It’s no secret, the headline is a critical piece to any article. Be it online, academia, or just for fun. The article’s headline is going to make or break the article. Should you spend forever debating on what the article should be headlined with? No, of course not. But think of something clever and build from there. I’ve found that a good headline can help you remind focused on writing.
This definitely has deeper implementations as your article propagates through-out the Internet or “blogosphere (buzzword)”. Social networking sites seemed to be geared toward people with the ability to write that great headlines. Even regular readers are drawn in by a great headline. Make it clever, make it short, grab their attention!
A lot of my articles are hit and miss, but I can definitely say that ones with good headlines have been read. I’m not doing this for hits though, this isn’t a money blog. I just want to write and if people would like to join in and share I think that is great.
Here is my list of keys to great headlines:
- Keep it short
- We have short attention spans
- Action, Action, Action verbs (BAM!)
- Stay focused to main point(s)
- Write the headline first
- Don’t be afraid to change the headline
- Your topic can evolve while you are write
- Look for articles of similar topic
- Don’t forget Trackbacks
- Don’t understand Trackbacks? See Revellian.com’s blog posting
- Ask for help if you are stuck
- Break rules, be different, have fun
My most read article currently is AT&T in Bush’s pocket and I think this is a good example of a great headline. It is short, has action, summarizes the main point, and draws the reader into the topic. The headline makes you think and makes you want to read more.
Also Here Comes Linux, Thanks Vista! is my second most read article. I think this illustrates that summarizing an article and making the reader want more is a delicate art. Also I think sheer luck plays a vital role in this whole process!
I don’t think there is some magical formula for effective headline writing, but there probably is. I think when writing an article you should have fun and hopefully that will show through to your readers. At least, that’s what I try to do, because that’s what I enjoy when I read an article. I’ve read enough technical documents in my day to know, that you can learn more when you are having fun!
5 responses so far ↓
1 Zak Nicola // Sep 4, 2007 at 11:14 am
Not only the words in the title, but punctuation as well. Add a “?” or “!” even putting something in quotes will get a bigger reaction.
Had you placed a “?” at the end of your “AT&T in Bush’s Pocket” I’m willing to bet that it would have done near twice as well traffic wise, if not more.
2 Anna // Sep 5, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Eh… I’ve never been much good with headlines, lol.
Hey Brent, how are you doing, hon? Hope everything is going well! Just a quick note to let you know I’ve stumbled this post -
SU Review
Take care, sweetie!
Anna
3 Anna // Sep 5, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Oops, scratch that last link - it should have been: http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.cyroot.com/blog/2007/09/02/you-had-me-at-headline/
SU Review
Sorry, dude! I must have been having a blonde moment, lol.
Anna
4 Chanya // Sep 5, 2007 at 7:37 pm
Brent:
I agree with your post on headlines. My latest post is fairly long; as a matter of fact it’s 2 lines long but I felt that I had to include both verses from the song. What do you think? I’d love to hear an idea for a different headline! Later! Chanya
5 Bobby Revell // Sep 8, 2007 at 10:53 am
Nice post Brent! I would like to point out that from the search engine’s point of view, the title tags are just as important as the title itself. It is a money tactic to optimize the title tags and home page url of your blog (including keywords optimized for both) but it can be applied just as effectively to any other type of blog. Actually, optimizing this way would be incredibly effective for this blog because most non-money blogs don’t! I am working on a post for this type of optimization for all non-money bloggers. Why? Non-money bloggers outnumber money-bloggers 5 to 1. Why let this tiny crowd of unsupportive people take all the traffic. I do advertise and use these tactics. If I ever do make a lot of money doing it, I am going to shock the blogosphere with what I do with it. It’s about bringing integrity and compassion into a world of cheap values and greed. I have studied this seo and I know how to do it correctly. Thanks for the delicious link! You are using it the way it should be used and it’s a great example of how others should approach bookmarks.
Thanks Brent, you definely have my vote for great upcoming blog talent and I support you 100%:)
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