How to write titles and influence people - part 3

Friday, 08 January 2010 12:42 Written by Andrew Halloway

The title of a brochure, email, blog entry, fundraising letter or whatever medium of communication you choose is vital.

The headline is the first, and perhaps last, chance you have to attract a reader. Research shows that web surfers decide to stay or leave websites in less than eight seconds. In that short space of time, headlines are the one thing that users will actually read. It's very similar for someone scanning a leaflet, newsletter or magazine they've been given.

Whether on the web or in print, you have to turn a browser into a reader, and the headline is the way to do it. Whatever else you write below it may as well not exist if you haven't grabbed attention with the headline.

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How to write titles and influence people - part 2

Thursday, 31 December 2009 16:13 Written by Andrew Halloway

Emanuel Haldeman-Julius published a book called 'The Art of Controversy'. It bombed. So he changed the title to 'How to Argue Logically.' Guess what. It sold 30,000 copies. Same book, same cover, same everything - apart from the title.

Haldeman-Julius went on to sell over 100 million books by changing titles. If a book failed to sell 10,000 copies in a year, he put it in a part of his office that he named 'The Hospital'. In that 'Hospital', he diagnosed the illness of the title and came up with a remedy. He then republished it with the new title, and if it still didn't sell, it ended up in 'The Morgue'!

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How to write titles and influence people - part 1

Wednesday, 23 December 2009 15:12 Written by Andrew Halloway

Titles make people want to read books, articles, and - wait for it - your church's newsletter, your charity's fundraising leaflets, your mission's magazine or your Christian business' brochures.

In fact, a good title can make all the difference between someone immediately reading your stuff or putting it to one side 'to read later' - which effectively means it'll be forgotten. In our world of junk emails, junk mail and information overload, only the best titled material will grab attention.

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When should I use...? Part 3

Wednesday, 11 November 2009 15:51 Written by Andrew Halloway

In this third instalment of similar sounding and similar spelt words that have different meanings, I'm going to explain the difference between licence and license, and principal and principle...

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