How Not To Write A Headline
In an age where social bookmarking, Twittering and RSS feeds have become important to any website, the need for top quality headlines has become a must. We have reached a saturation point where most people only scan information they receive. RSS feeds have probably been the one area where the headline has stood out.
I don’t know about you, but I subscribe to a lot of feeds. Do I read them all? No, I would be at it all day if I did. I do however scan the headlines and I will read the headlines that grab my attention. I am not alone, this has become the trend and will only grow as more people take on more subscriptions.
Writing that headline then has become one of the most important parts to any material published on the web. The question then is how do you write that killer headline that grabs the attention of your audience?
One of the leading exponents on copywriting, Copyblogger, has an interesting approach. Associate Editor of Copyblogger, Jonathan Morrow suggest that rather than telling you how you should write a headline, they start by suggesting you learn how not to write a headline. Here are some of their don’ts:
- Don’t be original
- Don’t blend in
- Don’t be clever
- Don’t get desperate
- Don’t ignore social media
An interesting list of don’ts and there are another seven on the post. It actually makes sense. Sometimes, to learn new habits you need to unlearn old ones. The problem is, if you don’t know what those bad old habits are, you cannot change them.
There is little point these days in writing content that invaluable if you don’t have a title that will attract readers. Copyblogger also makes a meaningful observation at the end of the post where he points out that whilst headlines are important, they are only the start. A great headline may get the visitor onto your site, but it is the first and successive paragraphs that keep there.
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