The most important factor that leads up to a post being read is how well you can hook a reader into it. Today, Chris Scott of Blog Tap teaches you how to hook a reader in just two paragraphs.
What do elephants and blogs have in common?
Absolutely nothing.
But now that I’ve exemplified one of the many methods writers use to capture a passive reader, I’m going explain all of the reasons why you should spend 90% of you time, when writing a blog post, on the first two paragraphs.
Not only do creative leads (like the cliffhanger lead above) cause your visitor to read on, but they also set the tone for your entire blog post. I used the word ‘tone’ instead of agenda because your lead paragraph does not have to limit you to a particular topic. Take this post for example — is it really about elephants?
The nut graph (which is journalistic lingo for second paragraph) can alternatively be used to identify the thesis or topic of your post. In the journalism world (yes, I am a journalism student), when the topic of the article is not identified until the second paragraph, it is called using a delayed lead.
The delayed lead is a very powerful tool. In the world of blogging, it will make you fishers of men, err, readers (read your Bible more if you didn’t get that).
Think of the lead as a punchline to a joke. You can’t always get away with a jokey, fun lead but you will do well to constantly attempt it. If you’re just not feeling funny, there are a number of other fail-safe techniques you can use to snag a reader.
1. Tell a Story
Everyone loves stories, especially stories that teach something. Beginning your blog post with a once-upon-a-time like lead has the potential to transport your readers to early childhood where they are snuggled in bed, attentively waiting for Momma to turn the next page of Curious George.
If you ask yourself how you came to the decision of blogging about a particular topic, you will many times discover that it was through a simple course of events. A course of events is a story! Tell it. And use it to your utter advantage.
When something interesting or funny happens to you – write it down! You may some day need to use the story to amplify a point with a metaphor.
2. Create a Problem
Problems are what run the commercial world. You can’t have a solution if you don’t have a problem and people are always looking for solutions. Even if that problem doesn’t exist or is extremely vague – it is your job to mold and expand that problem in your lead paragraph.
The Monroe Sequence, discovered by a psychologist in the 30s, was originally designed to be a technique for developing persuasive speeches. It has since become the weapon of choice for marketeers who sell products through TV and the Internet. All bloggers, whether they would like to admit it or not, are marketeers. Even if the price is only the readers’ time, blogging always involves the selling of information whether it be for entertainment or practical purposes.
The first and second steps of the Monroe Sequence are Attention and Need. Most bloggers realize that the first paragraphs need to grab attention but often neglect creating a need. Be straightforward. Tell the reader why he/she needs something by first explaining why you need it.
Virtually every television commercial begins with an individual pontificating a problem. Your lead should be like a commercial that advertises the rest of your post.
3. Spark a Curiosity
Did you know that 75% of web links are clicked out of pure curiosity? Did you know that I just made up that statistic? Did you also know that I am trying to fuel your curiosity by asking questions?
People just want to know things – it’s human nature. If we didn’t want to know things, we’d all still be sitting around in caves, drinking our own pee and using banana leaves to wipe our asses.
Manipulate the need to know by beginning your blog post focusing on a little-known obscurity, some interesting news event or some personal fact about you.
Unify Your Post with a Solid Lead
Writing your lead and nut graph last (which some bloggers do) is very unwise because you need to have a firm foundation to build upon. Your entire post should reverberate the focus and style of your lead and nutgraph. If it doesn’t, you may be disappointing readers.
Remember – no one would be reading the body of your post if they did not first become seduced by your leading paragraphs.
The web is a highly passive reading medium. Even more passive than magazines or newspapers. This is part of the reason why Twitter caught on so well; people want their information on the web to be highly condensed. Blogging is of course a step above Twitter (as far as content length goes) but you should still learn to develop Twitter-esque post leads and headlines.
Of course it helps if you add a little pizazz to your writing. For God sakes, say something different. Be a rubble-rouser. Start a fire. Use commas like scimitars and periods like cannonballs. I am still recovering from the explosive writing style of Kelly Diels, which I happened upon the other night.
