The Best Blog Post Introduction: What No One Told You About It
Is there a formula for the best blog post introduction?
They say that the best blog post introductions are those that tease the subject just enough, without revealing too much. But why would you need something like that? Wouldn’t any sort of introduction do?
The fact is that there are about 4,800 blog posts being published per minute on the internet. And each of them is competing for your attention.With those kinds of figures, do you really think you can afford to botch it up?
Now, for a moment consider this scenario.
You’ve got the most brilliant idea for a blog. You’ve done some incredible content research to put together an overview, and begin writing. The blog takes you hours to write and edit. But to your surprise, once published, your blog’s average reading time turns out to be pitiful.
Any guesses why?
This happened most likely because you did not craft the best blog post introduction.
So if you’re someone who wants their readers to continue scrolling down after the introduction, this post is for you.
Keep It Brief
Remember, a great introduction goes beyond making a good first impression. It ensures that your content receives the recognition it deserves.
But the most widespread error that writers make when composing an introduction is to be verbose.
According to research on reading patterns on the web, an average visit elicits a read time of only about 20 to 28% of your content.
Hence long introductions that include an excessive amount of data and facts will only overwhelm the reader.
This causes them to skim your content, which defeats the purpose of your intended “best blog post introduction”.
So my main point of advice is to make the introduction as short and precise, as clear as you can.
Ideally, your blog post’s introduction should not exceed 10% of the entire text.
Components Of A Good Blog Post Introduction
A well-crafted blog post introduction should contain three key components. Let’s quickly review them:
1.The Hook
The hook is what grabs instant attention, and draws readers into your blog post.
You just need to make it definite, succinct, and captivating. It could be a single word, a phrase, or even an entire sentence.
You might use a question as your hook (open-ended or closed).
Here’s an example of an interesting question hook on the topic of a successful mom:
“What is the difference between successful moms and unsuccessful moms?”
Experts believe that blogs usually have 5 different types of hooks:-
- Statistic hook.
- Quotation hook.
- Anecdotal hook.
- Question hook.
- Statement hook.
So you can commence your introduction with different variations of hooks.
2.The Transition
The hook draws the reader into the content.
But there must be a gradual channeling of the reader into the main content.
A sentence that connects the hook to the post’s content is called the transition.
Transitions can be made through contrast, similarity, time, sequence, etc. For instance
- Contrast. Contrast is conveyed through words like “however, in spite of, nevertheless, nonetheless, in contrast, still, and yet”.
- Time. Words like “after, at last, before, currently, during, earlier, immediately,and later” denote time.
- Similarity. The similarity is denoted by “also, in the same way, just as, so too, likewise, similarly.”
- Sequence. The sequence is projected through words like “first, second, third, next, then, and finally.”
Essentially, the transition sentence gently shifts the reader’s attention from the hook to your article. It connects the hook and glides attention into the content.
3.The Thesis
The thesis is the major component of an introduction. It summarises the subject and convinces the reader to keep reading your blog post.
In fact, this is the main point of the whole content, and you’re either supporting this point or contradicting it.
The thesis usually falls into place if you do an excellent job at the transition stage.
Focus On A Common Pain point
Because of the value it provides, people read the content.
For blogs about business, this typically refers to a fix for an issue.
Hence, in your introduction, you should capture the readers’ attention by identifying a problem.
Your blog introduction must be focused on informing and educating the reader through the content. And this is also a big reason for blogging by businesses and individuals .
The best blog post introductions usually assure readers that you are concerned about their problem, and have a solution too.
Give Readers A Heads-Up (What To Expect)
As a content creator, your timer begins when you touch a painful issue
If you don’t explain how you will help, your viewers will probably grow impatient and leave.
That’s why your introduction should indicate what readers can expect.
The fact is that people are tired of pointless clickbait articles, more so in the age of short attention spans. This is another reason why creating the best blog post introductions pays off.
So here’s what you need to do.
You must quickly prove your content’s relevance. And that’s exactly what a catchy introduction is meant for.
Relevance gives readers a good reason to trust the subsequent content.
In fact, today relevance rates as a very high factor in Google EAT score. This is the process Google adopts for deciding the value of the content, and also for ranking that content.
It’s well known that website visitors rarely read articles from beginning to end.
Instead, it’s only a good introduction that helps readers make informed decisions about reading further.
In that sense, your introduction bears responsibility for answering the reader’s questions about the usefulness of the content.
