Learn to… Write Good Headlines

Is your name important to you and the others? Of course it is. It individualizes you from everybody else and helps you step out of anonymity. The same thing goes for titles: the title is the proper name of your piece of work.

Except from defining your writing, the headline has the following important roles:

- It captures the reader’s attentions. Think of it as a hook. No. Actually it’s the hook and the bait at the same time. If you want those fishes to bite you must make them.

- It sets the tone of the article

- It informs – a title is a text about a text. It should sum up what the text is about, or at least it should give you a hint. I used “should” because sadly it doesn’t always happen this way. How many times weren’t you enthusiastic about a certain topic but after reading the text you realized it was nothing it promised to be in the title. Or worse. It had nothing to do with the title!

Here are 10 tips for writing good titles

1. Keep them short. 7-8 words top!
2. If you use verbs, use present tense.
3. Be sure they are understandable. The clarity is provided both from the clarity of the ideas and the clarity of the language / vocabulary used. Remember that you are writing for the readers. So, it is not enough for you to understand the text, they must uncover the ideas and the meanings too.
4. Make them catchy but keep them on the subject.
5. Headlines with questions do really well. But try to provide an answer later in the article. It’s really frustrating reading the entire text and still not getting some explanations. People have enough unasked questions already. They don’t need more.
6. Use numbers. And then make a list in the article. Readers like that. It makes it easier for them to read and remember the information. And they will be curious about the “ways” or the “tips” you provide them with. (ex. “10 Ways to Increase your Blog Traffic!”, “5 Tips to look fabulous!” etc)
7. Compare or contrast.
8. Combine the “new” and the “knew”. This one I read on Copyblogger and it’s a really good advice. Try for example to modify famous quotes, titles or proverbs.
9. Be exact (ex. “Burn 450 Calories in One Day!” “5 out of 10 Girls do this Every Night!” etc)
10. People are lazy. They like to have it all without doing anything. So here are some keywords that stimulate them: “The Lazy Man’s Way to Exercise”, “Easy Ways to get Money”.