A Publishers Rant Why I Hate Your First Paragraph
Im a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Heres why I hate your first paragraph and what you can do about it.
A Biggie
First paragraphs are a huge issue with me. Better to have died a small child than get this one wrong. If you can get just this one thing right, your publication rates will go through the roof. Unfortunately, almost nobody does it correctly.
The entire issue comes down to meta tagging. When I create a page on a site for an article, I have to enter the meta title and meta description. Your headline is the meta title and your first paragraph should be the meta description. If your first paragraph doesnt fit my meta description needs, I will blow by your articles like a debutante on Rodeo Drive with a new credit card. I dont have time to re-write your masterpiece. Dont make me.
Here is what I want:
1. No more than 38 words.
2. Preferably two sentences.
3. Your keywords in the first sentence.
Now, that seems easy enough, but none of you do it. Instead, you charge right into the body of your article and write these truly...