Background distortion
💬 To start an article, you need to finish it. Paradoxically, but the fact is that it is better to start writing an introduction — a lead paragraph - after completing the text, when all the information is already packed in your head. ✏️ But to make the beginning truly catchy, you need to have practiced techniques in stock. 😉 That's what I want to share: I've collected the methods that our content agency uses in its work. 🌐 It turned out to be exactly 23. 📌 All of them have been tested on different platforms, from Habr to Picaboo and telegram channels. ⭐
Table of contents:
Set up an intrigue 🤫
Make an unexpected statement 🤯
Bring it to the point of absurdity 🧠
Screw up the paradox 🔄
Start with numbers 📈
Promise benefits 🎁
Destroy the myth 🗑️
Set up an intrigue
🔍 By intrigue, I mean a mystery that causes intense anticipation and curiosity. Intrigue lies at the heart of understatement (cliffhanger), a technique where the narrative is interrupted at the most interesting point. 🕵️♂️ It is widely used in film and literature, and is usually used at the end of a chapter or episode. But nothing prevents you from using it at the beginning of the text.
There are three ways to create intrigue:
Understatement. 🛑 We deliberately omit an important detail that should be present in a normal situation, and now we have aroused curiosity.
Take the fact out of context. 🔍 This technique is often used by the yellow press in headlines, but it doesn't look so jaundiced in the introduction.
Show the result without a path. 🎯 We describe the result, but do not tell you how it was achieved.
Make an unexpected statement
😳 Any violation of the norm or inconsistency with the context may be unexpected. Imagine that a man in a business suit squats down in the middle of a busy street, takes out a primus stove, lights it and puts a kettle on the fire. 🔥 There is nothing forbidden in his actions, but no one boils a kettle under such circumstances — and this inevitably arouses curiosity. It works the same way in the text.
And there are four ways to create unexpected statements:
Violate the canon of the genre. 📚 Let's say you're making a compilation article in the style of "The N best films about giant monsters according to film critics." It is usually assumed that the author of the text himself likes such paintings or at least treats them neutrally. But you can break expectations.
Violate the norms of morality and ethics. 🖕 You need to be careful with such techniques in content marketing.
Challenge conventional wisdom. 🧩 As with the norms of morality and ethics, you need to be careful here.
Start with an unexpected fact. 🤷♂️ It should elicit a reaction from the reader: "Wow! Seriously?!".
Bring it to the point of absurdity
🎢 An absurdity is a statement devoid of logic, opposing common sense. Let's say "the square is round" or "the square is stupid". Something that follows the rules too much, so much that it becomes meaningless, can also be considered absurd. Hence, there are two ways to create an absurd lead paragraph.
Combine the inextricable. 🪟 In order not to go into the wilds of psychedelic abstractions, it is better to take a well-known process and replace something familiar with something completely unusual.
Make the rules meaningless. 🗣️ The point is to make one rule super-binding and not give a damn about anything that contradicts it.
Screw up the paradox
🔍 A paradox is a statement that contradicts logic, but may be true. His task is to cause a short circuit in the brain, to make the reader freeze for a couple of seconds, and therefore linger in the text.
That's how I started this article: "To start an article, you need to finish it." 📝 How can you start something by finishing it first? Don't you have to start to finish? But then I explain that the lead paragraph of an article can be made good when I have written the main part of it.
Then everything falls into place, but the contradiction still remains embedded in this phrase.
Start with numbers
📊 Statistics, calculations — all this adds weight. Especially if the numbers are radical, that is, as large as possible or, conversely, as small as possible. At the same time, they should be in the context of the reader, if not close to him, then at least understandable.
Example: "Captchas have stolen billions of hours from us and will continue to steal further. 🔥 This problem needs to be solved, and there are technologies that could replace captcha, including such exotic ones as NFT with biometrics."
Promise benefits
🥇 The bottom line: promise money or saved time after reading the article. It is only important to do this without kinks and cliches in the style of "After you read our article, sales will increase 10 times." This kind of clickbait is more likely to scare you away. 🦸 The article should really be beneficial, otherwise there is no point in stating this in the first paragraph.
Example: "We spent 500,000 rubles on advertising. 💰 We planned to receive at least 15 clients with a check starting from 100,000, but our expectations were not fulfilled. So that you don't repeat our mistakes, we tell you how we got to this point."
Destroy the myth
🧐 In part, this can be considered the same technique as challenging conventional wisdom. The difference is that the myth is recognized as such in the expert community or dispelled by the author of the article. 🧐 This means that it is more difficult to run into a haight wave — the opinion of professionals and experience, confirmed by practice, will be a good shield.
Example: "Historians are deceiving us. 🤔 Several millennia ago, there were more advanced civilizations than ours. They built pyramids without any slaves and even successfully treated cancer. We debunked these and other myths by talking to anthropologist N."
Another example: "They say that if you drink a glass of red wine a day, your heart will be healthier and your immune system will be stronger. 🍷 According to the largest meta-analysis of research, that's not the case."
Conclusion
Summing it up: crafting an engaging introduction is a genuine art form that requires both practice and insight into the psychology of readers. We've explored seven effective techniques for starting an article, each capable of capturing attention and sustaining interest among audiences. Remember, it's essential to clearly understand the purpose of your text and the target audience. Utilize proven methods, experiment, and discover your unique style that will make your texts memorable and sought-after.