Think of your headlines as if they were Twitter posts and your opening paragraphs as if they were RSS feed summaries:
On Twitter you’ve got less than 2 seconds to make people decide if they want to click… or pass. It’s the same with every sales page, landing page, blog post or article you create.
With every headline or opening paragraph – you’ve barely got 2 seconds to grab your reader’s attention and make them curious enough to “engage” in a single line or two. To get a feel for creating this immediate interest and impact, go look at the summaries for some of your RSS feeds. See which ones feel punchy and make you want to read more – and which ones feel dull and incomplete.
The ones that feel dull and incomplete will be the ones with the slowest starts. You’ll notice that these ones never get around to presenting the hook – the summary ends before the author has meandered to the point. So never, ever waste your first paragraph with “warm-up stuff”. (And do put your keyword in your first line and headline, for blog posts and articles!)
Okay, that's today's idea. Hope it spurs some inspiration... and traffic.
Until tomorrow,
Terry
