Bloggers: Hook Readers, Reel Them In, Or Sink

I had a terrific email exchange with an excellent blogger who has a lot of really good things to say … about a post that I didn’t include in my daily News Fetch

Following is my email, minus any identifying characteristics. Other bloggers may be interested, because any blog post that merits inclusion in the daily News Fetch qualifies as a news article or news-opinion and is treated as such.

So, after the blogger wrote me to tell me the (very good) point of the post, here’s my reply:

 

After reading the piece again, I see you have a very good point.

And here’s how I missed it.

The headline didn’t really tell me what the point was.

Don’t feel bad, many top bloggers don’t write the sorts of deadlines that stop people in their tracks and make them WANT to read the article. But that IS the point of a good headline: It hijacks your attention.

But, because you write good material, I read several more paragraphs, and didn’t really “get” what you were trying to say…And a good “lead” would have stopped me and let me know what you were going to say.

A lead is the first sentence or two … 40 or 50 words max … that should telegraph the article to come.

Again, most bloggers don’t know a lead from element 82 in the periodic table (bad geek joke).

At this point, if a lead grabs me, then I’ll take time to re-write a headline to make it more visible. (Sometimes I goof when I do as Paul Gregutt  — the e. e. cummings of wine bloggers — will verify since I ID’ed a Washington State Story today as Oregon … damn. Mea culpa, hate that.)

Anyway, the head on your post didn’t grab me and the lead didn’t either.

So I moved on to the next site.

I visit nearly 200 web sites every morning, starting around 6 a.m. By that time, I am wide awake after a pot of coffee and an hour and a half of writing on the current thriller novel.

I describe that process because the significant thing for you and everyone else vying for a reader’s attention is that I am speed-reading exactly like the 18,500+ subscribers of News Fetch: headline no grab? … move on. If head grabs but lead doesn’t? … move on. Not enough time. Constant info-triage at Mach 6. March Hare.

In that environment, anyone who wishes to be read must spend a little more time on the bait, the hook and the line that reels in the reader. Otherwise, all you have is a lot of sinkers.

For what it’s worth, I put myself through college working  30+ hours a week as a newspaper reporter … and had to write deadlines for an editor who could make Serbian war criminals break down and weep.

And I tried to bring that experience to my students when I taught journalism at UCLA and Cornell … many of whom still believe I am a war criminal from some un-named parallel dimension.

A lot of News Fetch subscribes believe that as well.

Hope that helps.