The entire — and I mean this quite literally, the ENTIRE — art and business and “game” of online writing is rooted in understanding what category you… - Nicolas Cole

Success is a decision you make on a daily, hourly, and even moment-to-moment basis.

1/3/1 The 1/3/1 structure is the best place to start. In 1/3/1, you have one strong opening sentence, three description sentences, and then one conclusion sentence. Visually, this is a powerful way to tell the reader you aren’t going to make them suffer through big blocks of text, and that you have their best interests in mind. Here’s how it works: This first sentence is your opener. This second sentence clarifies your opener. This third sentence reinforces the point you’re making with some sort of credibility or amplified description. And this fourth sentence rounds out your argument, guiding the reader toward your conclusion. This fifth sentence is your strong conclusion. Now, just so you can understand why this technique is so powerful, not just from a written perspective but from a visual perspective, look at those same five sentences all clumped together. This first sentence is your opener. This second sentence clarifies your opener. This third sentence reinforces the point you’re making with some sort of credibility or amplified description. And this fourth sentence rounds out your argument, guiding the reader toward your conclusion. This fifth sentence is your strong conclusion. If you clicked on an article and were immediately confronted with a five-sentence paragraph, you would feel (viscerally in your body) the weight of what you were about to read.

The real strategy here is to make the reader feel like they’ve stepped into the middle of a piece by the time they’ve finished reading the very first sentence. There’s something jarring (in a good way) about seeing the second sentence of an article bolded as a subhead. It tells the reader, “We’re already getting to the good part,” encouraging them to keep reading.