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Thanks to the Attention Economy, your subject line is the most important element of your communication (be it email, Twitter, or FB status update.)

Well, let me re-state that.

It's the most important line of your FIRST communication.

After that, your NAME is the most important element of your communication.

Blogreader Angie responded to a note that I sent with a keen observation.

"It wasn't the subject line that got me to open the email, it was the name of the sender."

This ties into personal brand or reputation or whatever you want to call it.

If you send me something interesting the first time, it is more likely that I will read the next thing you send.

If you don't, odds are you will fall down the relevance scale.

Lesson: every single action you take increases (or decreases) the likelihood that you will have a shot at your audience's attention the next time around.

Hope this post means you will read next time ;-)