Here’s why: Putting that point of view and main message right at the top of a web page allows your reader to quickly decide if the information you’re providing is the information they want. If it is, they read on. If it’s not, you haven’t wasted their time.

This concept isn’t really new, but it was driven home to me during a two-day course on presentation and public speaking skills. Putting your point of view and punchline first was one of several skills that overlap between online copywriting and public speaking.

During the seminar from Blue Dragon Communications, we practiced again and again stating our point of view right off the bat. “Point of view, action requested, benefit of the action,” coach Denise Harrington would remind us. Again and again.

When it comes to applying this to online text, copywriters need to remember this sequence because they’re typically funny people. It’s usually the copywriter who’s loudly telling a joke in the office. It’s usually the writer who’s got the amazing story that keeps the clients and co-workers in stitches.

And that’s part of their job. A quiet copywriter is a writer who isn’t testing his ideas, constructions, and interpretations out in the real world.

But when it comes to putting that information online, the punchline and the point must lead. Putting the core of your message first is almost never the way you’d speak casually. But if you’re presenting publicly or writing for the web, you should.