Author: Bob McClain, Web Copywriting Expert

After the headline, the most important factor in website copywriting is the opening paragraph. There are three important factors that make for an effective opening paragraph. In this post, we’re going to tear down the opening paragraph into these three important elements and construct a marketing monster.

The Opening Sentence…

As I’m sure you may have guessed, one of the three elements is the opening sentence. There are two things this one sentence must accomplish:

• You have to make sure that your primary keyword phrase is used in the first sentence and the closer to the beginning of the sentence the better…
• After you’ve grabbed the person’s attention with the headline, you have to maintain that energy level with the opening sentence to keep them reading…

Usually, I’ll use the first sentence to reiterate what I said in the headline. Take your headline and rewrite it into your opening sentence. This should enable you to get the keyword phrase early in the sentence and also keep the same emotional trigger working that you used in the headline. Tao makes this even quicker and easier, look at your 50 headlines you wrote and find one that you liked but didn’t wind up the winner. This should make a great opening sentence.

The Opening Paragraph…

Your opening paragraph has just been started with your first sentence. The energy level is still high. You have them captivated. You can’t afford to let them down.

While I can’t tell you what to say, I can give you some advice on how to maintain the energy level and the tone. As I’ve reiterated in my first blog post on website copywriting, keep website paragraphs to no more than four sentences and keep the sentences as short as possible.

Short sentences force you to use more active sentence structures. It also forces you to make your sentence more efficient.

For those who don’t know the difference between active and passive sentence structure, here is a quick lesson.

Active versus Passive Sentence structure…

Passive sentences tend to be wordy and dull. Pretty much anytime you read something that puts you to sleep it’s because the writer used passive sentence structure.

Here are some examples of passive sentence structure:

• Bill’s apartment was “shaken down” by the police.
• It was told by witnesses that several cars were damaged by the rioters.
• Everyone was excited to find out that the game was won by the home team.

The real key to active sentence structures is where the verb is placed.

Here are the same sentences with active sentence structures. Do they feel different to you?

• The police shook down Bill’s apartment.
• Witnesses said rioters damaged several cars.
• Everyone was excited to learn the Home team won the game.

Feel the increased energy? The punch? The sense that this is the opening salvo to more energetic news? Which version do you want to read?

The same question applies to your copy and in this case, specifically to your opening paragraph. Energy equals increased readership. Increased readership equals increased sales.

The closing sentence…

The closing sentence is in a unique position. Have you ever watched someone pass a baton? If they drop the baton or fumble the pass, this is where the race is often lost or won. The closing sentence of your website copywriting is your baton passer.

If people get to the last sentence and it simply feels like the end of the paragraph, you’ll lose your reader. Their eyes and their attention will waver. You need to give them a reason to read the next paragraph. So while you’re closing the opening paragraph, you must be giving them a teaser enticing them to read the next paragraph.

This can be nothing more than an unfinished statement with three dots…

Another popular teaser is a question. Or you can just tell them what to do. Do you know how the next paragraph should open? Read on…