Spell Out the Benefits In The Blog Post Introduction
The majority of visitors read blogs because they want to learn something that will make their lives better.
The best blog introductions often make a promise. They motivate the reader to read the content by outlining the advantages of doing so.
Your readers want results, whether you’re providing them with tea-brewing instructions or advice on how to care for a baby with a viral fever.
So what does that tell you?
It indicates that you need to describe how your blog article will help your readers attain their goals.
Make it clear to your readers what your content is about and how reading it will benefit them.
Hence it’s good to promote the advantages of your content in your introduction to make it more interesting.
The Best Blog Post Introductions Do Pose Questions
Brightonleadership.Com says “Questions are powerful because they increase commitment and improve the outcome of any situation when you stop giving advice and start engaging the person’s brain”.
That’s why posing questions to readers is often a successful strategy for the best blog post introductions.
Moreover, a query in the introduction must be supported by a response in the body of the text. Eventually, you want to make sure that you create posts that people want to read
With that objective, there are a number of actions you can initiate through your introduction itself.
You can directly inquire about the pain points you are attempting to help the reader in resolving: “Are you having trouble coming up with blog headlines?”
Or you can highlight the reader’s current situation by asking, “Are you attempting to improve your leads while your teammates are still spoiling your efforts?”
You can even ask users if they are interested in the solution you are offering: “Do you want to start making more sales almost asap? “
You automatically hook the reader when you focus on their problems, and also indicate that what you’re offering is the remedy.
But frequently, bloggers make the error of asking too many questions, which confuses the reader.
I suggest you only ask one or two questions if you want the results for your CTA to improve. After that, be sure to offer the reader a remedy.
Controversy Creates The Best Blog Post Introduction
We all agree that today there is enough controversy in the world, and we want to avoid any more of it.
However, we can still approach controversial subjects with decency and reason.
What you can do is use a little drama in your blog post introduction. But make sure you deliver on the narrative.
Yet, why the need for controversy in the introduction?
Anyone who has studied storytelling is aware of the value of conflict in building suspense and capturing an audience.
According to Thewritepractice.Com “Suspense teams up with curiosity and surprise to form the dynamo that powers a well-told story. It keeps readers moving forward, engaged and turning pages”.
Drama is all about conflict. And a controversial intro usually prompts three responses:
- A few visitors are divided about their opinion.
- A lot of visitors simply agree.
- Then there are others who’re perplexed by the issue.
But the intriguing part is that they continue reading to learn more in each of the three situations. They’re curious to discover how you arrived at that controversial statement.
This is exactly how you create exceptional content consistently which benefits readers in the long term.
Eventually, viewers should raise additional queries, discuss the issues, and find remedies at the end of the post.
Try Adding A Quote
Quotes are a great method to impart authority, and also create the best blog post introductions.
The primary goal of using quotes in content is to support what is being said.
A quote gives your ideas a second voice, and they have a way of reinforcing your ideas.
A quote can also serve as a summary of an accepted notion.
It can work as a recommended course of action and help you build a justification for your article.
In fact, a meaningful quote from a well-known expert has the power to pull readers in.
And here’s how that happens.
“Quotes play on our natural tendency to be drawn to things that are familiar to our preferences.”
Blogillion.com
Your reader becomes more certain that they will enjoy your content, once they see a reference to an authoritative person in your introduction.
And the more you understand your target audience, the more effective this strategy gets.
There’s a catch, though.
Introductions that use quotes excessively, can suffer from over-dependence on them.
That’s simply because of human weakness. We tend to rely on the ideas of a prominent voice rather than our own.
But that doesn’t do well for your content creation skills.
So I would suggest that you should use quotes. But do it judiciously.
Also, avoid quotes that are cliched in your industry(such as the oft-repeated marketing maxim “K.I.S.S – keep it straight and simple“).
It’s advisable to find genuine quotes from influential thinkers or use quotations from unexpected sources.
Skip The Modifiers
Modifiers are words or phrases that lay stress and emphasis on an existing concept.
Many bloggers think that adding stress makes the topic more interesting. And hence they use words like “quite” and “extremely.”
But that belief couldn’t be farther from reality.
Guess why?
Modifiers take up words that you could use to provide more detail while also stressing the word you are using them against.
In fact, you should avoid using modifiers as much as possible.
This is more important if you want to provide the reader with extra information while working with fewer words.
The Best Blog Post Introduction Is Created In The End
The introduction is critical and more significant than any other section in the article.
