Are you using article marketing to grow your business? Be sure you have a powerful opening, or you could lose your readers long before they get to the end (and your precious call to action).

If you're stuck at the start, try one of these Top 10 Article Openers:

1. A quote – Whether it's flowery, provocative, moving or inspirational, the perfect quote can really set off your article in a good tone. Search for quotes in Google or your favorites quotes page.
2. Statistics – Statistics are used a lot in traditional media. To find them, you can search the databases of Stats Can in Canada, or the Census Bureau in the United States. You can also look at the industry websites of your target market for studies and statistics they have collected from and for their members.
3. A powerful statement – Everything you've been told up until now about marketing is completely backwards! Wouldn't you read on to find out what I have to say about that?
4. A warning – I used a mild-mannered warning as my opening for this article. A warning would be a great opening for a Top 10 Mistakes article (but please, be bolder than I was today!).
5. A powerful question – Do you know exactly how many products or services you have to sell before you make a profit? A powerful question can be an eye-opening introduction to an article about a useful business concept like metrics.
6. A list – Combine two or three powerful statements, warnings or powerful questions into a list.
7. A story – Tell a story about a fictional character (e.g., someone in your target audience), an anonymous client or someone you read about in the news.
8. A personal story – Use yourself as an example for the topic you're writing about in your article.
9. A story about the reader – Make your reader the main character of the story, e.g., Imagine that you've researched, toiled, edited and re-edited, and you've come up with the best Top 10 list ever. But you know it needs more.
10. A song lyric – Sometimes musicians have sung it best. Similar to quotes, song lyrics go one step further because they can also evoke musical memories – and those can run deep and be very  attention-grabbing and memorable.

Whether you want to improve an article you've already written, or you're starting at the top of a blank page, the right opening can really make a difference. Please let me know how these article openers work for you! I welcome your comments below.

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Here's another tool for writing article openers – and it's probably on your bookshelf right now!