In blog marketing, if you don`t get reads, you miss conversions.
People will buy your products or services based on your content.
For content to convert, it must offer solutions to people`s problems. And that should show right from your blog introduction.
That`s because, even when the content is valuable, if the introduction doesn`t prove it, people will skip it, increasing bounce rates.
To make your audience read your content and perform the calls to action, learn how to create intriguing blog introductions, and that`s not complicated.
That`s what this blog is about, and here is how you can do it.
Hook Your Readers
You can be knowledgeable about the content topic, but if the beginning is boring, the whole content will be perceived as such. The results—readers will get tired and ignore it.
The solution is to start your blog introduction with a hook.
A hook is a sentence that draws attention and encourages people to keep reading. It can be a question, quote, anecdote, statistic, or any statement that relates to readers` needs and attracts them to read your content.
Here is an example of a hook: “I didn`t know it`s easy to make money online until I learned these tricks…”
Such a sentence will hook someone who wants to learn how to make money online. They will want to know the steps you took to make money easily online and keep reading your content.
That`s more intriguing than saying: “There are so many tricks to make money online, and here are some that I used.”
Creating a hook can be challenging, but if you are stuck, you can use AI for inspiration or to create one for you.
GetResponse is one of the most effective software you can use.
This content explains how GetResponse can help you run a successful business.
All you need is to create an account. Then log in and prompt it to generate the content relevant to your topic.
However, machines can`t know your audience`s persona. Therefore, if you use the content as is, it won`t be personalized and won`t attract readers. So, be sure to tweak it to suit your target audience.
Craft the Content Background
After hooking your readers, explain a general overview of the content.
If your content focuses on making money online, explain the money-making methods the content covers. That gives readers a clear view of what the content is about.
Besides, not everybody may be interested in the ways your content covers. Talking about them upfront shows the readers if your content is worthy of their time. That`s being transparent, a way to respect readers` time, which helps build their trust in you.
Here is an example of a blog introduction background: “I tried many ways to earn money online, but none of them gave me a better return on investment—thankful to affiliate marketing.”
Such a sentence helps the readers know that the content focuses on affiliate marketing. So if somebody is interested will keep reading and vice versa.
Write a Transition
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For blog content to be understandable, all sections should be connected coherently.
To achieve that, use transitions.
A transition is a word or sentence that connects sections of a piece of content.
Using a transition sentence in the introduction prepares your readers to move to the content body.
To make your transitions impactful, be creative and avoid clichés or vague transition words.
Words like read on, let`s jump right in, here we go, etc., don`t give the readers a reason to read on. Readers are on your content to read and not to be told to. Whenever you use such words, think of how beneficial they are to your readers.
Instead of using generic words, write a short sentence telling people why they should keep reading. For example, if you are writing about how to make money online, the transition can be:
To learn how to make $1000 monthly in affiliate marketing, follow these tips.
Such a sentence gives the readers a clear reason to keep reading because there is a clear benefit, which is $1000, they expect to get from the tips.
Tell Stories
Stories are an effective way to connect with readers if correctly used.
To engage people with stories, ensure to use topics that relate to their interests. It`s easy to relate with your audience if you tell stories relevant to their persona and needs. That makes content personalized—an easy way to convince them to make purchases.
If the blog post is about how to make money freelance writing, for example, don`t talk about your vacation. You will be off-topic and that will increase bounce rates.
To be relevant and persuasive, you can start your introduction with a hooking story like this:
Blogging really pays.
Getting my first house was an indescribable excitement; it all started with a single blog post.
In two sentences, you have told a story about how you got your first house. Readers will want to know how the blog post influenced you to get a house.
Empathise with Your Readers
If readers feel that you understand their situation, it`s easy to convince them that you can help them solve their problems.
That is because they will be able to relate the content to their challenges and keep reading to find out the solutions.
To create a blog introduction that empathizes with readers, you need to understand their pain points. To do that, ensure that the introduction answers the title.
For example, if you have a freelance writing blog, you can create a blog post on how you struggled to land clients and improve your business. Then, create an empathetic introduction relevant to your audience`s situation.
Here is an example:
I had sent plenty of proposals and cold pitches and applied to jobs on many social media freelance writing groups, but nothing converted.
I was running out of money and bills were piling.
Luckily, I found a simple secret, now, I no longer run out of freelance writing clients.
If somebody is going through the same situation, they will relate to the introduction and read on.
Address the Audience`s Pain Points
Online content is helpful if it benefits the audience, and that`s when it can solve their pain points.
Pain points are the challenges people are looking to solve.
For your content to be effective, cover your audience`s problems and explain how your business can help. And your blog introductions should prove that.
To address your readers` pain points, put yourself in their situation and ask yourself if the blog post offers substantive solutions to your problems.
For instance, if the blog content is about sending proposals or cold pitches that convert, the pain point will be a lack of freelance writing clients.
To solve this pain point, your content should offer tips on creating proposals or cold pitches that earn clients.
Here is how you can do it:
It`s frustrating to send proposal after proposal and get no reply. You might think you aren`t a good writer, but that`s not always the case. Mostly, the problem is in how you craft your proposals.
Somebody whose proposals don`t convert or needs more ways to increase clients will read to see how the tips can help them find clients.
Personalize Your Blog Introductions
Content is more engaging if it targets the readers` intent and aligns with their persona.
To achieve that, create content like you are talking to your close friend and use words that make the readers feel the content was written only for them. That makes your content resonate with your readers.
However, that doesn`t mean that you should use slang language. Blog content is read by many people, some of whom won`t understand slang words. And that can deny you traffic. So, use simple language and avoid difficult jargon.
Besides, write in the second person point of view, which involves using the word “YOU”.
You can use the first or third-person view once in a while, but the second person should be your focus.
Here is an example of how you would write if you were writing content about affiliate marketing:
To succeed in affiliate marketing, you need to promote your products or services persistently at least for three to six months.
That resonates with the audience more than when you write
“I promoted my products and services consistently for six months to be this successful.”
This sentence focuses more on the speaker and alienates the readers.
Meanwhile, the first one directs the readers to what they should do to be successful in affiliate marketing. That`s how to dedicate your content to your readers and make them feel the content is meant for them.
Ask Questions
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Questions in blog introductions assure readers that they can get answers to their challenges.
An example is when you want to create content about ways to increase traffic to your website. Your blog post can start with the question, “What if you get 30,000 monthly organic traffic?
People will be intrigued to know how they can get the traffic, and read your content.
However, ensure your content explains the ways that can help people increase traffic, and you`ll build authority and trust with your audience.
But, there is a good and bad way to ask questions.
For instance, if you are writing about SEO you can ask a question like “What is SEO?” and think you will attract readers. That`s wrong.
Such a question doesn`t show any benefit the readers can get. In fact, the ones who will read such a blog post are those who don`t know what SEO is. Asking them what it is, doesn`t help them.
Like the first question example, ensure your questions benefit the readers.
Write Brief Blog Introductions
Keep long content for the body if you want to win the competition or else readers will get bored and move on to other websites.
That is to say, you should create brief blog introductions and give room for people to read the content.
There is no standard length for introductions but 100—200 hundred words is an ideal length. With such an amount, you can adequately explain the blog content without boring your readers.
Moreover, use short paragraphs. Huge walls of paragraphs are difficult to follow through.
One-three sentence paragraphs are much easier to read because they create white space in between, making your content navigable.
Additionally, use short, active sentences. Too long, passive sentences are hard to read and can make you create grammar mistakes. The longest sentences should be 25 words.
Add Your Focus Keywords
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Unless the search engines understand your content intent, nobody will find and read it.
To enable your content to appear on relevant searches, incorporate your content's main keywords in the introductions.
However, ensure they flow logically with the context of the content. Forcing keywords makes content sound awful and readers will ignore it, which lowers content rank.
Here is how to use keywords properly, if, for example, your keyword is social media:
Nowadays, it is easy to start side hustles and get clients because many people are on social media.
The keyword flows more naturally than when you say:
“Since many people are on social media nowadays, it`s easy to start social media marketing businesses and earn money on social media.”
That uses the keyword too many times, which bores and makes people think you only want traffic not to solve their problems. That reduces your content value and tarnishes your reputation.
Increase Your Content Performance with Intriguing Blog Introductions
No matter how skilled you are in your topic, if your introductions aren`t intriguing, your content won`t be profitable.
Ensure to hook your audience with the first sentence, and then tell them what the content is about and how they can benefit from it.
To achieve that, you should answer the readers` queries and use language aligning with their persona.
By doing so, you will attract a lot of readers and achieve your marketing goals.
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