Tie-Back to the Opening Line in Blogging for Business

A tie-back is a news writing device that allows you to refresh the readers’ memory about past events.” The ending ties back to earlier scenes of the play (or book, or speech, or business blog) to “bring the digressive elements home”, as writer Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew puts it.

I thought about tie-backs and Indianapolis blog writers last week, driving home from Civic theatre’s production of “a Chorus Line”.  The play, one of my all-time favorites, begins with an audition for Broadway dancers.  The would-be stars are learning a routine to the musical number “One”. Two hours later, the magnificent “Chorus Line” grand finale dance routine is done to that same song.

I need to share that concept, I realized, in corporate blogging training sessions.  The reason that the “A Chorus Line” finale, with the dancers now in gold tuxes and top hats, was so very effective and moving is that it tied back to the earliest rehearsals in Scene I. The music made the audience realize the progress and growth that had happened since we heard that music the first time.  It was the repetition that put a point on it all.

As the owner of a professional ghost blogging company, I’m always talking about the “Pow” opening line. You know, that’s the line that contains keyword phrases (important in SEO marketing blogs to reassure search engines they’ve made a good match and readers that they’ve come to the right blog.) The opening line is also the one that presents a question, a problem, a startling statistic, or a gutsy, challenging statement.

So, now, at the end of the post, do a tie-back to that opener, a finishing flourish.  But this tie-backing has to be more than just a flourish.  Business blog writing must have emotional impact if it’s to have impact at all.  The “A Chorus Line” ending number wasn’t a mere scriptwriter’s gimmick – it was absolutely essential to the effect of the entire play on the audience.

Whatever you meant to convey in each SEO marketing blog post, indicate what that’s going to be in the title and the opening lines, then “rub it in” with a tie-back!