Groove HQ: Features increase reading by 520%, readers by 300%
The feature-style story structure attracts 300% more readers and increases reading by 520%, according to an A/B test by Groove HQ.… Read the full article
Feature Structure
Topple the inverted pyramid style
Feature-style story structure outperforms the traditional news format
“Prose is architecture,” said Ernest Hemingway. “It’s not interior design.”
When you write, you’re building something. Specifically, when you’re writing corporate communications, content marketing or public relations messages, you’re building an argument.… Read the full article
Feature article structure outperforms pyramid
Impact study: Features boost readership, satisfaction, image
Feature-style stories outperform traditional news stories in readership, satisfaction and image.
That’s according to “The Impact Study of Newspaper Readership” (PDF).… Read the full article
Inverted pyramid structure of news writing topples
Ways With Words study: Features more effective
If I told you there was a communication tool that reduces readership, diminishes understanding and causes engagement to take a nosedive, would you use it?… Read the full article
How to write transitions: cliffhangers
External transitions move readers from section to section
Talk about a transition. Here’s how author Erik Larson ends one chapter of Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America:
“‘Would the thin rods (of the first Ferris wheel) be sufficient to sustain not only the enormous weight of the structure and that of the 2,000 passengers who might chance to be in the cars, but the pressure of the wind as well?’
… Read the full article How to write a transition sentence
Avoid transitional clichés
Transitions can be hard to write. Maybe that’s why we keep turning back to these hackneyed transitions, listed in a Poynter Institute forum:
Let’s pause and ponder that for a minute too.… Read the full article
Background tops the types of feature story leads to avoid
Don’t start with the blah blah blah
The background might be an important component of your story. After all, the readers might need some of the following elements to fully understand your story:
- A definition
- A short description of a key concept
- A one-paragraph history of the subject
- Additional facts or details that give context to the story or “prove” your point
Background comes third
But readers don’t need this material first.… Read the full article
What’s the best news release structure?
Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston nails the feature
It was a good story: More than 1,000 New Englanders would soon have safe, decent, affordable places to live, thanks to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston’s Affordable Housing Program.… Read the full article
What’s the best intranet-article writing structure?
‘From Tina Turner to Taylor Swift’
When Ian Jones needed to craft a — yawn! — diversity story for employees at Columbia Gas of Virginia, his first instinct was to go with a fact pack.… Read the full article
How to organize content [Example!]
Strathcona County masters feature-style story structure
Here’s the good news: You already know how to organize your copy.
Just think back to what your third-grade English teacher taught you.… Read the full article