Breaking Down a Successful Mylot Post, the Preview Sentence (part 1)

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Does your Mylot post stand out? Does it draw in followers and encourage participation? Fear not, if it doesn’t, it certainly could. I realized as I wrote the piece yesterday (see link at the end of this piece for the original piece), in regards to the various important parts of a successful mylot post (aside from solid writing, few errors, spacing, and an interesting topic), I completely left off the preview sentence. I have since edited that back in, but decided to focus on it more specifically. What do I mean by preview sentence? Click on, for example, the Explore Tab, then on the left click on the “Interesting” tab. Once that page loads you will see discussion in the middle of the page, title in blue, right above the writer’s avatar (their “face” image), and then their name, user handle, location and various stats, and then a few lines from their discussion. Those few lines are what many consider to be “preview sentences”. Those sentences may be your only chance at getting someone to stop by. Rather like a wonderful smell piped out from a bakery to catch the attention of those walking past, that is your chance to entice someone to stop/read/comment who might not otherwise. Now I read what those I follow write as often as I can, even if I am not interested. Not everyone has that kind of time. Now, when I go exploring, this is an area that really matters to me. Why should I spend my limited time reading your piece? You have an avatar, a title, and a couple of sentences, convince me! Checking the top rated right this moment, the first sentence reads “Yesterday I started one discussion and one only called: 'Reasons why you may not be getting a lot of likes or responses at myLot' (credits to Abby Greenhill). This single discussion has caught numerous people’s attention. Many have stopped by, and I would wager a guess many of those are not people who always stop and comment on her pieces. This piece stood out, grabbed attention, and got discussions rolling. Anyone who has ever written for a newspaper or other journalistic type format knows this to be a fact, don’t bury the lead. That carrot needs to get dangled to get people to want to read more, and to keep them coming back. So I ask, are you burying your lead? Is your first sentence going to be that amazing aroma that leads readers back to your discussions and help you stand out from a crowd? Original piece can be found at: http://www.mylot.com/post/2890498/what-is-more-important-title-avatar-or-photo-on-mylot