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HOW TO GAIN ATTENTION By Jenny Stewart
How to Gain Attention! by Jennifer Stewart
"What a day! I've just finished performing an autopsy on an elephant!"
"I have to wash my hair tonight."
Whenever you're writing something for general consumption, there's one
thing you have to do, and that's grab the reader's attention.
There are as many ways to do this as there are writers - but there's a
simple test to determine the effectiveness of your opening - and that's
to ask yourself, "Who cares?"
Take another look at the two statements at the beginning .... which one
makes you want to eavesdrop on the rest of the conversation?
Do we really care if the speaker has to wash his/her hair? Probably not.
But an autopsy .... on an elephant? Now there's something you don't come
across every day!
The Big Questions
The big questions here are not, "What's the meaning of life?" or, "Will
you marry me?" or even, "What will you give me on a trade-in?"
The big questions to be answered when writing, are the five W's:
· Who?
· What?
· Where?
· When?
· Why?
You should aim to answer at least two of these in your first paragraph,
and leave your readers wondering about the other three in order to
entice them to read further.
Go back to our opening statement - you know when (today), you know who
(I've just finished...) and you know what (an autopsy on an elephant).
Be honest, aren't you even a little bit curious to find out where? And I
bet you'd love to know why!
So, whenever you're writing, keep these questions continually in mind.
The Inverted Pyramid or BUF - BILL
"The Inverted Pyramid" is a popular term with teachers when discussing
writing - it means that you start with the strongest material and let
the details follow.
But I always think it's a bit misleading - I have the image of an upside
down triangle - and to me, that means that all the masses of detail
would come first and the important point would be the final point.
A better way to think of the process is the BUF BILL technique
(thanks to Leo Freyer for alerting me to this far superior way of
describing the approach).
BUF is an acronym for Biggy Up Front - and it is a perfect way of
explaining the way to get your reader's attention. (BILL is Big Idea
Little Later.)
Whatever you decide to call it, you need to look at your material and
decide whether it would be better to hit your readers with your main
point first - BUF - (and then fill in the background), or
gradually build up the details, culminating in your most important
point - BILL.
Some Examples
· If you were writing a lead to your site which sells security systems
for houses, you could start with some strong statements about break-ins,
then go on to detail how your product would help to avoid this happening
to the reader.
"30% of household robberies involve violence against the occupants."
· If you were trying to attract members to a business venture, you could
start with a success story, then explain what steps your readers needed
to take to share in this.
"Garth Hopper started with a backyard worm farm and he's just sold his
25th franchise!"
Check YOUR Writing
Keep these points in mind when you're writing anything - your web pages,
business letters, formal reports, chapters for that great novel or your
diary entries. (Who knows? You might be famous and people will pay a
fortune to read your diary ... may as well make it worth their effort!)
Once you have attracted your readers' attention - the next challenge is
to keep them. More on that later.
If you need help with any of your writing projects, I can provide professional writing
services.
________________________________________________
Jennifer Stewart offers professional writing services from her Write
Well site http://move.to/writewell If you need help
with any writing
project - web pages, press releases, advertising material, business
letters, formal reports or essays - you'll find it at the Write Well
site or you can contact her directly at: mailto:J_fersOffice@bigpond.com
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