2. Queen and Prince Harry to hold talks over Sussexes' future
.
3. Elimination of daylight saving time in Brazil
means it’s light out before 5 a.m., and many
aren’t happy
5. Perv ex-pastor in Florida propositioned undercover cop posing as 13-year-old girl for sex: police
6. Queen spotted with hearing aid for first time ahead of Harry and Meghan showdown talks
So your headline matters a lot. A great headline convinces more people to read your copy while a poor one sends potential customers searching for somewhere else to spend their money. This leads us to another famous Ogilvy quote:
“It follows that unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90% of your money.
In a world full of noise, how do you get people to actually read what you write? It takes more than good content or great design. The most important part of writing an article is the headline.
The same principle applies to blog posts, book chapters, and so on: The title is where your focus should be. You should begin and end every article with the question: “Would this want me to read on?"
How To Write a Headline
The primary tool to grab and hold the reader
|
Some of the most important words a
journalist writes are in a headline. 1 Headlines contain essential words that convey the subject of a story
2 and what the story is about.
Please note those are two different
things. The subject is general and the what's it
about is specific.
What is a headline?
- A headline is an abstract sentence
- Usually it is only five to ten words
- It is a complete thought
- It has a subject and a verb, and often an object
The goal is to grab the reader
- Ask yourself this question as you compose a headline:
If people see my five to ten words, will they know what the article is about
- It's not hard to find examples of headlines that answer that answer that question in the negative. Sure they may have a couple of words that point to a subject, but they don't answer the questions about what it is about.
Most important rule
- The words in a headline must represent accurately
what is in the story.
Accuracy counts above all else
What to do?
- Understand the story completely before writing its headline.
- Base the headline on the story's main idea, which should be in the lead or introduction.
- Don't use in the headline facts that are not in the story.
.. * Don't repeat the exact wording of the story in the headline.
Avoid ambiguity, insinuations and double meanings.
Word choices
- Be specific, accurate, clear and concise.
- Don't repeat key words in the same headline.
- Avoid unclear or little known names, phrases and abbreviations.
- Don't use pronouns alone and unidentified.
- Alliteration should be intentional and not change the general tone of the story. (Careful with this; don't be cute!)
- Avoid headline speak such as hit, flay, rap, hike, nix, nab, slate. Be more precise.
Verbs
- No headline may start with a verb.
- Headlines are complete sentences or imply complete sentences.
- A linking verb can be implied rather than spelled out.
- If a story is about past or present events, write present tense verbs.
- If a story is about future events, use the infinitive verb (to leave, to work).
- To be verbs, such as is, are, was and were should be omitted.
Punctuation
- Use punctuation sparingly.
- Don't eat up space with the conjunction and. Instead, use a comma.
- Principal and parents meet on school rules for next year
- Principal, parents agree on new school rules
Grammar
- Don't use the articles a, an and the. They waste space unnecessarily.
A new fire engine helps make the houses safer
New fire engine helps make houses safer
Web headlines
- As with any news story, a strong headline is vital for a web story.
- Headlines often are found in lists of links, where they are a reader's first introduction to a story. If they do not sell a reader on the story immediately, the reader is unlikely to click the link to navigate to the story.
- SEO is search engine optimization. Search engines favor coherent headlines. Your headlines can be essential to search engine optimization, which draws traffic to your website.
EXAMPLES OF BAD HEADLINES...take a look!
1.Governor Swears in Legislature
2.March Planned For Next August
3. Blind Bishop Appointed To See
4.Lingerie Shipment Hijacked--Thief Gives Police The
Slip
5. L.A. Voters Approve Urban Renewal By Landslide
6. Patient At Death's Door--Doctors Pull Him Through
Latin Course To Be Canceled--No Interest Among
Students, Et Al.
7.Diaper Market Bottoms Out
8. Croupiers On Strike--Management: "No Big Deal"
9.Stadium Air Conditioning Fails--Fans Protest
10.Queen Mary Having Bottom Scraped
11.Henshaw Offers Rare Opportunity to Goose Hunters
12. Women's Movement Called More Broad-Based
13. Antique Stripper to Display Wares at Store
14. Prostitutes Appeal to Pope
15. Never Withhold Herpes Infection From Loved One
16.Cancer Society Honors Marlboro Man
17. Nicaragua Sets Goal to Wipe Out Literacy
18. Autos Killing 110 a Day--Let's Resolve to Do Better
19. If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last A While
ASSIGNMENT:
Your turn: Write a headline for each of the following four
stories. Send along, please.
story 1:
A 33-year-old Farmington man has been charged with grand larceny and falsifying business records, both felonies.
State Police tell News10NBC James Rickey III fraudulently collected more than $10,000 in unemployment benefits while he was gainfully employed.
Rickey was arraigned and remanded to the Ontario County Jail in lieu of bail. He is due back in court on October 18.
Story 2:
You feel worse by the hour. Your joints ache; your head feels heavy; you can't stop coughing. You're freezing, even as your temperature keeps climbing, and your stomach is upset. Even your eyes hurt.
Face it: You have the flu. Now what do you do?
Most flu patients should not go to an emergency room, said Dr. David Zich, internal medicine and emergency medicine physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. They will likely be sent home, as there is very little that can be done for them. A fever as high as 103 degrees Fahrenheit is common for the flu, he said.
Patients with normal flu symptoms should get a lot of rest and take painkillers to help with muscle aches, Zich said.
And while you might not believe it today (or tomorrow, or the next day), "In five to seven days, you're going to be feeling yourself again," he promised.
Story 3:
Four years ago, Beth Cirami
anxious. Her brother had just died of leukemia. and
she wanted something to remember him by. She'd
gone to other tattoo shops in the St. Louis area and
when she tried to explain her story--why she was
getting her first tattoo at age 37, what it meant to
her--it felt like no one listened. They told her to flip
through a book and pick out a drawing she liked. It
just didn't feel right.
"This was a very personal piece for me. I needed
that work of art," Cirami said.
She had heard about Booth's shop, Madame Voodoo's
House of Ink in Warrenton, Missouri and decided to
stop by. She tolkd Booth that her brother died at age
45, and she wanted to honor him in some way.
Cirami left Booth's shop with a pinstripe tattoo
adorned with the initials of her children and a
picture of a heart glass her brother gave her before
he passed away. It was exactly what she wanted.
"She had that sensitivity to that reason why most
people get tattoos. It is a very secret and spiritual
experience," said Cirami.
It's the kind of experience on which Booth built her
business--a family-friendly tattoo shop whe opened
five years ago, hoping it would feel welcoming to
everyone.
Story 4:
British police arrested a man accused of trying to get into London's Buckingham Palace illegally on Monday, authorities said.
The 44-year-old man was stopped at the main gate facing the Victoria Memorial, and a search revealed he was carrying a knife, according to Metropolitan Police.
He did not gain access to the palace grounds, police said.
The man was arrested on suspicion of trespassing on a protected site and possession of an offensive weapon, and remained in custody Monday afternoon, police said. His name was not released; no injuries were reported.
Buckingham Palace, the best known of Queen Elizabeth II's palaces, is the administrative center for the royal household as well as the queen's London residence.
