Journalists have known this for over a century (since the 1800s!) Subsequently, they’ve created the ideal format of a well-structured article. Known as the “Inverted pyramid”, the idea is simple: start your article with a summary of the most important information. Then, give the details. Finally, add extra background information. Easy as one-two-three.

In this post, we’ll talk about using the Inverted pyramid method when writing a blog post or email newsletter. Although journalism and blogging are different beasts, we can still make use of the same overarching ideas.

The Five W’s

As we mentioned above, the introductory paragraph of a news article should answer the most pertinent questions immediately. These are often called the “Five W’s”:

• What happened?
• Who is involved?
• When did it take place?
• Where did it take place?
• Why did it happen?

While these questions are designed for a news article, we can still use the same format while writing a blog post:

• What is this post about? Be specific. Many bloggers make the mistake of “burying the lede” deep within the post. Remember: we’re all goldfish.
• Who should read this post? Your reader should immediately think, “Yep, this article is for me.”
• When is this post useful? Think in terms of your readers’ timelines. For example, if you run a wine shop, consider the different stages of the wine-buying process: before purchase (choosing a wine), after purchase (storing the wine), and while drinking it (how to properly serve and drink it).
• Where is the information within post useful? On a personal website? On a mobile app? At a physical store? Be specific!
• Why should your reader care? Among the millions of posts online, what makes this particular post worth reading?

You should aim to answer all five of these questions in the first paragraph, if not the first two or three sentences. Don’t be afraid of brevity; you can always add extra details later.

Then, add important information

Once you’ve answered the most pertinent questions, it’s time to flesh out the details. In this middle section, provide some context to the Five W’s listed in the introduction. You can often use each “W question” as a header for its own paragraph.

Don’t talk about an entirely new topic or share an unrelated factoid; those can come later. Instead, focus on expanding the topics initially mentioned in the introduction.

Extra details

You’ve made it to the end! Unfortunately, most readers won’t make it this far. As such, feel free to add background, general thoughts, and other non-essential information to the concluding paragraphs. That said, don’t add extra information just for fun; after all, the road to hell is paved with adverbs.

For example, did you know that two MailPoet team members have a background in journalism? Both Kim and Alexey studied journalism at university. To quote Alexey, now a software developer, “An [education in] journalism helped me to approach problems from different angles.” While this factoid isn’t essential to know, it nonetheless adds some color and personality to an otherwise straightforward blog post.

Background and fun facts

This is also an opportune spot to delve into the background of your topic. The history of the inverted pyramid, for instance, is quite interesting, though not absolutely necessary to know. While the exact origin of the method is unclear, most historians agree that it began to be widely used following the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.

After Lincoln was shot, the Secretary of War (and second American to appear on a postage stamp) Edwin Stanton sent a telegram to the commanding army general in New York City to inform him of the events. This telegram was also sent to newspapers, who, rather than write their own version of the events, simply published Stanton’s account. You can still read the actual account at the New York Times.

Thus, the “get to the point!” Inverted Pyramid method wasn’t created by a journalist at all, but rather by a politician. A hard-to-imagine situation in the twenty-first century, indeed. :)

In today’s post, the second of our series, we’ll lay out a basic plan for helping your clients create (and send) awesome email newsletters. Getting your clients to consistently write good content is tough – writing is incredibly time-consuming (trust me, I’m a writer!)

First, get to know them

Do you really know your clients? Sure, you’re probably familiar with their websites and social media accounts. But can you answer the following questions about him/her?

1. Are they writers? Do they enjoy writing?

How often does your client publish content on their website? Do they effortlessly publish multiple posts per week? Or do they struggle to post just one post? Do they have a personal blog? The key question is this: does writing come naturally to your client?

2. How much time do they have per week?

Is your client running his/her website all by themselves? How many other, non-content-based tasks do they have? You want to figure out how much time do they realistically have per week to write content for their newsletter.

3. Are they already sending emails?

This part is key. Does your client already send emails to his/her readers or customers? If so, what are they like? How often are they sent? Can they be improved? In what ways?

At this point, you should have a pretty good idea of the specific needs of your specific client.

Battling writer’s block

The single biggest issue facing most of your clients is probably what to write about. Here are some excellent guides:

• Groove – 10 Ways We Come Up With 15+ Blog Post Ideas Each Week
• LifeHack.org – Five Simple Ways to Generate Ideas For Your Blog
• Duct Tape Marketing – 10 Simple Ways to Generate Blog Post Ideas
• MailPoet – How to Come up with Content Ideas

Most importantly: don’t hesitate to propose possible content ideas to your client. As a technology professional, you’re probably more familiar with the ins-and-outs of the content marketing world. Emphasize this experience to your client.

If your client isn’t comfortable with writing, don’t sweat it. I’d recommend proposing an extremely simple writing plan. If you still haven’t piqued their interest, don’t push it – some clients simply aren’t interested in writing. At least you tried!

Lead the way – make a post schedule

Now, it’s time to help your clients build a plan. Hopefully, they are already writing at least a few posts per month. As a consultant, your main objective is to help them be consistent. The easiest way to do this is with a post schedule.

Setting up a post schedule doesn’t need to be complicated. One post per week is a good place to start. If your client has more time available to write, bump it up to twice a week. If his/her primary focus isn’t on writing, then aim for one post every two weeks.

If your client is having issues sticking to a schedule, send them our guide on building a writing habit.

Emphasize the rewards

Now, it’s time to keep your client motivated. There are many ways to do this, depending on the specific nature of your client’s website.

1. Aim for a high click rate

A simple metric to track is the click rate and open rate. If you’re a MailPoet user, you can view your newsletters’ stats right in MailPoet, on the Statistics page. What’s a good open rate? It depends, but generally speaking, anywhere between 20% and 40% is admirable. Read more about open rates.

2. Track the Return of Investment (ROI)

If your client is running a business, try tracking the ROI of their newsletters. Emails are known to generate a much higher ROI than Google Adwords, Facebook, Twitter, and other marketing channels. Just ask Aurélien, a MailPoet user:

“My subscribers are my most valuable followers. The newsletter conveys a sense of privilege, or exclusivity, especially those who are in my loyalty program. I don’t have the same results on Facebook, even less on Twitter.”

How many subscribers came into his store and purchased something? What was the true “conversion rate?”

On average, between 5 to 10 customers would mention the newsletter the week following a campaign. Since it took him about an hour to write a newsletter, that is a pretty high ROI, especially compared to the $250 he spent per month on AdWords. Read the full case study here.

Across the email world, the numbers are equally as impressive. According to data from a 2015 research study, for every $1 invested, email marketing generates an average return of $38.

Sources: Get Response and the Direct Marketing Association.

Engage the readers

Finally, make sure that your clients’ newsletters engage with their readers. Have them ask for feedback and replies. Nothing motivates a writer more than knowing someone has read their work!

A good way to engage your users is to include questions in your newsletter. By framing a post as a question, and not simply a statement, readers are far more likely to reply and interact with us.

As a final note: we always recommend that you don’t use a do not reply address – it kills user interaction. Read our full post on the topic.