If the internet were the real world, your website would be your office and your home page would function as your foyer. In that foyer, your home page content is your first conversation with your site’s users. Think if that conversation is an interesting one or not.
After your headings, your opening lines of content are all you have to draw users in. With just a few small words, you need to convince your target users to invest their time in your site. For this, your opening lines need to be very effective.
Strangely enough, studying normal conversation can give you some tips for opening sentences for your content. Your SEO company can also help with content writing and you can talk to us at SEO Consult. The things that interest an audience when you first begin to speak are the same kinds of things that interest on the internet. Here are examples of great opening lines:
‘Want to get your SEO off the ground?’
Asking questions is a great way to engage your audience in any medium, as their brain immediately supplies an answer. Questions set up a relationship between the reader and the writer, getting a kind of silent conversation started.
‘I remember when I was first introduced to search engine optimisation.’
An anecdote also creates the feeling of a personal relationship between a reader and writer. As the writer is sharing something personal, the reader is able to create a very human picture of them in their mind’s eye.
‘Caesar said: I came, I SEO’d, I conquered.’
Opening with a quote engages the reader on a more intellectual level, shooting them straight into a topic and invoking some of the authority of the person quoted. Classical quotes aren’t mandatory.
‘The internet is like an emerging democracy.’
A well-chosen metaphor or simile can engage the reader’s imagination. This technique draws readers into your SEO content simply by entertaining them. Metaphors and similes are also great for expressing complicated concepts in an easy way.
‘A whopping 73% of internet users are terrified of SEO.’
Internet users love facts. Opening your content with an interesting or startling fact grabs attention, and creates the energy needed to drive the rest of the piece. Of course, it needs to be true, unlike the above statistic.
Good openings are vital for your home page content. A smart site will use all sorts of internal pages as landing pages for its inbound links, but your home page is still the page that will get the most traffic. Your content needs to draw internet users in, keeping them on your home page long enough for them to commit to browsing your other pages. Your headings will hook your users in long enough for them to absorb your content. After that, your content really needs to grab and hold them on your page.
All of this advice can apply to any of your pages. A user can drop off your site at any time and it’s futile to hope that their commitment will carry them through monotonous mountains of content.
