Finding the right audience online takes some time and thoughtful research. Once you find those perfect people, you still have to get them to your website.
We’re not talking about search engines and keywords here. Your mission is to create a purposeful, person-to-person connection. You want the words that create a brief but compelling message that is delivered directly to your audience.
Headlines.
You might think a headline is a simple add-on to your content, but it’s much more than that. You need headlines to cut through In box clutter, even if your recipients look forward to your email newsletter, because you can’t know how busy they will be when it arrives.
You need compelling headlines when you post something new on your blog, or on Facebook or Twitter, to encourage people to read what you wrote.
A good headline gets eyeballs on your press release. If you want media attention, make it easy for reporters to write about you. A weak headline doesn’t help your cause.
Take a few tips from the newsstand
The next time you stand in line at the grocery checkout or visit a bookstore, take a good look at the magazine rack. Not at the tabloids, but the cooking, fashion, gardening, and decorating magazines. You can narrow down your research to the obvious—magazines geared toward creatives, and specifically your medium—but if you search farther afield, you get a better sense of how headlines work in general. You will see they tend to have a few things in common.
If you scan magazine headlines with a copywriter’s eye, you will notice they offer solutions to common problems or ways to improve something. “Five Easy Dinners for Families on the Go,” or “Secrets of Growing Great Herbs,” or “Fall Fashion Inspiration” are pretty standard fare.
Now go back to your medium for a minute. Some art/craft/design magazines are how-to guides, and some focus on exhibition reviews and feature artists and their work. So consider carefully: which ones get your attention? Which make you want to read on? Which are the best for the audience you want to reach?
Pay attention to the elements art magazines share with mainstream publications.
Watch for words that appear frequently—some form of “inspiration” shows up on the covers of watercolour painting, interior design, gardening magazines, and a whole lot more. That’s no accident. Whether you’re a maker or a buyer, the promise of something inspiring hits you where you live.
You can write your own headlines with those standards in mind.
Craft your headlines for your best audience members
If you hate the idea of writing formulaic headlines, of if you’re not writing how-to content, take your core idea and tailor your message to the people you most want to reach. Write the briefest summary you can, and include a little teaser so your reader will want to know more.
Here’s an example from Twitter to show you one approach, and the thought process behind it:
The shadowy world of design dabblers exposed: http://su.pr/8oUCZa /by @pamelaiwilson
This was a post by Pamela Wilson that I retweeted last week. The subject? When to use drop shadows with graphics. Pamela wrote the post with her usual combination of sensible advice and good humour, so I followed her lead and had some fun with my own headline. I took information directly from the post—people who dabble in design, as opposed to those who have some training, tend to overdo drop shadows—played with the concept of shadow, and gave the whole thing a tabloid twist, tongue planted firmly in cheek. The headline was aimed at an online audience with a notoriously short attention span, which consists mainly of a group of creatives who have a well-developed sense of fun and get pop culture references.
Write with clear intent
Is that Twitter headline 100% accurate? No. But it doesn’t have to be. It doesn’t point to an article with life-or-death information (okay, not exactly life-or-death, but close. Ask me what I think about bad design sometime). It’s pretty clear from the inclusion of “design dabblers” that the headline is meant to be humorous. If the overall tone of Pamela’s post had been serious, I would have gone in a different direction.
Is the headline effective? Pamela liked it (in fact, her response inspired this post, hence the reprint of the retweet with a shout out to her). Since it was Pamela’s material I wrote about, I figure it did its job.
The key elements are simple
There’s no big secret to writing good headlines. It’s just one aspect of smart marketing, and the same principles apply: study what works, know your audience well, adapt that knowledge and research to suit your needs, and pay attention to how your audience responds.
Over to you: Do you think headlines are important? Do you have trouble writing them? What kinds of headlines work best to catch your eye?
Possibly related posts:
I love the focus here on writing headlines that speak to YOUR audience. It’s easy (especially if areas where one doesn’t feel completely comfortable) to take standard advice and apply it without any consideration for the specific needs of your people. There are lots of ways for that to go very badly. When in doubt, a focus on “will this attract my people” (as opposed to people in general) is a good bet.
[Reply]
Stacey Cornelius Reply:
April 5th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
It’s so easy to forget that you’re actually talking to someone when you write content for your website, prepare a workshop, or create a headline. It’s always about connecting with *your* people. I know you run into this in the non-profit sector, Maureen. Those “standard rules apply” ruts are deep and wide.
[Reply]
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by DaveCharest: How to write headlines that grab your audience http://bit.ly/bvRWTD by @theStudioSource…
Stacey,
You’re a master at this. Not only do you write great headlines, you also craft amazing “tweets” of well under 140 characters (to leave room for the link you’re sharing).
I’m glad you’ve shared your secrets with your readers!
[Reply]
Stacey Cornelius Reply:
April 6th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Thanks, Pamela. When you truly enjoy writing, 140 characters (or more like 120) can be a fun challenge. I suppose that’s the real secret, if there is one.
[Reply]
I definitely think that headlines are the first part of getting a reader interested in your post. My biggest problem at this point is the format that I chose for all of my post titles – sometimes I find it really tricky to stick to that format and have something engaging that people will want to click on and read!
[Reply]
Stacey Cornelius Reply:
April 6th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
I understand your dilemma, Shannon, but for what it’s worth, when I see you pop up on Twitter with a headline that begins with “A Little…” I know it’s a link to one of your posts and another vicarious ’round the world adventure for me. So your format definitely works for this reader.
[Reply]
Shannon OD Reply:
April 6th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Oo, didn’t think of it like that. Thanks
[Reply]
A corollary to “headlines” is titles. I frequently have photo exhibits and have learned, through years of exhibiting, that a title, while not mandatory, gives people shorthand, so to speak, for the exhibit, and opens opportunities for discussion.
My current exhibit is of Mt. Kilauea on Hawai’i's Big Island. I resisted the temptation to title it “Hawai’i: No Beaches, No Palm Trees” but called it, instead, “Steam and Stone: At the Foot of the Volcano,” which is less generic and more interesting and accurate.
[Reply]
Stacey Cornelius Reply:
April 10th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
More interesting, indeed. Your approach to titles would work very well with headlines, Sally.
[Reply]
[...] You only have a few seconds to get your reader’s attention. Make the most of it by writing headlines that make your readers want to keep reading. Stacey Cornelius has some great strategies for writing compelling headlines. [...]