I just read a book that reminded me of the historic importance of headlines. A core character was a copywriter at a large daily newspaper and he was tasked with something equally as large: writing a compelling headline for every article that crossed his desk. It’s not an effort that newspapers have traditionally taken lightly, as headlines are designed to establish a story’s immediate relevance to a reader.
If you don’t connect with a headline, you may not read its contents.
In one analysis picked up in the Journal of Pragmatics, Daniel Dor of the Department of Communications at Tel Aviv University tried to answer what communicative function newspaper headlines served. His findings? Relevance optimization. I rather like that phrase. The abstract from the paper suggests “that headlines are designed to optimize the relevance of their stories for their readers: Headlines provide the readers with the optimal ratio between contextual effect and processing effort, and direct readers to construct the optimal context for interpretation.” In layman’s terms: Why does this content matter to me?
The paper goes on to support two more things content marketers already know: audience matters and so does context. It suggests that “… a successful headline requires an understanding of the readers—their state-of-knowledge, their beliefs and expectations and their cognitive styles—no less than it requires an understanding of the story,” especially since “skilled newspaper readers spend most of their reading time scanning the headlines—rather than reading the stories.”
Fast forward to a hyper-digital world, where scanning web-based content is literally an art form, whether you’re trying to decipher which Twitter feed matters most, what blog topic might provide the most professional insight or which email subject line is worthy of staying in the queue.
We are overwhelmed by content. Therefore one might argue that headlines matter more than ever before, because brands must communicate their messages very quickly, in the most relevant way possible. Having people read and care about your content can position your company as a thought-leader, a reliable resource, a loyal partner and a whole lot more than just a seller of goods or services.
So how do the best headline writers do it? It’s not rocket science, but there are certainly some tricks to the trade of creating compelling, not just shocking, headlines that connect with people in an authentic way. Here are a few favorites:
Give headlines more of your time.
Most people leave headline writing until after they write a post, article, email content, advertorial, etc. That makes sense, because the whole of what you’ve written should better inform your headline, subject line or post title. However, don’t leave so little time at the end of your writing efforts that you slap a stale or overused phrase together with a basic keyword and call it a day. Think about Dor’s conclusion: relevance optimization, baby. Why is this content going to be relevant to your readers? You must sum up its core value (meaning) and who it’s valuable to (audience)—ideally in around 7 words or less or 70 characters or less.
Text and numbers play nice together.
Human eyes love to scan, and they’re also attracted to the look and feel of numbers next to words. That’s why we can’t get enough lists. While I’ve written a whole post on why I can’t take any more lists, it seems that in general readers have yet to tire of headlines that imply they can gain a lot of knowledge from some quick, scan-friendly text. Per above, this makes total sense for our digital culture now inundated with daily content. So play around with your own versions of the standard Top 10 list. You can use introductory words such as tips, reasons, ways, strategies, ideas, etc. and pair them with any number of things you have to talk about. But try not to go longer than 10.
Other headline helpers and hacks.
The knowledge-seeking public can’t seem to get enough of “how to do anything,” so there’s always that approach. Then there’s the old-school Ws—who, what, why, when, where. These classic words consistently work well in a headline pinch, as do strong action verbs (i.e., kick start, uncover, demand) and expressive adjectives (i.e., smart, surprising, huge). Putting the emphasis on your reader by using second person—you, you’ll, your—is also advantageous in headline writing, along with the well-placed odd or arresting word that makes people stop in their tracks. (For that, tap your inner creative).
There you have it, folks. Headlines are still heavy stuff. Leave some time at the end to give them your utmost attention.