🌐 How To Write On The Internet

Hello! Adam Thornhill here. ‘The Podcast Guy’ saving you 10 hours a week.

Enjoy the 143rd Podup, with special thanks to Startup Spells - Learn black hat tactics that every startup uses but nobody talks about.

Today, we’ll dive into the best insights and ideas from My First Million.

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Start with the end in mind. Shaan Puri’s approach to creating content is about engineering a specific outcome from the get-go. Let’s dissect this strategy and how it can transform your messaging.

Shaan’s content blueprint

I ask myself 3 questions:

1. What is the reaction I want? That’s always an emotion.

2. What is the action I want? Click the buy button, forward to a friend, etc.

3. What’s the one takeaway? What’s one line I want people to remember?

I answer this before I ever write a word.

Shaan Puri

Pick an emotion first

When you create content, you want people to feel something at the end.

Don’t write until you pick an emotion, then always work back from this. It could be:

• LOL (humour)

• WTF (outrage)

• OMG (shock)

• AWW (cute)

Shaan Puri

Unlearn what you know

To be a great writer on the internet, you have to unlearn pretty much everything you learned in school.

Rather than hitting a minimum word count, you have to do the exact opposite. Be concise. Eliminate fluff.

Rather than using fancy vocabulary, write with for an 8th grade reading level. 

Shaan Puri

Why it matters

Our world is flooded with content. To stand out, you need to be thoughtful and premeditated in your approach. It’s still ridiculously hard, but you can reverse engineer virality. To do so, you need to create an emotional connection and clear, memorable takeaways.

Next steps

1. Define your outcome. Before crafting your message, clarify the emotion, action, and takeaway you’re aiming for.

2. Embrace simplicity. Challenge yourself to convey your message as simply as possible.

3. Practice and iterate. Edit your content based on audience feedback and the effectiveness of your messages.

Your thoughts?

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