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The Power of the Opening Paragraph

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Opening Paragraph

It’s been said that the purpose of all writing is to merely persuade the reader to proceed to the next sentence. Considering the importance of first impressions, this puts a lot of pressure on a writer to absolutely nail the opening paragraph of any piece.

If you don’t captivate your audience and draw them in within the first 100 words or so, it’s likely that they won’t bother to finish your blog post or article regardless of how amazing or well-researched it may be. With so much on the line, a lead paragraph should be planned out carefully before one even begins.

Opening Moves

You can think of an opening paragraph much like you’d think of a sales pitch. Imagine that you’re giving a presentation to secure a business loan at a bank. What you say in the first few sentences will color how your audience perceives what follows. You need to be both concise and captivating right off the bat to coax readers into digesting the second paragraph. Setting the right tone is of paramount importance in these vital first sentences.

If possible, answer the 5 Ws right away and use an active voice rather than a passive one to provoke a response from your readers.

SEO Implications of a Strong Opening Paragraph

As with every aspect of a solidly constructed blog piece or article, the first paragraph can have a great impact on the SEO strength of the publication. An opening paragraph is often used for the meta description tags and the makeup of the Rich Snippets for your piece.

In addition to getting right to the point, you’ll want to incorporate major keywords and keyword phrases in your first few sentences. This will ensure that your content is indexed properly and can help it to rank higher in the SERPs so as to attract wider readership online.

The Art of Holding Back

The main thesis of your article should be more or less summarized in the title and first sentence. From there, you’ll need to use the rest of the first paragraph to expand on your central idea and clarify it. No matter what happens, don’t give your audience a reason to stop reading after the first sentence and paragraph. In other words, don’t give away the game before you’ve gotten started. Your first paragraph should set the table, so to speak, without serving up the whole buffet. Just make sure that your teaser ultimately delivers on its promise.

Know Your Audience and Cater To It

Another consideration that affects how you approach a first paragraph when crafting a dynamite screed is your target and probable audiences. You’ll need to consider who is most likely to be attracted to a particular headline en masse and what voice will be most appealing to them.

Some articles and audiences demand that you jump right into the topic at hand. Other types of writing are better suited to a softer, “warm-up” paragraph that eases the transition into weightier subject matter. Matching your tone with your audience is tricky, but well worth putting some effort into.

Practice Makes Perfect

You can’t ever be too careful when storyboarding your writing from the ground up. The opening paragraph is the linchpin of any memorable publication. It’s impossible to strike gold on every occasion, which is why analytics data gathered by tools like Google Analytics, Piwik and Open Web Analytics is crucial.

Testing the impact of every article you pen will help you to find your own magic formula for opening paragraphs. Long story short, perfecting the Art of 1st Paragraphs will benefit you greatly no matter what niche you operate in and hope to dominate.

Image © Sergej Khackimullin – Fotolia.com

About

Matt Beswick is a UK based SEO consultant and co-founder of Aira who loves to write about anything web related.

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{ 14 Responses }

  1. Jia says:
    I agree and it is like first impression is the last impression, If a blogger can hold the reader in his first paragraph than he can not stop the reader to read the rest of the article. Good work.
  2. Bob says:
    The first paragraph is what engages the readers first and it is above the fold so it is very important it captures their attention and informs them!
  3. zavera says:
    Sure first impression is the last impression, with bad start of a first paragraph you will make the reader bored from the beginning which will never get more indulged in the other paragraphs of the article, thanks for the great ideas!
  4. Ranjan says:
    Almost above suggestion is about the first paragraph but what happen with the readers when they came across the middle of article generally they get bored during the middle of article and they read with fast scroll compare to your first paragraph. So start with a deep first paragraph and explore the remain article more deeper. But never avoid your first paragraph and follow "Matt Beswick" suggestion....Thanks
  5. Simon says:
    I journalism we're taught to make your introduction 25 words or less; it ensures you have to get straight to the point!
  6. akhilendra says:
    Articles are like a movie, every part is important, unless until it's first part is good, it cannot hold the visitor till end. Giving a good start will help in retaining your visitors. Thanks for sharing,
  7. RajKumar says:
    Hey, Its sure that "first impression is the last impression". Once you have a habit of having great first paragraphs, you are sure to attract readers. For the 1st para sets them in the mood of reading. Anything that "begins well is half done". It was great reading from you. :)
  8. Gautam says:
    One more thing that if you have a good and catchy 1st paragraph you Can attract the visitors to Read the Full Post or topic And It will be more good if you have a Catchy Title.
  9. Pritam Nagrale says:
    Yes, I agree Matt. First paragraph is what it makes your SEO powerful. You can naturally include all possible keywords in the first paragraph to get SERP for many keywords.
  10. Dave Lucas says:
    PS my spel chkkr duzznt wurk - I ken spel - I ally kan
  11. Dave Lucas says:
    hey Matt! There is a great way to DISCOVER if you are writing great "first paragraphs" - 1) Use the jump or "read more" feature on ALL of your posts. -place videos and infographics and other images BELOW the jump. 2) After you've written and posted 25 to 30 articles, start looking intensely at your stats so that you can see (a) what posts are ATTRACTING readers and (b) by examining follow-thru landings, you can determine whether readers actually CARE once they've read that first paragraph - assuming you don't lose them after the first sentence. You see, HEADLINES attract readers (and search engines) and if your spiffy snazzy wonderful headline leads to a sentence without merit or an idiotic infographic, you have LOST a reader forver. Unless you re-design your nlog, the moment they see your header the enxty time - if there is a next time - they will be GONE! Trust me! Blog On!
  12. Herman says:
    You have a point and the first paragraph is important but I personally thing have a catchy header is even more important and the first paragraph should be a continuation of the header. This works well and there is a higher chance that the visitor will stay on your site and read the post. Anyway nice informative post
  13. Jack Tyler says:
    Great post Matt, powerful 1st 100 words of any writing is needed in order for the readers to continue what they're reading.
  14. Tami Nadeau says:
    Matt, Your post is an eye opener. I don't think more about the first paragraph than any other part of my writing. But you make perfect sense, in that if they are not captivated instantly the readers will leave. I find this to be so true in my own research. I quickly start reading and often skim over much of an article if it does not capture my attention.