Get to the point! Attract the best followers for the content you create.

Cropped from Image by Jon Tyson on Unsplash.

Recently I got an article in my mailbox with a really strong title: “The Biggest Mistake I Made When Started on This Platform.” As usual, I’m hiding the details of a post when I critique without permission.

Since I was also new to that platform, I was very eager to discover what she did wrong. I didn’t want to make that mistake!

So I opened the email.

First came a story about how the writer (let’s call her Amelia) chose the platform and what was wrong with the three others she’d tried. That took a few paragraphs.

Then we learned about Amelia’s troubles with one feature of her new account. She had started the wrong way and she explained why she had done so.

Finally, after digging deeply into the email (and scanning the first parts) Amelia explained what she did wrong.

She had named her account in a misleading way so readers wouldn’t know what she did. It was something like naming a Substack newsletter “Mary’s newsletter” or a podcast “Mary’s podcast” or a YouTube channel “Mary’s channel.”

But why present her mistake this way? Maybe she was amused by her story. Maybe she wanted to relate to more people. Maybe someone had advised her to begin with a story, always, even when…