4-Day Money Making Blueprint

Well, it is 4 AM over here on the east coast of the USA and I can’t sleep… again!

There are a lot of reasons really but that is not the point of me writing to you today.  I only mention it because all of these reasons are pointing me in a direction I wasn’t sure I wanted to go, but may.

This direction would affect all of you so it is an important decision I must make and one that keeps me awake at night… but more on that later.

I wanted to talk to you today about your articles.  I have read so many of them my head is spinning… some are really good and some not so good.  Please, don’t take offense when someone says what your doing can be improved upon, I have people in my life that tell me this all the time and I always consider what it is they have to say… even though they are usually wrong! lol

Anyway, I wanted to stress the importance of your first paragraph in every article you write.  This should be considered as your “lead” and needs to convey the entire idea or point of the article to come.

A lot of people think this should be done in the title and if it can be, that would be awesome.  Problem is our titles have to have our keywords in them and most article directories limit how long a title can be so it is very hard to sum up our article message in a single title while including a long tailed keyword phrase.

So, we must do it in our first paragraph.

Now, I thought it might be fun to give you guys a little test and to get your brain wrapped around the idea of writing your first paragraph in a way that delivers the idea of the message most of your readers want to hear.

So you have a homework assignment:

This assignment is taught in journalism classes all across the globe so if you have heard about it and know the answer let this be a refresher course to you.  Otherwise, please answer the question by leaving a comment over at the blog.  Don’t leave your name if you don’t want to but I think this will allow you to see how other people are thinking and give us some idea of what we need to improve upon.

So, let me know you guys are out there and interested in learning by leaving a comment here, okay?  My feelings are very fragile at the moment so if only a couple of you respond you all will be held responsible for the abuse my dog may receive later this afternoon! he-he.

Okay, here is your assignment.  I’m going to give you some facts and I want you to write the lead for a hpothetical story or article:

Here are the facts:   “Jason B. Alexander, the principal of Bayside High School, announced today that the entire high school faculty will travel to Richmond next Wednesday for a colloquium in new teaching methods.  Among the speakers will be anthropologist Milly Speilman, college president Dr. Robert Downey, jr. and Virginia governor Tim Cain.”

Okay, write a two or three sentence lead to this story and I will look them over as they come in and give you what my lead would be.  Sound interesting?  I hope you guys will participate in this, I really do want all of you to have the most success possible so learn, learn, learn!