Step 7 Write Hook and Establish Context

Task Library

Write an opening hook that earns the reader's next paragraph – establishing context, relevance, and the focus keyword in the first lines (Blog Posting Guidelines Step 7).

Category: Content Factory – Process

Use this when title and headings are set (Step 6 complete) and the article's opening must be rebuilt to hook the actual target reader.

Inputs

  • The drafted article with title and headings
  • The GCT statement (especially the Targeting line – who is reading and why)
  • The focus keyword
  • The strongest specific moment from the video (a number, a story beat, a blunt statement)

Steps

  1. Lead with the most concrete thing the video offers: the result, the mistake, the number, the question itself. Specifics hook; generalities bounce.
  2. Establish relevance in the first two or three sentences: the target reader should recognize their own situation ("you got three quotes and they're $4,000 apart").
  3. Keep the focus keyword in the first paragraph, placed naturally inside the hook – not bolted on.
  4. Establish who is speaking and why they have standing within the opening section: name, role, and the first-hand experience behind the answer. This is E-E-A-T, not throat-clearing.
  5. Ban the AI-fluff openers outright: no "In today's digital landscape," no rhetorical-question stacks, no dictionary definitions of common words.
  6. Set up the article's promise in one line – what the reader will know or be able to do by the end – matching the title's promise exactly.
  7. Read the opening aloud. If the first sentence could open a hundred other articles, rewrite it until it could only open this one.
  8. Update the tracker ("Step 7 done") and hand off to step-8-add-photos-and-featured-image.

Definition of done (QA checklist)

  • First sentence is specific to this video/story – fails the "could open any article" test
  • Target reader's situation named within the first three sentences
  • Focus keyword present and natural in the first paragraph
  • Speaker's identity and first-hand standing established early
  • No AI-fluff phrases or generic openers anywhere in the intro
  • Linked back to the definitive article and relevant siblings

Example(s)

  • Hook standards are part of every run documented at /blog-posting-guidelines.
  • Example needed as a standalone meta-article – run the Meta-Article Prompt after first documented run.

File in the zip: skills/content-factory-process/step-7-write-hook-and-establish-context.md. Download the Task Library zip.

Index: Task Library. Article guidelines.

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