Writing Blog Intros That Grab Attention

Bad writers wait too long to get into the good stuff. You can think of your title, subtitle, and first few sentences as a sales funnel. Even after somebody's opened your piece, you need to persuade them to keep reading. Here's how you can write better intros: 1) Surprise: Create Suspense You don't need as many words as you think. Sometimes, it only takes one sentence to capture a reader's attention. These one-sentence hooks work particularly well for thrilling and suspenseful pieces. • "On two separate occasions, I've woken up to an intruder breaking into my home after midnight (years apart and in different states)." • "I wanted to strangle mother but I’d have to touch her to do it." — Loretta Hudson • “Every time I see it, that number blows my mind." 2) Insight: Teach the Reader Though these ones are a little bit longer, it doesn't take long for the reader to learn something, and that spark of insight launches them into the piece because they come to see the author as an authority. Both the examples below make the reader say: "Hmmmmm..." • Everyone knows that to do great work you need both natural ability and determination. But there's a third ingredient that's not as well understood: an obsessive interest in a particular topic. — Paul Graham • During a regular dive in the sea, Alexey Molchanov can go 131 meters deep (or about 43 stories) while holding a single breath for nearly five minutes. In that period, his body experiences more gravitational stress than an astronaut during a launch into space. — Polina Marinova Pompliano 3) Set the Scene A few sentences is all it takes to throw the reader into the story. You don't need many words to create a narrative arc, and the words you do choose set the frame for the rest of the piece. • Steamboat Willie put Walt Disney on the map as an animator. Business success was another story. Disney’s first studio went bankrupt. Later cartoons were monstrously expensive to produce, and financed at onerous terms. By the mid-1930s Disney had produced more than 400 cartoons – most of them short, most of them liked, and most of them losing money. Disney and his studio were nearly broke. — Morgan Housel • On February 10, 2002, in a New York State prison cell, the bestselling author and twice-convicted killer Jack Abbott hanged himself with an improvised noose. That same day, the body of the man I murdered washed ashore on a Brooklyn beach in a nylon laundry bag. My reason for connecting these events is to account for my crime. — John J. Lennon To hone your knack for writing introductions, study stand-up comedians. Note how quickly they set the frame for their jokes. They rarely need more than 1-2 sentences to set the scene and make the audience laugh. Your introductions don't need to be funny, but they should be captivating, and you don't need many words to do that.

𝐀 60-𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭 Most people lose readers in the first line. Not because their content is bad, but because their hook is forgettable. Here’s a quick framework you can use right now: 1. 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 Instead of telling everything upfront, create an open loop. ✅ Bad: “Here are tips for productivity.” ✅ Good: “The 3-minute routine that doubled my focus.” 2. 𝐀𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐬 Numbers make your promise feel tangible. ✅ “How I got 78 leads from a single post.” 3. 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞 Hooks work when they tap into what your audience wants or struggles with. ✅ “Why your content isn’t landing (and how to fix it).” 4. 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 The best hooks are between 7–10 words. Enough to spark curiosity without giving away the punchline. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝. 𝐈𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭, 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. The hook decides whether your content lives or dies.

Here's how I write B2B blog intros: Step 1: Am I doing a fancy intro or a business-like intro? E.g. am I doing something fun here, or is this just "This is what this blog is about and this is why I know what I'm talking about? My rules of thumb: 1. If I'm writing for an audience that reads a lot of content (e.g. content marketers :), then I'll probably try and do a fun intro. 2. If I'm writing a very tactical, "how to do this thing" blog, then it's a minimal intro and get to the meat asap. 3. If it's a thought leadership piece, usually fun intro. 4. Highly technical topic? Usually minimal intro. 5. Look at the client's existing content. Long intros? Go fun. Short intros? Go brisk. Step 2: If it's a fancy intro, choose a flavor. Here are a couple of options: 😬 The Painful Intro This is probably the easiest one to write. Just state the pain point in emotional, empathetic terms. Note: Don't just say the pain point exists (e.g. "Many content writers struggle with intros.") Describe how it feels. ("You know that feeling when you have to write an intro, and you start to panic that you're going to totally mess it up, and the client will hate you, and maybe you shouldn't really even be a writer anyway, and maybe they're hiring at Target? Yeah, me too.") 🙃 The Weird Intro Go with an unexpected analogy or seemingly somewhat unrelated but intriguing story. You have to handle this one with care. If you go off on a tangent you'll lose your reader. So keep it short and sweet and scroll-stopping. To come up with a weird analogy, let your mind wander a little. What does the topic make you think of? 👊 The Punchy Quote/Stat If you have one of those, use it right up top. But only if it's genuinely interesting. Bland stats make for bland intros. Step 3: If it's a functional intro, you really only need to do three things: 1. Keep it short. Like 5-12 lines max. 2. Say why someone should read this blog - the specific benefit they'll get. 3. Say why you know what you're talking about. Backlinko does these very well if you want a reference. Whether I'm writing a fancy intro or a functional intro, there are a couple of things I try to avoid: ⛔ Broad, sweeping, state of the industry type statements. These are always a yawn fest. (I'm looking at you, "rapidly evolving digital landscapes." ⛔ Waving a hand generally towards the pain point. "Many marketers feel that"....NOPE ⛔ Obvious statements. [Obviously important thing] is important. [Obviously bad thing] is bad. ⛔ Selling the reader on the topic at hand. You aren't reading a blog post about, say, "How to write a great intro" if you don't think writing great intros is important. Don't waste intro space selling the topic - get into the topic. ⛔ Burying the lede. If you have a great point to make, make it up top, not somewhere around the second H2. That's pretty much it! How about you? Any tips on blog intro writing? What do you like in an intro?