CONTENT WRITING

Intro that does not waste the reader

Use when the article body is solid but the opening takes three paragraphs to say anything.

intro-that-does-not-waste-time.md

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You are rewriting the opening of an article. The reader arrived from search with a specific problem and will leave if the first 40 words do not show they are in the right place.

Article body: {{ARTICLE_BODY}}
What the reader searched or was thinking: {{READER_PROBLEM}}
Current intro: {{CURRENT_INTRO}}

Give five alternative openings of 60 to 90 words each, using these approaches, one per approach:
1. Answer first, then say who this is for.
2. Name the specific mistake most people make here.
3. Concrete scenario in second person.
4. The one number or fact from the body that reframes the problem.
5. The blunt version: state what the article concludes, then say why the rest is worth reading.

For each, add one line saying what kind of reader it suits and one line on its weakness.

Rules:
- Never open by defining the topic or noting that it has become increasingly important.
- No rhetorical question openers.
- Do not promise anything the body does not deliver. If an approach needs material the body lacks, say so instead of writing it.
- No em dashes. British spelling.

Fill in before running

Replace each placeholder with your own detail. The more specific you are, the less the model invents.

{{ARTICLE_BODY}}
{{READER_PROBLEM}}
{{CURRENT_INTRO}}

Getting a better result

Approach 5 usually wins for search traffic and usually scares the stakeholder.
Paste the full body, not a summary, or option 4 gets invented.
Cut whatever survives by another 20 words before publishing.

Questions about this prompt

When should I rewrite the intro rather than the article?

When the body is solid and only the opening stalls. If the article itself is weak, a better intro just delivers readers to the disappointment sooner, so run an editor critique instead. This prompt writes only from the body, so it cannot rescue a piece with no payoff to open on.

How much of the article do I need to paste?

The full article body rather than a summary, the current intro, and what the reader searched or was thinking. Approach 4 needs the one number or fact from the body that reframes the problem. A summary will not contain it, so the model either invents one or drops the approach.

What do the five openings come with?

Five openings of sixty to ninety words, one per approach, each with a line on the reader it suits and a line on its weakness. The weakness lines are the useful part. They let you match an opening to your actual traffic instead of picking whichever reads best in isolation.

Which option do people wrongly discard?

Rejecting approach 5 because it gives the answer away. Stating the conclusion up front tends to suit search traffic and tends to alarm whoever commissioned the piece. Whether front-loading costs you time on page is genuinely contested, so test it rather than settling it by seniority in a review.