Reading the creative writing of other bloggers will of course impact your style. The process of forming words on paper – writing – for the most part, is something that takes place at the sub-conscious level. You can’t train your sub-conscious, you can only expose it to new things.
Read and the metaphorical jibble-jabble and word-like-creeping-things will just come to you one day. You will be sitting at your kitchen table eating a doughnut and you will all the sudden have the impulse to write something down.
The Discussion
Leave a Comment Read Again?Excellent post – great tips to get the reader to actually READ as opposed to just scan it in their RSS reader until it gets marked as ‘read’.
.-= Shannon O | Confessions of a Loving Wife´s last blog ..Quick and Easy Cleaning – Get Your Home Ready for Last Minute Guests =-.
EXACTLY! You on Google Reader miss? Can I follow you… in a non-stalking way ….
.-= King Sidharth´s last blog ..Ego v/s Self – War of the Worlds =-.
ROOOOOAAAAARRRR!!!!!
Did I do it right? Haha! YeeeHaa! This was one of the bestest post on copywriting that I’ve ever read. Where’s your blog? Stuble!! Stuble! Tweet! Tweet! Digg! Bookmark! Eat! Munch!
Can I thank you enough for inspiring me to seduce my readers in first paragraphs?
Man I am gonna get real lucky. You also talked me into re-reading Bible for 100th time and find out what’s so compelling about their copy (instead of looking for hidden tresure maps, I always thought they had hints to treasure hidden in my backyard).
You know your stuff dude, it’s insane how you called me to action! How are you so convincing and persuasive? Are the points you mentioned above enough?
You better have a blog about ‘copywriting’ .. I am looking for it. If it isn’t there then create it! Now!
.-= King Sidharth´s last blog ..Ego v/s Self – War of the Worlds =-.
Hey King, thanks for the ego booster. In the future, I plan on writing a lot more about copy on my blog and in guest posts on this blog.
And I’m glad I encouraged you to read your Bible even if it was unintentional.
.-= Chris´s last blog ..How to tell if your blog has been indexed in Google =-.
I can hardly wait man. Btw welcome to the Blogussion family.
PS: Maybe we need a different headline for this post ’3 Ways to Outrageous Copy’ to be honest, this title doens’t excite me at all. This post might perform better. Ask Alex..
.-= King Sidharth´s last blog ..Ego v/s Self – War of the Worlds =-.
You know, I was thinking the same thing myself. Maybe I need to read up on writing headlines! http://www.blogussion.com/writing/headline-techniques/
I think ‘What do blogs and elephants have in common?’ would also be a good one. It might be too late now though.
.-= Chris´s last blog ..How to tell if your blog has been indexed in Google =-.
It is never too late! Even Copyblogger did that after 2 days (once) Man this post deserves serious attention. How would they know how awesome if they never visit it? And with that headline, fat chance.
Yea, “‘What do blogs and elephants have in common?’” sound cool too! Mail Alex, right away… tell him we both voted for that… let experiment man that is what blogging is all about.
It’s never too late to be successful.
.-= King Sidharth´s last blog ..Ego v/s Self – War of the Worlds =-.
This post is INTENSE. It just non-stop fun reading it…so, if i may ask, out of those 3 methods, which one you stick to most of the time (like the one you believe you’ve abused)?
.-= Andi | WebMarketerDepot´s last blog ..The #1 Trap when Making Money Online =-.
Hey Andi,
I’m glad you had fun
.
I have certainly abused the creating a problem technique, primarily because it is so easy to do. Most digital products (specifically ebooks) that I promote are really just solutions to problems and hooking the reader is just a matter of exploding the problem — making it seem worse then it really is. Dramatizing. Going a step further. That’s really the trick to it.
You will find that if you REALLY want to sell an idea, the Monroe Method is the way to go.
.-= Chris´s last blog ..How to tell if your blog has been indexed in Google =-.
Grabing the attention of the reader from the start of your article is very important. Because, if you can’t be able to that than it is time wasted for creating that article. So, grab their attention to tell them what you are going to deliver and deliver it as promised. Very good article.
