How to Write Cliff Hanger Bullet Points

bycraigOs

1.9K followers

10 years ago

Anticipation, suspense, curiosity, all these emotions keeps readers reading.

“I just have to know what this article is about!" is what goes through a reader's mind.

This is exactly what you want going through their minds. You want to build that desire in your visitors.

You want them talking to themselves. "Wow, that's interesting. That's makes a lot of sense. I never thought about it like that."

Oh by the way, you do know that readers do talk to themselves, don’t you? While reading they are thinking, having a one sides conversation.

Think about your readers, what questions, or objections do they have, while writing.

Don’t let them dwell on any objections or negative thoughts. Even a small stumbling block, something that seems insignificant, can turn into huge obstacle for them. If you don’t take care of it right away.

One way to do this is distract them.

Move right through those obstacles. And slap another positive thought into their head. . Make a outrageously bold statement. Something audacious. That'll distract them.

Such as …

• “If you think Blogging is about Building Blogs you’re wrong."

From here I would simply move forward. Relating back to the bold statement, hinting about answer here and there. And just let that statement simmer in the back of reader's minds.

Remember though, I will have to answer their questions and prove that my Bold Statement is true. And I can't wait too long to do that either or readers will impatient.

But in the mean time I could create a list of Bullet Points. Such as …

• Find out why the way you are looking at your blog could be hurting you.
• Find out why so many new bloggers make this one specific mistake.
• Or how you can avoid a list of mistakes.

What I am doing is laying out the article, for readers. And myself . Now I know exactly where the article is going. What is next. What is after that.

Now all I need to do is follow the Bullet Points. My argument is all laid out.

However, if I wanted I could also expand on the Bullet Points. Point out things the readers haven't yet thought about.

Or I could create a series of articles, covering one Bullet Point, in detail. Link it all together. And keep them on my Blog longer.

Taking readers on a wild ride deeper and deeper into my website.

I could also keep making bold statements, along the way.

It worked once. I got readers hooked. As long as I keep that conversation in their head going. there is no reason it won't work again.

Just don't over do it.

Oh … about my bold statement “Blogging is not really about blogging." That I’ll tell you more about later.

I hope you enjoyed this short post about "Cliff Hanger" Now go out and try it for yourself.