The old adage goes that if something is worth saying, then it’s worth saying again and perhaps nowhere is this so true as in web content. Most experts believe that you have less than ten seconds to grab your reader’s attention and persuade them to remain on your page and continue reading. Our lives are so incredibly busy that the typical web user is looking for something very specific when they type in their web query. They need help or advice and they need it quickly. If they scan your article and don’t immediately see the answer to their pressing question they will hit the back button in an instant. So assuming your headline is stellar and your paragraph headings are crisp and engaging enough to convince your reader to keep reading, then what would be the purpose of a summary at the end of your article?
Because web readers scan rather than reading, it’s always a possibility that no matter how carefully you crafted your first paragraph, the point you meant to get across was somehow lost. The summary of your article is your last opportunity to fully convey the message you want to send. If you are issuing a call to action, the summary is your last ditch effort to get your readers to take the first step. If you have written an article which is primarily for information, your summary gives you the platform to succinctly sum it up, leaving your readers with a positive final impression.
How to Write the Perfect Summary
Once you have crafted your article with short sentences and paragraphs and front-loaded information and have reached a natural ending, try summing it all up in a few short sentences or a bulleted list. First write an overall statement about the article then follow that with two to three sentences summarizing the primary focal points of the article. Your ending sentence should give your readers a very clear understanding of the point you meant to convey and should never be vague rather should get right to the point.
In your summarization remember why you wrote the article in the first place and write in a direct manner as if you were speaking to your audience. Many writers believe the summary paragraph could have worked just as well as the introduction paragraph except it ties up any possible loose ends and develops naturally from the article. If at all possible, the summary should also inject a little surprise for your readers by ending with the perfect quotation or a statement that is just a bit startling. In other words, although you don’t want to add anything that is too new in your summary you can include some sort of surprising twist.
Ending up Well
If you can’t think of any particularly surprising summary sentences then try to circle back to your opening paragraph in your summary. Remember that the best ending ties together all the discoveries presented in your article while remaining concise and snappy. If your article was an informative piece, you might summarize through a bulleted list which quickly details every step of your original article, or if was an article describing a particular product, then you might want to quickly summarize the key points of the product and why your product is better than the competition. In the case of a product you might introduce the element of surprise by offering a free gift for those who order, or in the case of informative articles you could offer a free white paper or newsletter. No matter how you end your article, make sure your summary does justice to your entire piece.
Tags: Lawyer Website Content
