4 steps to crafting a terrific blog post opening

A dull, wordy lede will chase away readers.

To keep your audience engaged and to avoid the dreaded “bounce,” remember the acronym AIDA, and you’ll be creating amazing blog intros in no time.

1. Attention

Is there a question you know your audience desperately wants answered? Is there a piece of data that will wow your readers from the outset?

If you understand your audience well, you’ll know what type of content will keep their attention. Before you craft the opening line, ask yourself:

• What are my reader’s pain points?
• What do they hope to learn?
• What keeps them up at night?

Focus on your audience’s concerns at the outset, and you’ll be on your way to captivating them for your entire post.

2. Interest

Once you’ve written an opening line that grabs readers’ attention, the next step is to write a second line that adds interest. Explain your post’s value and how it will benefit them.

If you don’t know where to begin, list the reasons a reader would follow your blog. Try to determine what initially captured their interest and what type of content will motivate them to keep supporting you:

• What do readers hope to gain from consuming your content regularly?
• What types of posts will keep them interested until the very end?
• If you were one of your readers, what would interest you?

3. Desire

Piquing readers’ interest in the first couple of lines is not the same as stoking their desire to consume the entire piece of content. If the rest of your opening convinces readers that they must read everything you’ve written, then you’re on the right track.

4. Action

A great opening motivates a reader to take action-specifically, to read further for solutions to the problems you’ve identified and the questions you’ve posed.

Get to the point as quickly as possible. Tell the reader why they must read on.

If you list those features and benefits in simple terms, they will gladly read the rest of your post and take the action you desire. You will build a stronger relationship with your customers as you do this with every post you publish.

A version of this article first appeared on GrooveDigitalMarketing.

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