Anyone who has ever put pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard is familiar with that sinking feeling of having lots to say, yet great difficulty writing it. I write for a living and still know that feeling all too well.
Sometimes it’s the blank page blues, better known as writer’s block. More often, I simply need to ask myself three simple questions. “Who? What? What?”
- Who is your audience? Take some time and jot down what you know about your reader or your prospective reader.
- What does your reader already know about you, about your product or service, or about the message that you want to share?
- What do you want you reader to know about you, your product or service, and/or what action do you want your reader to take?
When you start your writing project by answering these three questions, not only will your words flow with greater ease; you’ll also be well on your way to writing something that your audience wants to read.
Do you have a favorite technique to organize your thoughts before you begin to write?
Great ideas Shari. Now the question is, how do you best gauge interest in your topic? And, how do you know if it’s truly connecting with others?
Sammy Simpson
http://www.thetunein.com
Hi Sammy, thanks for visiting and the great questions. I think the answer depends somewhat on the medium. Online, I start with research. You need to know if there are people interested in your topic before getting started. And after you hit publish, you check your stats and hope for comments.
Some people have a gift for truly connecting online, like Liz Strauss over at http://successful-blog.com. She makes it fun to participate.
I’m curious as to how you’d answer these questions. How do you best gauge interest and know that you’re connecting?
I’m relatively new at this, but I’ve been reading your site and find your information very helpful, especially for the newbie!
Thanks, Txchyc!
[...] 3 Important Questions to Ask Before You Start Writing [...]
It’s amazing how many people start writing withoug thinking what they’re writing for!
I work for a website copywriting agency in the UK and it does get daunting trying to organise what you want to say. I like to write a short para about what I’m trying to achieve, then split it into seperate parts, and build up the copy around these – that way the copy always contains the essence of what i’m trying to say, even if it has been completely reedited in the meantime.
Does that make sense?
Copywriting is also a skill that takes years of practice to become very effective in advertising what you are selling and ,-;