Don't Start With What You Want to Say

When you know a lot, the natural impulse is to include everything you know. But readers do not share your history, context, or mental model.

Starting from the writer's position can produce accurate but inaccessible content. Starting from the reader's position gives you a chance to lead them toward the understanding you want.

This question centers the writer. It often creates a collection of facts, opinions, and examples without a clear user need.

A better question is: What is the reader trying to understand, decide, or do? Change that question and the structure changes with it.

Describe the reader with five prompts:

Who — who are they?

Situation — what situation are they in?

Known — what do they already know?

Missing — what are they missing?

Next decision — what do they need to decide or do next?

This is a better starting point than any headline or outline.

Use five steps:

Reader — who is reading?

Problem — what is blocking them?

Desired Understanding — what should they understand differently after reading?

Evidence — what example, data, or logic will make it credible?

Action — what can they do next?

Strong content creates a visible gap between “before reading” and “after reading.”

Writer-first: “Here are seven principles for a strong company profile.”

Reader-first: “If a client opens your company profile and still cannot tell why they should choose you, the problem may not be design—it may be how the information is structured.”

Both can lead to the same knowledge. The second creates context immediately.

A common mistake is going deep before creating a reason to care. Writers introduce frameworks, terminology, or history before readers understand why it matters.

Use the order: problem first, explanation second. Once the problem is visible, depth becomes easier to absorb.

You can target a broad audience while choosing a precise situation. “For freelancers” is broad. “For freelancers whose clients often go silent after receiving a proposal” is a much clearer reader state.

Specificity gives content force.

Not every detail deserves equal priority. Separate content into:

Need to know — required to understand the problem.

Useful to know — adds depth.

Nice to know — can be explored later.

Putting need-to-know first prevents readers from drowning in depth too early.

A Tip can begin with a concrete reader situation: “You have many projects, but your profile still looks weak?” or “Your proposal is complete, but clients still struggle to decide?”

Then move into insight, framework, and application. The Tip becomes an answer to a real need rather than a piece of content looking for an audience.

Good writers do more than choose what to say. They choose where the reader needs to begin .

That makes content shorter and deeper at the same time, because every paragraph has a reason to exist in the reader's journey.