.-= Adam @ Selling Manager Ebay´s last blog ..Selling Software On EBay =-.
Excellent post and useful points, the idea of spark a curiosity, really works greatly but all in all the website should provide a useful content to make the visitor not to click away…
This something that I often do with my headlines. I try to be creative and yet not so creative that the search engines are confused by my titles.
I like the idea of extending that creativity to my lead paragraphs and don’t know why I haven’t done it more. Something new to practice.
.-= Blog Angel a.k.a. Joella´s last blog ..Put Your Blog On The Psychiatrist’s Couch =-.
Yeah, it’s definitely something that takes a lot of effort. I know how to write a good lead but I don’t always find the willpower to do so. My most common excuse is to believe that, because a blog post is tutorial-like or a step-by-step guide, that it doesn’t need a captivating lead. That’s the wrong way to think. Even if the visitor is only on your site to figure out how to do a particular thing, you still have the opportunity to make the visitor a permanent reader by giving the visitor a positive experience.
If you get a lot of traffic from Google, it may be a good idea to examine your landing pages (the ones that Google puts visitors on first) and make sure the leads on those pages are fully optimized. You can tell which pages Google lands your visitors by installing Google analytics on your site or another site-wide traffic tracking system.
.-= Chris´s last blog ..How to tell if your blog has been indexed in Google =-.
Very well written. Creativity is the cornerstone to good blogging <<< a good headline if anyone wants it. lol
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..DEDC Updates – What the (Near) Future Holds for You and I! =-.
Great post Chris! The article goes along great with the headline article I wrote about earlier in the week.
It’s like a step beyond it.
You did write this post really creatively, I have to agree with the others. Can’t wait to see what else you come out with.
Err… please a better headline for this post and republish or re-publicize it? It can do much better? Just an opinion…. Read comment # 3-7
.-= King Sidharth´s last blog ..Ego v/s Self – War of the Worlds =-.
This is a very entertaining and informative post. For me, the leading paragraphs are always the most difficult sections to write. The tips above would really help me in improving the way I write these parts. I also think that we should vary our styles in each article. If we used the first approach in our current post, we should consciously use another technique in the next one
.-= Julius´s last blog ..A Day Through The Eyes of a Blind Woman: Part 3 =-.
Yes! The first paragraph is really important. But, i don’t really understand why the second paragraph is important too. Can you further explain it? Thanks for sharing!
.-= Kok Siong Chen´s last blog ..Anti-angiogenic Therapy to Treat Cancer =-.
You really captured my attention. And nicely made me understand your point. Nice creative.
.-= Agent Deepak´s last blog ..Interview with James Richmond – The InfoPreneur =-.
Create a Problem
I like that way, it makes the readers feel curious and want to read more to see how we can solve the problem.
.-= Reza Winandar´s last blog ..This is blog is now Do Follow =-.
What a truly thoughtful and useful post, I agree with all your points, and I often see posts from bloggers that obviously do not reflect a lot of thought, I think we all can definitely use these tips to improve our blogs and content.
.-= JR ´s last blog ..Make Money Online for Free: How-To Build Money Sites Quickly With Wordpress =-.
Thanks So much! I have been thinking about this issue for a while now and I needed a kick in the ass. I appreciate stuff like this so much.
.-= Scott Webb´s last blog ..Improve Your Blog with Lesson 7 from Gordon Ramsay: Keep Visitors Coming Back for More =-.
Many thanks for writing about this. There is a bunch of great technology info on the internet. A person have associated with that info correct here on your website. I am impressed — I try to maintain a couple blogs fairly live, however it is a struggle sometimes. You’ve done the solid work together with this one. How do a person this?
A brilliant compilation! I agree with all the points you mentioned. I specifically liked the point when you create a curious question where the reader is anxious to find the answer to it and clicks the link and visits your page!
.-= Tech Stuff´s last blog ..Get dot COM domains in just 0.99$ at GoDaddy =-.
A very helpful post.
Write a story and spark a curiosity , I totally agree. But Creating a problem?
Curious readers are the most valuable from every point of view, they spend time , browse through your articles and can become recurring visitors.
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