Over the past two weeks, I’ve discussed how to get started quickly and easily with your business writing. This week in Part 3, my focus is on The First Paragraph.

• The first paragraph of your writing is critical. The first paragraph could be the entire message, or it could prepare the reader for a longer message.
• The purpose of the first paragraph is to make your point quickly, establish your professionalism, reinforce your credibility, and provides your best chance at the reader’s 100% attention level.
• The first (“lead”) paragraph will have 3-5 lines, or about 1-3 sentences, and should tell the reader who, what (action), when, where, why, and how. These elements can be in any order.

I hope that you’ve found this article to be helpful! If you have, please feel free to leave a comment. Next week, I’ll be discussing Part 4, how to go about writing the first paragraph.

Gail Tycer is a strategic business communication authority: professional speaker; writer, author, editor; coach, consultant, facilitator, and strategist. More free business writing tips from Gail Tycer are available here, and information about Gail’s Business Writing workshops is available here.

© 2013 Gail Tycer • www.GailTycer.com