How to Write the Perfect Introduction for Your Next Blog Post
More than half of the visitors that land on a website don’t spend more than 15 seconds to decide whether they will be checking out the rest of the website or bounce back. This might sound astonishing but the reality is most people are very impatient on the web. They just skim through the first few lines to decide whether to continue reading the rest of the post or visit another website.
Over 2 million blog posts get published on a daily basis and this begs to ask the question, why on earth would anybody care to read your article? It is a mad world out there and therefore, it makes sense why you should be trying your level best to prep up the introductory paragraph of a lengthy blog post. A boring introductory line can devastate all your chances to grab the attention of the targeted audience and to encourage them to read the rest of the article. There are tons of content marketing tools available that you can try but unless you are unleashing your inner creativity, you will find it really hard to encourage people to read what you have written.
But coming up with an engaging introduction for every single blog post on a regular basis is not that easy, otherwise, there would be no such thing as boring articles. So, if you are struggling to come up with an engaging and interesting introduction for the upcoming blog post, you need to check out the following tips and tricks that might help you overcome the writer’s block.
Start with a Quote
‘An Eye for an Eye Will Make The Whole World Blind’. Do you like the quote? Well, of course, you do. Inspirational quotes like this one reinvigorate us and encourage us to continue to push further to achieve our goals.
So, when you have no idea how to write an engaging introduction for a blog post, you can always start off with an inspirational quote at the beginning. However, just copy pasting a quote will do more harm than good. As a writer you need to make sure that you have prepared the ground for that quote in advance otherwise the quote would look out of place.
The biggest benefit of using quote is that it relieves you from the burden of coming up with catchy lines to wow the audience. Just make sure that the proceeding paragraphs are in line with the quotes. You simply can’t use a quote just because you like it. The quote must serve a purpose and it should enrich the article.
Add Some Humor
Some people are tired of reading long paragraphs with loads of data and figures. Sometimes our brains just can’t take it anymore. So, you need to tap into this opportunity by adding some funny lines in the introductory paragraph. A funny and edgy introduction helps lift the mood of the people and they also encourage them to read the rest of the article.
However, don’t go overboard with humor. You need to be careful that your style of writing is not trivializing the importance of the topic. So, when writing on a serious subject, you need to be careful while adding humor because that could backfire.
The idea is to provide comic relief so that people can digest the complexity of the subject without getting bored in the process.
Court Controversy
The easiest way to capture the attention of the audience is by posting something controversial. Controversy acts a wildfire and helps you grabs loads of eyeballs. However, it is a double edged sword and that means, you have to be extremely careful while posting something controversial. Make sure that it is not hurting the sentiments of your readers.
You will have to backup your proposition with facts otherwise you are going to lose badly in the upcoming battle of vicious arguments with your readers in the comments section. There is no need to badmouth people even if they disagree with your view. You need to respect the views of the oppositions but at the same time, you need to provide an explanation to clarify your stance.
So, if you are just trying to cook up something just for the sake of creating controversy, you need to be careful because that might hamper the popularity and the brand value of your blog.
Start With A Story
Who does not like stories? Stories that people can relate with can act as a catalyst in the growth of the popularity of the web blog. Good stories help evoke strong emotion from the readers and this might help you a lot to promote the post on the web. If the readers find the story engaging and interesting, they are more likely to share the stories within their social circles and this will have a ripping effect.
Have not you seen how e-commerce giants are utilizing the power of storytelling? Well, you have certainly seen their ads featuring common people sharing their stories about how they got benefited by purchasing products from their e-commerce stores. This is the power of storytelling and that means, you need to master the art of storytelling if you wish to make the introduction of your next blog post irresistible and amazing.
Things get even more awesome if you can try visual storytelling. However, you need to have some graphic designing skills to do that.
Start With A Question
It is quite a common practice among blogger to start a post with a question. It helps hook the attention of the audience. The rule of thumb is to ask questions whose answer is quite obvious. For example, a question like this one – “Do you want to increase the conversion rate of your website?” helps capture the attention as the answer is quite obvious.
The question should not be too confusing or difficult because that would make people think too hard and they would lose interest in the topic. So, always ask the obvious question at the introduction to get the best result.
Cite Stats
People love concrete things. So, you need to avoid adding abstract ideas in the introduction section of the blog post. This is the reason why a growing number of bloggers are adding statistics and hard facts to woo the audience. By publishing data-driven blog posts, your article will be able to stand tall in the midst of a countless run of the mill articles. It will look like a well researched and informative article.
So, these are some tactics that you need to employ while writing the introduction to your next blog post.