Start with a good lead, or lose your reader

"...the lead is the doorway into every text. Its job, never a minor one, is to draw the reader over the threshold," says Francis Flaherty in The Elements of Story, p. 201.

The lead, also spelled lede, is the first sentence or paragraph of your blog post or article.  Write a weak lead and you may lose your audience at the very beginning of your piece.

When you write your lead, Flaherty suggests you ask "What lead will prompt in the reader the most irresistible questions, questions powerful enough to propel him through that doorway and into the story?" p. 202.

When you write an investment or wealth management blog post, the most powerful leads often pose a problem faced by your readers and dangle the possibility of a solution. Have you written a powerful lead of this type? Please post a link to your blog post, so we can see how you've mastered the lead.
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Susan B. Weiner, CFA
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Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved