[wizely]

Part 9
PoFint

Now I know what you're thinking... there's no 'F' in point right?
And that's the problem with a lot of writing for the web. Without a clear and definite point to what you're writing it will descend into the bland waffle that is only one step-up from 'Lorem Ipsum' - it's page filler. To structure your writing effectively you'll need an 'F' in point.
Before we look at the details of structure we need to look at the underlying principles.

What's your point?
Oh come-on Wizely that's easy. Well you'd think wouldn't you?! Let's consider, by way of example, the humble 'About' page on your own site. This one's really is easy isn't it? The point of the page is to tell visitors all about you isn't it?
Is it?
Hang-on a second… you're running a business aren't you? Wouldn't the point of your 'About' page be to sell yourself (not in the red bulb sense, unless that is your business of course!) to potential clients? If you think I'm splitting hairs – I'm not.
Here's the 2 points clarified and compared:

"To tell visitors all about me"
"To sell myself to potential clients"

There is a world of difference between the 2 points and they will have a big impact on structure.

"All about me" should have the warning bells ringing loud. Writing to make this point will lead to copy structured around "me, me, me" and not around the potential client. Telling is weak and passive, there's no real objective – selling will give you targets.

So what?
OK your point is going to be selling yourself to clients. You've known yourself pretty much all your life – this is going to be a breeze. But do your clients care who you are?
In other, oh-so boring writing guides you will see "so what?" crop-up a fair bit. They will often advise you to look at your writing and consider what the point of each sentence and paragraph is. Good advice; but I find writing to be a far more effective vehicle when I put the horse before the cart.
It's the potential client who will be asking "so what?". It therefore makes sense to ensure your copy is structured to answer those initial 'so what?'s and then keep the reader so engaged and informed as to head-off any more 'so what?'s.
Let's use this to further refine our point:

"To sell to potential clients why I matter to them"

Now the emphasis is firmly on the potential client and the objective clearly laid-out.

The thick end of the wedge
The 'inverted pyramid' is a writing style developed by news reporters for the telegraph (as in dot-dash-dot, not the newspaper) and is the structure of choice for web copy. You know the one – put the information in descending order of importance, leading with the most vital. There's a lot more to it than that, but it's a very good foundation.

I prefer to think of the structure not of an inverted pyramid (which just looks daft in my mind's eye) but like a funnel. You want to start at the top by catching broad interest with your most relevant 'so what?-beating' copy and draw the reader down, catching them in the flow, and directing him/her toward the response you're after.

Of course it gets complex if you want to achieve this for multiple personas and multiple responses in the same space – your copy is then more like a fractionating column and condenser distilling responses out of the volatile mix of visitors. Did I mention I started-out in life as a chemist in an R&D lab?!!!

My wedge won't fit
Write succinctly. That's advice you'll see a lot but, as I said in previous articles, succinct doesn't mean short – the perfect length for any piece is long enough to say what you need to, no more, no less. I've also shown how vivid, active prose that engages and flows is essential. Just get rid of the clutter.
Of course there are circumstances where other strategic considerations effect the length of your copy – in blogs, newletters, articles etc. where you want to provide readers with a constant stream of information. No good brain-dumping 100 pages and then running dry.

So next we'll look at the fundamentals for blog writing in 'Part 10: Piece of Mind'.

[Rob]

Wooo! Wizely's back with a bang! Great advice with the inverted pyramid and that copy needs to be long enough to say what you need, no more, no less. There is a similar saying in the design that we stole from Albert Einstein – in fact it works in just every area… "Make it as simple as possible. But no simpler."

Glad to see you back in business, looking forward to the next one!

[ErisDS]

More than useful and informative, I always find your articles give me inspiration Wizely!

I have the crappiest imagination and the shortest attention span... ever.

Somehow I find it very easy to read through the things you write, even though they aren't on the most riveting topics ever (it's not like it's a celeb gossip column now is it ) and it always creates weird images in my head. Somebody has the power of the subliminal down to a tee. Derren Brown anyone?

[ElanMan]

A most timely article dear wizely!
Just about to start going through the copy of my new site and today, I've decided to start with the 'About' page

Great advice as usual.

[wizely]

Too kind, too kind!

Cheers guys - I'll be trying to get Copy Corner back into full swing as I free more time-up. Everything just happened at once - got a huge job in (another country decided to update a huge chunk of legislation), moved house and am still trying to find enough time for my new site and business relaunch. And that's not even accounting for the heavy snow predicted next week which should make the ski-fields too irresistible!

