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What Is Inverted Pyramid Structure?

Inverted pyramid is a method of news writing in


which the broadest, most important points are
delivered at the top of the story, followed by
additional details. The inverted pyramid writing
style is designed to grab the reader’s attention
as quickly as possible, presenting the most
important details in the lead paragraph and
then filling in the story with increasingly specific
supporting information as the article proceeds.

The inverted pyramid style can trace its origins


to the invention of the telegraph, which
revolutionized the way that news was
transmitted. News outlets would communicate
the most important information in the first
sentence so that it would arrive first when sent
out over the wires. By the Civil War, the inverted
pyramid structure was well on its way to
becoming the industry standard for delivering
new stories.
The inverted pyramid style imparts essential info straight away. 🚨
Although I’ve mentioned it numerous times already, the big sell of the
inverted pyramid is that essential information is displayed immediately. No
wondering where the info you want actually is. No giving up halfway
through and looking for a different article on the same subject. No burying
the lead.

It yields SEO benefits. 💻


The inverted pyramid structure has several SEO benefits. Firstly, placing
your keyword in the first sentence or two means you’re increasing your
keyword prominence – which Google likes a lot. Secondly, having important
info at the start is a sound way to get featured on Google’s knowledge
graph infobox. Lastly, the interaction cost is decreased as you’re engaging
readers with content far sooner!

It encourages scrolling. 👀
Ironically, the inverted pyramid writing structure encourages scrolling.
Readers interested in a story won’t only read the first two lines and then
leave. They’ll want to know more about the matter at hand, causing them
to read through to the second and third stages of the inverted pyramid
structure, where extra contextual information is provided.

It’s better for those with ADHD, ADD, and dyslexia. 🧠


The inverted pyramid is inherently inclusive. Jokes about the general
population’s attention span aside, a real struggle for those with ADHD and
ADD is concentrating for long periods of time. By front-loading written text
with the necessary details first, it means those with more severe
concentration difficulties don’t have to wade through an article to get the
information they need. Similarly, it’s also better for readers with dyslexia as
reading time is reduced.
3 Reasons to Use Inverted Pyramid Structure
In the modern era of content saturation and short
attention spans, the inverted pyramid method is
more widely used than ever. There are a number of
reasons why this style of writing is used in news
writing, academic writing, and essay writing:

Inverted pyramid hooks readers quickly. Front-


loading your story is an attention-grabbing way to
hook your reader in the first paragraph. In the age
of scrolling and skim-reading, the inverted pyramid
writing technique can increase the likelihood of
getting eyeballs on your story.
Inverted pyramid gets your point across.
Placing your article’s information in a descending
order of importance means that your reader will get
the main point of your article within the first few
sentences.
Inverted pyramid allows for SEO optimization.
The inverted pyramid writing style ensures that the
most relevant pieces of information and keywords
will be in the first few sentences of your article,
which will make it more likely that search engines
will find and amplify your work.
How to Use Inverted Pyramid Structure When Writing an
Article
Whether you’re writing a press release, essay, or news article,
the inverted pyramid can enhance your work’s clarity and
readability. Here are some writing tips to follow when applying
the inverted pyramid structure:

Start with the lead. In your story’s lead, you should be


answering five important questions: Who did the thing of
interest? What did they do? Where did they do it? When did they
do it? Why did they do it? Your lead should offer these key
points as quickly as possible, getting to the essence of your story
in approximately thirty words or one to two short paragraphs.
The lead may also include a hook to your story, such as an
enticing quote or provocative detail, that encourages people to
keep reading.
Continue with the body. The body is where you offer
supporting details, quotes from sources, and additional
supplementary information. The information in the body should
be organized in terms of importance, with the most essential
info appearing earlier in the story.
Finish with pertinent background information. Appearing
last in inverted pyramid story structure is a section of additional
related information. While this info is still helpful to fully
understand the context of the story, it is less important than the
information contained in the lead and the body. Oftentimes the
final paragraphs will provide a list of supplementary reading
material, links to prior reporting on the subject, or a kicker that
ends your story on an intriguing, humorous, or impactful note.
Before giving you direct news articles that feature the
inverted pyramid, let’s break down how you write in the
inverted pyramid style.

Step 1: Start with the Conclusion of the Story


Writers and journalist are taught to “front load” their pieces of
writing, putting the most important and attention grabbing
pieces in the beginning to hook their audience. The next
pieces of writing should be of diminishing importance Front
loading your readers helps to keep them more engaged. If
you start them off with a boring pieces of content from the
beginning they will not be interested. Today’s readers are
even worse, you have to give them something right from the
start to keep them engaged.

Step 2: Use Eye Catching Headlines


This is a no brainer. If you don’t have an exciting
headline, you don’t have an audience. You should
also learn to craft your headlines in a way that
features the conclusion in the title but doesn’t give
enough information to the reader.

This will invoke their curiosity and cause them to


want to find out more information
Step 3: Release Exciting Details Slowly
In order to keep readers happy and engaged you have to drip feed those interesting details
that will want to make them continue reading the article. You can’t give all the important and
exciting details right away.

Tease your audience and give them a little bit at a time. This will help to build anticipation and
interest for the reader.

New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut expand


coronavirus travel restrictions

Scroll back up to restore default view.


Yahoo Money
New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut expand coronavirus travel restrictions
Stephanie Asymkos
Stephanie Asymkos·Reporter
July 8, 2020·3 min read
Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York are bent on keeping their residents healthy — even at
the exclusion of nearly half of the country.

On Tuesday, the tristate area expanded its mandatory 14-day self-quarantine orders to out-
of-state visitors from Delaware, Kansas, and Oklahoma, bringing the total number of states
affected by the travel advisory to 19.

They join Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana,
Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. Visitors from
those states also must self-quarantine for 14 days if they visit Connecticut, New Jersey, or New
York.

“As states around the country experience increasing community spread, New York is taking
action to ensure the continued safety of our phased reopening," Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY)
said on Tuesday.

On June 24, Govs. Ned Lamont (D-CT), Phil Murphy (D-NJ), and Cuomo first announced that
visitors from nine states with rising COVID-19 cases were mandated to self-quarantine for 14
days upon entering the area as a way to keep the tristate’s new COVID-19 cases from rising.
Last week, another seven states were added to the travel advisory.

Visitors must self-quarantine if their state has “a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000
residents over a 7-day rolling average” or “a 10% or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling
average,” according to Cuomo.

In other words, the travel restrictions are designed to keep visitors who are fleeing hot spots
from spreading the virus where cases are falling.

As the summer travel season gets underway, the tristate’s natural attractions like beaches,
mountains, and lakes are a draw for tourists looking to vacation and road trip. Visitors are still
welcome, but only after a 14-day self-quarantine to ensure they don’t present COVID-19
symptoms.

“New Yorkers did the impossible. We went from the worst infection rate in the United States
to one of the best,” Gov. Cuomo said. “And the last thing we need is to see another spike of
COVID-19."

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