Web Writing: Turn It Upside Down

We’re Web Scanners

People don’t read websites – they scan.  They aren’t reading for pleasure; they’re looking for information.  This is why you must put your essential information first.

Eye-tracking studies prove that website visitors pay attention to the top of an article – the title and the first paragraph – and then quickly scan down the left margin.  If they don’t see something meaningful right away, they’ll move on.

Traditional Method vs. the Inverted Pyramid

• In school we learned to write essays in the narrative style – starting with an introduction, following with the main body of relevant points in some logical order, and ending with the main point or conclusion.
• Busy web readers don’t have time for narratives when they’re looking for information.  So says Ginny Redish in her excellent book, Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works.  She promotes the “inverted pyramid” style, which begins with the main point, follows with relevant supporting information (use bullet points here), and ends with background information.

Redish’s new book belongs on every website owner’s bookshelf.  It’s a thorough overview of the issues in writing for the web and has earned high praise from leaders in web usability.