@Rob: As a design God do you play dice? If Einstein had met you then you could have saved him many tortured years trying to disprove his own theories! Sorry for the delay but I am trying to get to blog-writing as soon as!

@sis: Anybody would think that you can use certain techniques, psychological triggers, suggestions and programming coupled with vivid, active prose and flowing copy to draw a reader in and engage them no matter the subject!!!

@The Panted Crusader: I will do my utmost to make the time to offer any help I can with your copy. Best if you give a sort through first and then PM me when you're ready - I did promise!

[notbanksy]

Excellent as usual, Mr Wizely, sir! One of these days I'm going to revive my site (which is just a contact form at the moment ) and rewrite my copy.

What better resource is out there than copy corner? I'm actually looking forward to it! Out of interest, what is the country of which you speak (another country decided to update a huge chunk of legislation)? My cuiosity runs rampant...

[Duck]

Iv given this thread a FIVE star rating - very well written and observed Wizley, writing the 'About' page is one of the most important pages of any businesses website.......... :goes off to check own site:

[wizely]

notbanksy, on Jun 20 2008, 15:14, said:

What better resource is out there than copy corner? I'm actually looking forward to it!

Quote

I've given this thread a FIVE star rating - very well written and observed Wizley

There is no better resource than Copy Corner! And thanks for the stars Duck - always appreciated.

Quote

Out of interest, what is the country of which you speak (another country decided to update a huge chunk of legislation)? My cuiosity runs rampant...

It's nothing exciting - the FSA (Financial Services Authority) basically 'sells' financial regulation 'packages' to other countries - for regulating their banks, insurance, stockbrokers, exchanges etc... Whenever it goes to a new country it's a major editing task. I won't tell you which country this one is, I'll just say that it's more complex when Shari'a Law is involved.

(it's snowing outside!)

[ErisDS]

I have a question, or rather a point of discussion.

Copy Corner is aimed at people writing websites, usually to sell things, so it is biased towards that style of writing, but obviously has advice in it for anybody writing anything.

I'm about to settle down to writing my 20k Dissertation, which is a business field or *social science* and I'm wondering about how the inverted pyramid fits with that.

Dissertations are academic writing and follow quite a strict format. Usually the chapters are along the lines of:
Abstract
Introduction
Literature Review
Methodology
Results
Conclusion & Implications.

The introduction gives you a clue as to what the paper has discovered, but you have to skip to the end to find out all the important stuff. It's kind of a skittle shape - you get some of the good bits, then the long and boring bit in the middle, and then at the bottom, the really fat, juicy bits. Ideally, I'd love to remove the long and boring middle bit, but then I'd fail lol.

We're often told to write it like a good story so it doesn't get boring in the middle. I was wondering what other people thought about this, if I'm going to engage my readers I need to write the first part well to capture them in. Then I feel the long middle bit is kind of like a disappointing first paragraph after a juicy headline as explained in "How to Write Killer Headlines".

The fact is, if this turns out to be complete and utter aca-drivel I'm going to get bored with it REALLY fast. So advice is welcomed.

[notbanksy]

It's been a lot of years since I wrote for academic purposes, and never at degree level, but I usually enjoyed it. I suppose the key to it is writing partly for yourself. Of course your main motivation is to do well in your course of study, but hopefully you want to enjoy yourself along the way? If you feel the dissertation becoming boring, try to write in something that you care about, and weave it into the work. Put some personalilty, anecdote, humour, passion, anything human into it. I've done a lot of reading in my life (some have said I'm obsessed) and I think it gives me enough authority to say that even the most academic writing can come to life in the right hands. Try not to get bored yourself, and hopefully your audience won't either.
Have fun with it.

[ErisDS]

This is my absolute favourite Copy Corner article. In fact I think it is the best thing I have ever read (apart from the Hyperion & His Dark Materials trilogies but that's another story).

Sometimes I dream about PoFint.

I can't remember the last time I sat down to write something and didn't immediately think "PoFint!". Sometimes I worry at just how much Wizely has gotten into my head. But then I don't mind because he is hot and there are worse things in there.

Seriously, every single time you go to write a sentence which you want someone else to read: Think PoFint. What is the F in Point? What are you trying to tell me? Be direct, be succinct, but be clear and explain yourself in full.

This is also something you should think every time you go to hit "send" on twitter.. just in case!