your key information first.
Keep it simple, think of your reader and write like a journalist.
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