Grabbing the reader’s attention. This is the goal of our first line when we craft our opening chapter. The all-important first line will encourage the reader to either abandon the book or read the next kick-ass line (and hopefully the rest of the book). We spend hours sweating, crying, tearing our hair out, trying to nail that first line. But what about the first line of your blog post? Have you given it the same consideration?
When checking out my overflowing dashboard, three things determine which posts I’ll read and which will be ignored (assuming you aren’t one of my blogging friends). The first is the title. If the title doesn’t spark my interest, then the first line had better be good or else I’m moving on to the next post.
Many of you have your blog connected to your Twitter account. Remember, your opening line is what will show up in your tweet (along with the title). Make it interesting and someone might check out your post. Make it interesting and someone might retweet your post and help grow your followership (on Twitter or your blog or both).
So, what’s the third thing that will snare my attention? Lolcats trump all. Put a lolcat picture in your post and I’m all yours.
Do you pay attention to the first line of your blog posts? What makes you check out a blog post among the ocean of others?