Viral Content: Intro=Short Sentences

People only read 28% of a blog post, so you need to hook them fast.

Question is:

HOW?

Short sentences.

Dr. John Morkes found that short sentences boosted content readability by 58%.

BRIAN'S TAKE

Think about it:

Why would you spend HOURS on your headline…

…then turn around and slap together a weak introduction?

It makes no sense.

In my opinion, your introduction is more important than your headline.

Why?

Because your introduction is your ONLY chance for you to put a hook in the mouth of your reader.

And you lose someone in your intro, they’re NOT going to read on (or share your post).

Backlinko’s strong introductions are one reason that some of my blog posts have an “Avg. Time on Page” like this:

And short sentences are of the easiest ways to bump up the quality of your intros.

For example, take a look at my intro for this post:

See how I hit you with a flurry of short sentences?

Those super-short lines are one reason why that post’s Avg. Time on Page is over 7 minutes.

Now that you’ve built your intro with short sentences, it’s time for the next step…