By Bill Slawski, on April 12, 2010, at 1:14 pmHow do you start a blog post? Do you follow a pattern in the way you write your posts, or do you mix up how you present what you write, and how you reach out to your audience?
Here are some approaches that one could use:
a. Using a journalistic inverted pyramid style, where you begin your post with the most important text first, answering typical journalist questions such as ‘who,’ ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘how’?
b. With a story or anecdote or case study that might capture visitors’ attentions rather than first providing the central fact or opinion behind your post.
c. With a statistic that might surprise or generate responses or both.
d. In a question and answer format, where you provide a set of questions and their answers, possibly starting with what you might consider to be the most important question and answer.
e. Following a narrative or timeline, where you begin at the beginning and work forward in time.
f. In a conventional essay style like you might have learned at school, where you build a foundation for an idea or set of concepts and then show the conclusion.
g. By referring to someone elses’ blog post or article or a news story, and stating that you agree with some of it, all of it, or none of it, and then explaining why.
h. Asking your reader to imagine some hypothetical situation, or asking them to call up some memory.
i. With a straightout question, meaningful or even rhetorical, possibly in a ploy to generate comments and discussion.
j. Addressing a specific person, and writing to them.
k. By disclosing something about yourself that your readers may not have known.
l. With a definition that describes a concept that is central to your post.
m. With a picture or illustration that highlights some aspect about what you want to blog about.
n. By laying some foundation for your expertise on a subject based upon your previous experiences or education or both?
How do you start a blog post?
Interesting post Bill.
That said, one thing I’m sure a lot of aspiring bloggers would like to know is, how exactly do you start a blog? Like, how should your first entry be like? Would be great if you can share your thoughts on this as well.
Cheers!
Jurgen
hey bill, thanks for such an informative post. As, i have to start my own blog & your provided tips will help me a lot for blog posting.
I usually start a blog post with a story to capture reader’s attention after all they say that blogging is like storytelling. Anyway, you have enumerated great ideas here. Thanks for sharing them, will definitely try all the other interesting approaches that you’ve mentioned.
[...] Slawski asks the question on his blog, “How do you start a blog post?” Then he proceeds to give a list of [...]
Wow never thought there are so many options, even though I ‘ve followed some of the above rules unintentionally.
A good solid list of rules, many that should be followed in all areas of online, and offline, writing.
[...] How do you start a blog post? (Bill Slawski) [...]
Hi Bill, I have just started my blog before some time, so your tips will be very useful to me.
Hi Jurgen,
Thank you. I’ve been thinking about writing some more posts about blogging itself, and those are good topics to cover. Appreciate the suggestions.
Hi Andrew,
You’re welcome. One of the difficulties and simultaneously one of the fun aspects of blogging is deciding how you’re going to present what you write about. I hope you have as much fun blogging as I have.
Hi Seo Greece,
I’m not sure that I would call my list a set of rules as much as a set of ideas or suggestions. I’m sure that there are many other approaches that someone could use as well. I tried to come up with a list of different approaches that I’ve used in the past when writing posts. Part of the fun of blogging is in being creative.
Hi Pure360,
Thanks. I started this post listing the inverted pyramid approach because it’s something that all usually see everyday in print and online news articles. But there are many other ways that we can write as well, and I wrote this post while thinking about how I might start another post that I was working on.
Hi Vijay,
Good luck to you with your new blog.
I think in part it depends on the goal of the blog. You have to find a voice that will appeal to your audience (actual or intended), then you move on to a method appropriate to the topic. A business site may want forms that help establish authority like a news article or asking/answering questions. Although then it may be important to mix it up to set yourself apart from others in your field. For example, a business doing journal entries about what happened to them during the week may well prove fascinating to their clients. Find your voice, and the way to create blog posts will follow.
Hi Frank,
I agree completely that it helps to find a voice appropriate for your audience, and that may influence your choice in how to introduce a topic. Not every business and not every blogger will choose the same approach, and that’s what makes things interesting.
I like the way you put things in perspective. Thanks. Got a lot from your tips. Will try some of them to breathe life into my blogs.:)
Hi Bill. Great tips. One way you shouldn’t start a post is by trying to sell something. It’s an easy trap a lot of businesses fall into. A blog should engage & inform your target audience while leaving the selling to your main site.
Hi dyzbee.
You’re welcome.
Hi Steve,
I agree with you. I think there are better uses of a blog than to push for sales, such as attempt to build community, or to inform or education.
Well, for me I usually start an informative post or something to alert my readers. There are so many different ways you can start a blog post.
You have definitely given me some ideas on new ways to start a blog post. Anyways, I appreciate your post – I’m gonna do some new posts today now. =)
I often start out a blog post by pretending that I am someone else, and writing in the style that I imagine they would write in. Then, my own style usually takes over. I also find that this can be a great way to get and develop new ideas for blog topics.
C is one of my favorites.
Hi Adrianne,
Good to hear. You’re welcome.
Hi Will,
That’s an interesting idea. I’ve heard of something like it being used as part of writing exercises, to help authors step outside of their usual presumptions and writing habits. For instance, imagining yourself 50 years from now and writing to the person you are now. Thank you.
Hi Liz,
I started a post with a statistic like that yesterday. If the stat is something unusual or outstanding, it can be a good way to begin a post.
Just came across this post and found it quite interesting. I’m still experimenting on blogging myself so the way I start my post vary. Sometimes, (most times infact) I start out randomly then once I’ve gotten my thoughts on paper I format into usually a question and answer style…
I really need to try some of the other styles mentioned here. Thanks Bill..
Thanks, Tola.
I have to say that I’m usually about 90 percent or so finished with most posts before I figure out how I’m going to start them. The beginning of a post is often the most challenging part, especially since the front page of my blog shows the first few paragraphs of posts and I’m hoping that people click through to read the rest of the posts.
Thanks bill for your post. It’ll be really helpful for Blogger like me to start our blog post more attractively. I usually start my blog post by asking a question. Like do you know or what you do when..etc. Thanks
Hi Alamin,
You’re welcome. Choosing how your start a post can influence everything else you write in that post, and it’s something I try to pay a lot of attention to. I find I tend to rewrite my first paragraph or two more often than any other part of a post before I finally hit the “publish” button.
I would have to answer option “k. By disclosing something about yourself that your readers may not have known.” This is the first time I have ever read a post like this that addresses writing style in this way. Now that you point it out, I start with “k” a lot. For example two of my posts started with: “While drinking coffee in the morning…” and “While browsing various SEO forums…” Once I saw your post title and thought about it, it made me laugh at myself…:)
Hi Mark,
A disclosure about yourself can be fun. I was tempted to start this post with one. For example:
I was almost finished with another blog post, and faced one final task – how to start the thing. I looked back at posts I had written in the past, and I found myself writing a list of the different ways I had started posts in the past. By the time I was finished, I ended up with the following list which ended up being a better blog post than the one I was originally working on.
Starting out with an interesting fact or big number is the one I like best… It works on me
I also like the picture that corresponds to what you will be blogging about.