How to Captivate Your Audience from the Very First Lines?

Generally, writing has only one purpose: to communicate. This means that as writers, it is our duty to get to the important point as quickly and as concisely as possible.

'Burying the lede' means the opposite. When someone buries the lede, it means that the writer withholds the most important information, building suspense until it is finally delivered to the reader. Even though this might seem like a way to keep the reader in suspense — and therefore on your site for longer — it does not work. Burying the lede creates frustration and increases the bounce rate for online content, but it also prevents us from communicating effectively. If we bury the lede, we are not saying anything truly interesting. Let us look together at how to avoid this.

Captivating Your Audience

Burying the Lead or the Lede?

First, let us set the record straight. The expression is 'burying the lede', not 'burying the lead'. It is easy to get confused, especially since it is not a word most people use in everyday life. The lead (: to lead) is an Anglo-Saxon verb meaning "to show the way [...] by being at the front", whereas lede is an English noun meaning "the opening sentence or paragraph of a news article, summarising the most important aspects of the story".

Lede is jargon developed in the 20th century by journalists to avoid any confusion with the concept of "news" at the time. It has endured, and thanks to the constant evolution of language, it is now part of the modern writer's toolkit.

With all of this in mind, perhaps the simplest way to remember the difference is as follows:

'You lead a story with the lede'

That is to say: you guide a story through the opening sentence.

Writing a Strong Opening Sentence (: lede)

The lede is the central idea and the most important aspect of the story. It is essential to arrive at it quickly. It is equally important to choose your words carefully and to write clearly.

When you are writing something that has a lede (or something intended for a wide audience), complicated words and complex sentence structures only hinder communication. Not everyone has an extensive vocabulary — bear that in mind.

Therefore, to craft the best possible opening sentence, you need not only to guide the reader but also to construct sentences that are comprehensible to the widest possible audience. This means using the most simple and clear words possible.

If in doubt, ask yourself these questions about your introductory paragraph:

• What is the most important thing my readers need to know?
• Who specifically is my audience?
• Would they all know these words?
• Can I cut any words?
• Is it relevant to include all this information?

If you can answer all of these questions with confidence (or have at least thought them through), your introduction is probably in good shape.

How to Keep Your Audience Engaged and Avoid Burying the Lede?

Although the overall concept is fairly straightforward, guiding the reader through your introduction is not as easy as it seems. We get caught up in our own writing and we know what we want to say, even when we have not actually said it.

Here are a few tips that can help you put your point across clearly.

Monitor Your SEO Plugin

Most SEO plugins give you a score based on how well you have written to optimise your chosen keyword. One of the key indicators is whether your first paragraph contains your keyword.

When you write your introduction with your keyword in mind, you will naturally get straight to the point.

So if you are concerned that you are not expressing your point clearly, check your SEO plugin to see what it says about your first paragraph.

Get a Second Pair of Eyes

When you write something, you are too involved in the article to be truly objective about what you have written. You know what you want to say, whether you have actually said it or not. So if you are trying to guide the reader with your opening paragraph, simply re-reading your own introduction is not particularly useful.

Asking someone else to look at your work could therefore be enormously helpful. An external person can review your work before it is published and will be able to spot any issues relating to clarity and comprehension.

When we know what we are trying to say, we read between the lines. We already know how the story or article is being guided, because it is at the forefront of our minds. Readers, however, need the introduction to understand your writing. As a result, what is clear to you may not be clear to them. This is why it is imperative to get a second opinion before publishing.

Key Takeaways

Writing effectively means being clear from the very first sentences. Your readers should not have to search for what they need to understand. Your writing will be effective if your main idea is introduced as well as possible and formulated clearly. Remember that you are writing to communicate, not to impress with your writing ability. If your readers do not know what your article is about, they will not continue reading it.

In short: be clear, use precise words, and introduce the main idea of your article as quickly and efficiently as possible!

So, ready to captivate your audience? 🙂