Each word matters.
And you can be tempted to waste time, trying to write the ideal introduction.
That’s why it’s better to begin by outlining your post first. This is particularly important when you’re in the habit of publishing posts frequently (or daily).
It’s also advisable to write your main content first and then start crafting an introduction.
This is a perfect example of reverse engineering of content.
According to Merriam Webster reverse engineering is “to disassemble and examine or analyze in detail (a product or device) to discover the concepts involved in manufacture usually in order to produce something similar”.
But how does this reverse action work in content creation?
Interestingly, it works very well for creating some of the best blog post introductions.
The process is pretty simple.
Once you finish writing your content, by default you also tend to gain a deeper understanding of the subject. And so, based on your clear insight into the content, you can craft a better introduction for your readers, after finishing the writing part.
The other advantage is that your introduction gets in sync with your content.
This is important because sometimes after you’ve finished the body of the post, you can end up disappointed.
That’s because the introduction may not seem to match your main content. And so all the hours of labor over the best blog post introduction can go waste.
Instead, the better way out is to create a quick stand-in and use that as an introduction, later.
Finally, when you’ve finished reading the remainder of the post, you can come back to writing the introduction.
FAQs
1. In order to write the best blog post introduction, what should we avoid?
No Bragging.
Nobody enjoys hearing others boast, especially if the thing being boasted about is dull and boring.
You can’t be bragging about how great you are. For example saying things like: “We are the only ones capable of giving you this experience. You should buy this item right away”.
No Clickbait
Avoid clickbait announcements in the introduction.
Don’t write things like “Read this article to discover X secret or to become wealthy. The information will astound you, and it will alter your life. What you’ll see will shock you. You will be the only person on the planet with this knowledge.” This is a strict no-no.
Promising And Not Delivering
You make promises that you can’t keep.
If your introduction promises that people will learn about some novel techniques to jump-start their lives, don’t rinse and repeat what other industry experts have already prepared and sold.
Pressuring The Audience
You put the audience under undue pressure by writing things like”If you don’t do what we say you should do, you will fail because our readers are smarter than their readers”. Don’t do it.
2. What word length is ideal for the introduction?
There is no straightforward response to this query.
But as a ballpark figure, you should limit the introduction to a max of 10% of the entire article.
Rather it is more crucial to think about whether the introduction has all the components necessary to effectively convey the point of the content.
3.How do you write a catchy blog introduction?
1.Start with a quotation.
2.Open with a pertinent statistic
3.Include controversy.
4.Start with a fascinating story.
5.Ask your readers an intriguing question.
6. Describe the benefits.
4. What precautions should we follow while using questions in blog post introductions?
Usually, the best blog post introductions will carry a question.
But we need to be careful not to ask a question that is not being answered or addressed in the main content.
5. What are some examples of the best blog post introductions?
Some examples of the best blog post introductions are
- Teasing by withholding information
- The quirky Introduction
- Using quotes in the introduction
- Creating controversy by challenging popular beliefs
- Asking multiple-choice questions
- Sharing personal experiences
- Starting with a success story
- Being bluntly direct
6.If you want to write the best blog post introductions, what are the four most important aspects to focus on?
The four most important aspects of an introduction are:-
- What does the blog heading commit to delivering?
- Do I understand the reader’s intent clearly?
- Will the reader gain any value?
- Why should the reader bother (uniqueness)?
7.What is the most important part of the best blog post introductions?
The thesis is the most important part of your blog post introduction.
It is also the main point of the article which you are supporting, or contradicting. Hence you must always pay attention to the thesis in your introduction.
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- Create Exceptional Content Consistently With These 8 Best Strategies
- Make Your Content Engaging With These Guaranteed Strategies
- How To Do Successful Content Research For Your Blog Posts
- Best Reasons For Blogging By Businesses And Individuals
Conclusion
Remember, the best blog post introduction is crucial for the right recognition of your blog post.
Based on an introduction, visitors are convinced to read your article. Or they quickly revert back to searching the web for another article, which is unfortunate.
You can write a good introduction for your subsequent blog post by actually applying the tips in this article.
That’s why it’s best to avoid rushing your blog post introductions. You can unnecessarily lose your readers at this crucial stage.
Also spending enough time on your content’s research, writing, and revision is crucial
Eventually, great introductions result in more engagement with readers, once you follow these strategies.
And with enough practice over time, you’ll find yourself easily crafting the best blog post introductions.