The first? The headline. If you’ve read me before, you probably saw that coming. But what is the second most important part of a blog post? The sub-headline? The cover photo? A nice juicy call-to-action? To me, it’s none of the above — although there could be arguments made for them.
This advice is even more important with people reading on tiny screens. You may only get a few sentences out before they swipe left, right, up, or down. Make them matter.
This section really hit home, “So start putting a lot more effort into your introduction.. particularly the first and second paragraphs. Every time you edit, read the first two paragraphs and think about whether a complete stranger who doesn’t give a fuck about you would continue reading.” I really appreciate the brutal honesty in this, thank you!
Also, this "The purpose of the headline is to read the next line, that purpose is to read the next line" thing is also what I taught for Amazon book descriptions. I think it works really well across the board
I actually took a class on public speaking and transferred what I learned to my writing. Tell em what you're going to tell them. Tell em and then tell them what you told them. But first I get direction from God. Your article is full of good ideas and I will definitely keep this in mind!
I love this advise! Like you, I was super into copywriting, but its after a few years of learning copywriting, I realised copywriting is much more important! Amazing post Tom :D
The more I do this writing stuff, the more I realize its very similar to making YouTube videos. Just that videos needs more thinking over all. Both visual and none visuals. A reason I like writing more sometimes, because I don't have to think about the visuals, only the actual writing.
Agreed! This applies to literally every piece of writing. Especially books. If I pick up a good title in aa book store and the first paragraph sucks, I put it back on the shelf.
I don't have a lot of patience. I need to be riveted right out of the gate 😁
I don’t think most readers realize how formulaic the things they read in fact are. I didn’t ever really think about it until till I started sharing my writing with others. It’s a fascinating study if you ask me, kind of a way to gamify the process of sharing your message with the world. Great post thanks Tom
Is some of it situational, though. Writing a blog post that relates in some way to personal experience makes an anecdote relevant. But what if I'm writing a post about ancient Egyptian history? That seems like a different situation, maybe a fictional anecdote about someone living in ancient Egypt.
It also raises questions in my mind about the important of images. Not so much on Substack, but on my own website, I try to get a visual in there every two or three paragraphs. I'm sure wasting a lot of time if those images don't contribute to the hookiness of the piece.
Interesting. I did have a writing instructor once tell me to not start a story with a quote because no one will know what I'm talking about and they preferred a setup before a quote. But in any case, I don't think that's a hard writing rule.
Thanks for this reminder, Tom! Totally agree; as a copywriter myself, I'm always reminded by my creative director to have something compelling or catchy in the first line of the caption, the headline of a static post, or the first frame of a video.
This advice is even more important with people reading on tiny screens. You may only get a few sentences out before they swipe left, right, up, or down. Make them matter.
And here I thought I was the only one who liked stories that starts with a dialogue, or a quote as you have said.
Quite a good tactic to catch readers. Thanks for the insights.
This section really hit home, “So start putting a lot more effort into your introduction.. particularly the first and second paragraphs. Every time you edit, read the first two paragraphs and think about whether a complete stranger who doesn’t give a fuck about you would continue reading.” I really appreciate the brutal honesty in this, thank you!
This is straight to the point and so helpful! Thank you!
Oh I’m guilty! Ha, thanks :)
Also, this "The purpose of the headline is to read the next line, that purpose is to read the next line" thing is also what I taught for Amazon book descriptions. I think it works really well across the board
I actually took a class on public speaking and transferred what I learned to my writing. Tell em what you're going to tell them. Tell em and then tell them what you told them. But first I get direction from God. Your article is full of good ideas and I will definitely keep this in mind!
I love this advise! Like you, I was super into copywriting, but its after a few years of learning copywriting, I realised copywriting is much more important! Amazing post Tom :D
The more I do this writing stuff, the more I realize its very similar to making YouTube videos. Just that videos needs more thinking over all. Both visual and none visuals. A reason I like writing more sometimes, because I don't have to think about the visuals, only the actual writing.
Agreed! This applies to literally every piece of writing. Especially books. If I pick up a good title in aa book store and the first paragraph sucks, I put it back on the shelf.
I don't have a lot of patience. I need to be riveted right out of the gate 😁
I don’t think most readers realize how formulaic the things they read in fact are. I didn’t ever really think about it until till I started sharing my writing with others. It’s a fascinating study if you ask me, kind of a way to gamify the process of sharing your message with the world. Great post thanks Tom
Sound advice!
Is some of it situational, though. Writing a blog post that relates in some way to personal experience makes an anecdote relevant. But what if I'm writing a post about ancient Egyptian history? That seems like a different situation, maybe a fictional anecdote about someone living in ancient Egypt.
It also raises questions in my mind about the important of images. Not so much on Substack, but on my own website, I try to get a visual in there every two or three paragraphs. I'm sure wasting a lot of time if those images don't contribute to the hookiness of the piece.
Interesting. I did have a writing instructor once tell me to not start a story with a quote because no one will know what I'm talking about and they preferred a setup before a quote. But in any case, I don't think that's a hard writing rule.
Thanks for this reminder, Tom! Totally agree; as a copywriter myself, I'm always reminded by my creative director to have something compelling or catchy in the first line of the caption, the headline of a static post, or the first frame of a video.
Cheers!
this is excellent. literal food for thought - I can never un-know this again. thanks!