Compelling first sentence essential to good content writing

An article’s first sentence almost always makes or breaks the deal, when it comes to attracting and keeping a reader’s attention. As a content writer, crafting a clever or surprising first sentence is often the best way to ensure that your reader puts down his/her coffee and goes from casually scanning or browsing the piece to actually delving into it and remembering what was read days and even weeks later.

When writing newsworthy articles, a good way to make sure that your article does not come across as a bland press release in the back section of the Financial Times is to justify why the subject matter being covered may impact the reader personally. For example, last year America’s United Airlines decided to cut all free meals on its transatlantic flights and sell $9 cold sandwiches instead. Not surprisingly, this move caused an uproar among bloggers and consumer rights activists. If you are a content writer, a good way to distinguish your piece from the hundreds of standard, sterile news pieces based on material taken from news agencies is to personalize the first sentence. As such, an effective piece might begin like this: The next time you fly on a United Airlines long-haul flight across the Atlantic, you might be well-advised to bring along some snacks, as one of the world’s largest carriers has decided to cancel its free meal service and sell passengers salads and cold sandwiches for $9 a piece.

This sentence does three things. First, it ensures that the reader can relate to the article. Most of us have sat through long-haul flights and know how important a decent level of service can be when you are stuck on a crammed plane for 8 hours. Secondly, the sentence provides the key aspects of the story in a nutshell. Most readers rely on online content for quick, easily accessible information and it is important that they do not have to search through the piece to find out what the core of the story is. Finally, the sentence draws the reader in by suggesting indirectly that if one of the world’s largest airlines is considering such drastic cost-cutting measures, then other carriers are likely to do the same.

In the end, bloggers and content writers had an impact on this story. United Airlines announced its cutback in August 2008, but was forced to withdraw these plans and continue meals service following the online backlash.