I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate your first paragraph and what you can do about it.

A Biggie

First paragraphs are a huge issue with me. Better to have died a small child than get this one wrong. If you can get just this one thing right, your publication rates will go through the roof. Unfortunately, almost nobody does it correctly.

The entire issue comes down to meta tagging. When I create a page on a site for an article, I have to enter the meta title and meta description. Your headline is the meta title and your first paragraph should be the meta description. If your first paragraph doesn’t fit my meta description needs, I will blow by your articles like a debutante on Rodeo Drive with a new credit card. I don’t have time to re-write your masterpiece. Don’t make me.

Here is what I want:

1. No more than 38 words.

2. Preferably two sentences.

3. Your keywords in the first sentence.

Now, that seems easy enough, but none of you do it. Instead, you charge right into the body of your article and write these truly horrific 10 line first paragraphs. I HATE these. I will not publish you. I may decide to never look at your articles again.

Writing articles can be a challenge. Often, the best way is to just start writing. I have no problem with this approach. All I ask is that you write a two-sentence introduction after you have finished the article.

Scroll back up to the first paragraph of this article. What do you see? Three short sentences totaling 26 words. The keywords, “publisher” and “first paragraph” are contained within the three sentences. When I publish this article, I will copy the first paragraph and slam it into my meta description.

Wham! Bamn! I’m off to the next article.

This approach has a huge benefit for you as well. When I publish articles in this format on sites, the articles will appear high in the search rankings for Google, Yahoo and MSN. Put another way, you will be able to piggyback my high ranking sites and get your article in front of your target audience. This means traffic for both you and me, which should make us both happy.

The first paragraph is extremely important. I will look past crappy headlines and ungodly spelling errors if you write a good first paragraph. I am a lazy person. Make my job easy and you will benefit.

I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate your headline and what you can do about it.

The Headline

There is a school of thought out there that your headline should be designed to captivate readers. In the real world, this is probably true. When I am looking for articles, it is not.

I want keywords front and center in an article headline. This may come as a shock, but I am using your articles as part of a search engine optimization effort on sites. With seo, the keywords always come first. ALWAYS!

Consider the following examples:

1. California Real Estate &ndash The Secret to Making a Bundle

2. The Secret to Making a Bundle in California Real Estate

The first headline is by far the best. The keywords are front and center. I can easily turn this headline into a meta title for site page. More importantly, this tells me that you may be a writer that understands what I want. I am going to click through to your article and read it. If the rest of the article is done in the correct format, I am going to publish this article on my site AND I am going to add you name to my worthy authors list. When I need new articles, I will go out of my way to see if you have published anything new.

The second headline is a disaster. The keywords are at the end of the headline, which is terrible for search engine optimization purposes. This is a waste of my time and tells me to avoid your articles. If I can’t find enough articles with the proper headline, I may come back and read yours. Then again, I may not.

Captivating Headlines

Now you may be thinking you need a captivating headline because you want to capture as many readers as possible. You DO NOT. I’ve already done the job for you. My sites already have traffic. I am delivering the readers to your article. They will read it if it is on the site. Of course, you’ll have to put the keywords first to get my attention.

Writing a headline is a fairly simple process. So do it!

I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate the body of your article and what you can do about it.

You’re Giving Me A Headache

Let’s cut to the chase on this issue. I really don’t care what you write about. As long as it isn’t an overt sales pitch, knock yourself out. I am more interested in the format of the article, not your view or take on the subject matter. The readers on my sites may not like what you write, but that is your problem.

I do care about the flow and format of the body of your article. I strongly encourage you to have a point and stick to it. If another idea comes to mind half way through writing an article, turn it into a separate article. Don’t try to cram it all into one article.

One Sentence Paragraphs

Don’t. For the love of God, just don’t write these. The only time you should write a one sentence paragraph is if it is a narrative. Occasionally, you can write one for dramatic impact, but try to stay away from these.

Loooonggg Sentences

Even in our capitalist society, punctuation is free. This “.” is a period. The period is your friend. For some of you, it is a long lost friend.

Sentences should be relatively short. If you write articles through the stream of consciousness method, good for you. When the masterpiece is done, read it out loud to yourself. How does it sound? Perhaps you should do something with the 10-line sentence?

Linking In The Body

Why, why, why do you do this? I absolutely refuse to publish any article with links in the body. In truth, I don’t have anything against such links. My bitch is that you’re making me take extra steps to hyperlink the damn things when I publish them on sites. If you think I am going to spend extra time on your article, you’re wrong. Chant with me, “I will put all links in the byline.”

Spelling

Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t care if you misspell words. I can’t spell worth a damn and assume you can’t either. I will run your article through spell check programs. In fact, I’ll run them through two spell check programs. Spelling is not a big issue with me.

Body Headlines

Using headlines in the body of your article is a very good idea. I love them and will view you in a more favorable light. The only thing I ask is that you CAPITALIZE the first letter of each word. Remember, I am lazy.

The Last Paragraph

The last paragraph should summarize the point you made in the article. The last paragraph is not a place to put links, hints about your site or your biography. I will not publish your article if you do such things. You can cover all of these items in your byline.

When it comes to the body of your article, knock yourself out. Just keep in mind these pet peeves.

