We must write for three kinds of people.
Quick skimmers.
Shortest attention span. They skim. Headlines, pictures, pull-quotes.
Pausers
Medium attention span. They’ll stop when a pull-quote is interesting, or when the sub-heading piques their curiosity.
The deep divers.
They’ll almost read every word of what you wrote/published.
It’s not necessary that every person is just one type all the time. It depends on a bunch of factors (what they’re reading, what sort of a hurry they are in, what do they want/expect etc.).
Given this, (and given the attention economy we’re living in), here’s what I think about drafting content.
- Write for skimmers first. This forces you to write just the important bits of your idea.
- Expand where you feel bits need expansion. Don’t write elaborate expansions, by the way. Keep it minimal.
- Then comes the deep-dive. Numbers, stats, expositions, editorial opinions, stories.