lede

Eight seconds. According to Time, that’s how long the average human’s attention span is these days. For content marketers, that means grabbing someone’s attention is a lot of work and you have less time than ever to do it. This requires more than a little bit of strategic thinking. How do you claim your readers’ attention? Is it even possible? The truth is, you still have the chance to do it, but that chance is slimmer than ever. It all comes down to your introduction and the first few sentences. But no pressure! 😉 To help you craft that picture-perfect intro, here’s everything you need to know about crafting killer blog intros in the modern world. Why Are Your Blog Intros So Important? In a world of rapidly shrinking attention spans, the intro serves a critical purpose: it hooks the reader like bait hooks a hungry fish. Today, people are accustomed to making split-second decisions about people, places, topics, and yes, online content. They swipe right or left, so to speak, without giving much thought to anything beyond how the thing in question makes them feel at first glance. This can easily be bad news for your online content because it means that anything that doesn’t jump off the page as interesting, exciting, funny, or relevant is liable to get slashed. What’s more, your intros are some of the most high-visibility pieces of your content. While most people will at least glance at your intro, not everyone will take the time to read your entire body copy, which means that the intro is the perfect and one of the few places to grab those readers you so desperately want. Finally, the intro sets the tone for the rest of your content. If it’s boring, everything else is likely to follow suit. If it’s exciting and compelling, you can bet the rest of the content will be, too. By using your intro to show your readers you understand them and want to provide material they love, you can boost their confidence in you while also branding yourself as an engaging and worthwhile writer. Even a strong headline isn’t enough to do this. Many a blog had a strong headline and a weak intro and lost readers as a result. The Death of the Weak Word Writing a compelling lede is a lot like writing an impactful haiku or a great tweet: it takes technique. One of the most essential techniques you can learn to overhaul your introduction is how to kill weak words. Source: Neil Patel While this seems simple, it’s the foundation of great opening paragraphs. Think about it: if your intros are filled with weak, flabby words, they won’t be impactful, and if they’re not impactful, your readers won’t stick around. For your introductions to succeed, weak words need to be chopped out and replaced with more exciting and emotive alternatives. Thanks in large part to the dismal nature of the human attention span and the fact that introductions can’t, by nature, ramble on forever, there isn’t a lot of room to include bulky, pointless, or weak words. This means that killing them is essential. At the end of the day, learning how to trim the fat in your writing, and especially in your introduction, is the only way to create strong content that reflects well on your brand. Include weak words, and you’ll sink, cut them, and you’ll float to the top of your readers’ minds. Example of a Strong Vs. Weak Blog Intro Let’s put a strong blog intro vs. weak side by side to truly impact you on why studying how to write a great blog intro is so very crucial. Can you spot which one is “strong” as you review these two blog intros, pulled from the web? First example: Second example: The first was from GoDotMedia, the second from SmartBlogger.com. Can you see at a glance which one you personally like better? It probably took you less than 8 seconds to make that decision. At a glance, there is one that sticks out far more powerfully. Let’s explore how you can write powerful intros for your blogs, all the time, without fail. Ready? How to Write Killer Blog Intros 101: 10 Fundamental Tips for Greatness Writing great blog intros is a little bit like becoming a weightlifter – you have to work up to it and learn the right steps along the way. Here are ten foolproof tricks to get you there. 1. Embrace The Process Of Self-Editing Quick: what’s your favorite novel? Okay, now how many drafts of that book do you think its author penned? When it comes to great writing, self-editing is essential. Even the best writer needs to go back through his or her writing, again and again, to ensure it shines, and anyone who doesn’t embrace this process is likely to fall short. Hemingway is famous for having said “I rewrote the first part of A Farewell to Arms at least fifty times…the first draft of anything is s&*t.” With this in mind, don’t expect the first version of your introduction to also be the last version of your headline. To succeed in this business, you must master the process of self-editing, especially when it comes to your most critical piece of content –  the first few paragraphs. 2. Practice, Practice, Practice Great introductions are formulaic, which is both good and bad news. It’s good because formulas are, by definition, things that can be memorized and learned. It’s bad because it means you’ll have to put in the work required to master it. Luckily, practicing your introduction writing skills and learning which tricks help churn out the best ones is something everyone can master. 3. Minimize Modifiers Modifiers: “really,” “very,” and “literally” are “fluff” These are words that don’t belong in your introductions, or anywhere in your content! The more you can cut these out, the more impactful your headlines will be. Instead of using these low-impact filler words, use a replacement verb that’s more powerful and compelling than … Read more