第72页 | 300 Days of Better Writing | 阅读 ‧ 电子书库

Day 73: Understand your reader's interests, goals, and behavior.

The strategy on day 66 discussed identifying your primary audience. Now you need to think critically about that audience and ask a number of important questions.

Why will this person read my document?What problem will this document solve?What does this person want from my document?When and where will this person read?What knowledge does this person already have about the topic?What will this person do with the information in my document?

Answers to these questions (and others you may think of) will help you make decisions about such issues as topics in general, specific content, length, complexity, format, use of headers and footers, use of lists, and word choice.

These are marketing-type questions that will help guide the development of your product: your document. You may have a specific goal to accomplish with your document. However, only through aligning your document with your reader’s needs will you accomplish that goal.