The Introduction is where the reader decides whether those delicious-looking bacon chocolate chip cookies sound good enough to make. (Hint: They do.) It should be a brief rundown of what the reader will learn from the article, and the style and tone of the Intro may vary depending on the type of article you’re writing.
If the subject is fairly serious, such as in a technical or medical related article, the Intro should get straight to the point. You’re probably looking at two to three sentences max, and there won’t be a whole lot of fluff or filler. Check out “How to Treat a Sunburn” for an example.
If the subject is a bit more lighthearted, such as in relationship articles, you want the intro to be as approachable as possible. In these articles, people are probably reading to be entertained as much as they are reading for information, so we want to make sure to catch their wandering eyes and draw them into the article. Take a look at “How to Flirt” for an example.
Due to the layout of wikiHow pages, best practice is to avoid ending the introduction with broad calls to action like "Here's how," in favor of either open introductions or ones with a specific direction that helps readers find the start of the instructions, like "See step 1 to start the project."