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Make your news top heavy
13th January 2012. Posted by Rebecca Hart. Trackback
Having beaten off stiff competition, a headline by The Gloucestershire Echo has been voted as the funniest of the year by readers of HoldtheFrontPage(HtFP).
“Girls schools still offering ‘something special’ – head” clinched the ‘accolade’ despite corkers like “Man jailed for crack in bum” and “Jesus rubbishes mum’s sex claims” threatening to steal its thunder.
According to one high-profile copywriter ‘your first 15 words count more that the 15,000 words that follow’, so just how important is it to get your headline just right?
A headline can make a real impression on a prospective reader; without a headline that manages to convert a browser into a reader, the rest of your news or story might as well be invisible.
But can a headline do more than just interest and excite a reader? A good headline can be an effective vehicle to communicate your key message to your intended audience and entice them to carry on reading. But in order to do this, and to generate maximum response, you have to spend a bit of time writing and testing your headlines. And, if you spend a lot of time producing lots of copy this can be easier said than done.
Whatever type of copy you’re writing, be it for a newsletter, press release, article or blog, you need to make sure you and your copy stands out from the crowd. These are busy times, so if your headline doesn’t make an immediate impact you could face going out with the trash.
Below are some of my favourite top tips and techniques for creating a good headline:
1. Avoid using clichés – ‘unique’, ‘premier’ and ‘number one’ are all over used, remember you need to set yourself apart from your competitors.
2. Intrigue readers – ask questions that are sure to grab attention and make you reader think.
3. Get to the point Vs creative – both can work in the right situation. You just need to decide what the aim of your headline is.
4. Promise to solve a problem – I’d be tempted to read something that promised I’d look like Angelina Jolie in two weeks, wouldn’t you? (Replace with Brad Pitt if necessary.)
5. Let people into a secret – we all like to feel included. Making the reader feel special and privy to information only a few others know will pique their interest.
And finally…… Make sure you deliver on your promises. Even if your headline is the most outstanding ever written, if your copy doesn’t deliver your reader will feel cheated. Make sure the rest of your copy lives up to the reader’s expectations.