No matter what kind of article you are writing, one of the most important factors you should be considering is your target audience. As you can imagine, producing a research paper for your university psychology class is distinctly different than writing a sketch comedy skit for a local talent show. Blog posts are no exception to this rule.
With that in mind, there are generally two schools of thought when it comes to the opening sentence (and opening paragraph) to any given blog post. You can slowly introduce your topic before diving into the details or you can open with your main idea right away.
Method #1: The Inverted Triangle
This could be a result of my educational and academic background, but I was always taught that you should start broad and narrow your way into your primary argument. This is the methodology that is commonly taught when it comes to writing an essay.
The thinking behind this strategy is that your reader has no idea what to expect when they first glance at your piece of writing. You must ease them in. After introducing your “thesis”, you can go into your supporting statements, finishing off by re-iterating your main idea and opening the topic for discussion.
By and large, I subscribe to this school of thought, but in a simplified version, for the majority of freelance writing and blogging that I do. Not everyone agrees with this strategy, so…
Method #2: Get to the Point Already
There are many reasons why you may choose to do so, but several bloggers choose to get right down into the nitty-gritty right from the first word. In talking to John Chow, he believes that readers don’t want to wade through any superfluous fluff. Internet users inherently have a short attention span, so if you don’t grab their interest right away, they’ll move on.
Another reason why you may want to get topical as soon as possible is for search engine optimization purposes. Google and other search engines place extra weight on the first section of each webpage to determine the nature of the rest of the content. Unless you specify otherwise, the first sentence is usually what shows up on the search engine results page.
Journalists typically get right to the point as well, for the same reasons as many bloggers: they need to grab your attention right away or you’ll move on. This is also why the headline (or title in the case of a blog post) is so important.
So Which Method is Superior?
As with most things, there is no right or wrong answer here. It’s not a black and white issue. For most of my blog posts, I largely adhere to the first method, but I make sure that the title is interesting and descriptive enough that someone will want to read further. I also try to introduce the brunt of my argument by the end of the second paragraph (first paragraph, if possible). Having a relevant image at the top can work wonders too.
How do you introduce your blog posts? Do you ease your way into the topic or do you jump right in?
I’m a direct person so I normally start with the core of the issue. I think people don’t want to get the point only in the last sentence.
But sure it depends on the topic, mood, objectives, etc..
PS:I believe some Psychology concepts have helped some of your posts. 😉
I like to think that I do some of each….
With an attention-grabbing post title accompanied with a relevant image, I usually jump right into the topic instead of beating around the bush.
In the real world, we have about 20 – 30 seconds to make a lasting first impression in a new encounter.
In the virtual world, we’ve much less seconds to hold the interest of short-attention-span readers and maybe nano-seconds to ‘impress’ Google robot crawlers.
Sometimes I just jump right in and other times I just start in on something else, sometimes something completely different. Like the past couple Photo Phridays, I’ve led with an insect photo and turned it into a life lesson. Freak them out with a bug, then make them think. It gets attention.
Not always works well. Some readers get scared and run. From the post…
Nice post, Michael. I have to agree when you say that there is no right or wrong way. I guess its all a matter of preference.
Ack, it’s the 5-paragraph essay. I remember being tormented by the picture in high school. I hated having my creativity stifled so, though following that format did get me As through college. 😛
That said, I don’t know that I ever apply it to blog posting. If I do it’s unconscious… I do try to do an introduction and conclusion of sorts at least. On some posts. On some blogs. Enh, screw the rules!