I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate your first paragraph and what you can do about it.

A Biggie

First paragraphs are a huge issue with me. Better to have died a small child than get this one wrong. If you can get just this one thing right, your publication rates will go through the roof. Unfortunately, almost nobody does it correctly.

The entire issue comes down to meta tagging. When I create a page on a site for an article, I have to enter the meta title and meta description. Your headline is the meta title and your first paragraph should be the meta description. If your first paragraph doesn’t fit my meta description needs, I will blow by your articles like a debutante on Rodeo Drive with a new credit card. I don’t have time to re-write your masterpiece. Don’t make me.

Here is what I want:

1. No more than 38 words.

2. Preferably two sentences.

3. Your keywords in the first sentence.

Now, that seems easy enough, but none of you do it. Instead, you charge right into the body of your article and write these truly horrific 10 line first paragraphs. I HATE these. I will not publish you. I may decide to never look at your articles again.

Writing articles can be a challenge. Often, the best way is to just start writing. I have no problem with this approach. All I ask is that you write a two-sentence introduction after you have finished the article.

Scroll back up to the first paragraph of this article. What do you see? Three short sentences totaling 26 words. The keywords, “publisher” and “first paragraph” are contained within the three sentences. When I publish this article, I will copy the first paragraph and slam it into my meta description.

Wham! Bamn! I’m off to the next article.

This approach has a huge benefit for you as well. When I publish articles in this format on sites, the articles will appear high in the search rankings for Google, Yahoo and MSN. Put another way, you will be able to piggyback my high ranking sites and get your article in front of your target audience. This means traffic for both you and me, which should make us both happy.

The first paragraph is extremely important. I will look past crappy headlines and ungodly spelling errors if you write a good first paragraph. I am a lazy person. Make my job easy and you will benefit.

I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate your headline and what you can do about it.

The Headline

There is a school of thought out there that your headline should be designed to captivate readers. In the real world, this is probably true. When I am looking for articles, it is not.

I want keywords front and center in an article headline. This may come as a shock, but I am using your articles as part of a search engine optimization effort on sites. With seo, the keywords always come first. ALWAYS!

Consider the following examples:

1. California Real Estate &ndash The Secret to Making a Bundle

2. The Secret to Making a Bundle in California Real Estate

The first headline is by far the best. The keywords are front and center. I can easily turn this headline into a meta title for site page. More importantly, this tells me that you may be a writer that understands what I want. I am going to click through to your article and read it. If the rest of the article is done in the correct format, I am going to publish this article on my site AND I am going to add you name to my worthy authors list. When I need new articles, I will go out of my way to see if you have published anything new.

The second headline is a disaster. The keywords are at the end of the headline, which is terrible for search engine optimization purposes. This is a waste of my time and tells me to avoid your articles. If I can’t find enough articles with the proper headline, I may come back and read yours. Then again, I may not.

Captivating Headlines

Now you may be thinking you need a captivating headline because you want to capture as many readers as possible. You DO NOT. I’ve already done the job for you. My sites already have traffic. I am delivering the readers to your article. They will read it if it is on the site. Of course, you’ll have to put the keywords first to get my attention.

Writing a headline is a fairly simple process. So do it!

I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate the body of your article and what you can do about it.

You’re Giving Me A Headache

Let’s cut to the chase on this issue. I really don’t care what you write about. As long as it isn’t an overt sales pitch, knock yourself out. I am more interested in the format of the article, not your view or take on the subject matter. The readers on my sites may not like what you write, but that is your problem.

I do care about the flow and format of the body of your article. I strongly encourage you to have a point and stick to it. If another idea comes to mind half way through writing an article, turn it into a separate article. Don’t try to cram it all into one article.

One Sentence Paragraphs

Don’t. For the love of God, just don’t write these. The only time you should write a one sentence paragraph is if it is a narrative. Occasionally, you can write one for dramatic impact, but try to stay away from these.

Loooonggg Sentences

Even in our capitalist society, punctuation is free. This “.” is a period. The period is your friend. For some of you, it is a long lost friend.

Sentences should be relatively short. If you write articles through the stream of consciousness method, good for you. When the masterpiece is done, read it out loud to yourself. How does it sound? Perhaps you should do something with the 10-line sentence?

Linking In The Body

Why, why, why do you do this? I absolutely refuse to publish any article with links in the body. In truth, I don’t have anything against such links. My bitch is that you’re making me take extra steps to hyperlink the damn things when I publish them on sites. If you think I am going to spend extra time on your article, you’re wrong. Chant with me, “I will put all links in the byline.”

Spelling

Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t care if you misspell words. I can’t spell worth a damn and assume you can’t either. I will run your article through spell check programs. In fact, I’ll run them through two spell check programs. Spelling is not a big issue with me.

Body Headlines

Using headlines in the body of your article is a very good idea. I love them and will view you in a more favorable light. The only thing I ask is that you CAPITALIZE the first letter of each word. Remember, I am lazy.

The Last Paragraph

The last paragraph should summarize the point you made in the article. The last paragraph is not a place to put links, hints about your site or your biography. I will not publish your article if you do such things. You can cover all of these items in your byline.

When it comes to the body of your article, knock yourself out. Just keep in mind these pet peeves.