How to write titles and influence people - part 3
Friday, 08 January 2010 12:42
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.
(On the web, there is also the issue of including key words in your headlines so that search engines drive the right browsers to your site, but that's a whole article in itself...)
But for a headline to not only grab attention but also entice a browser to give his or her valuable time to read your material, it must also communicate in a way that makes the browser want to read on. In fact, a great headline can sum up an entire story in a few words - and that is often the way to lure someone in.
A headline that works is also a headline that offers some kind of reward in return for reading, whether that is satisfying the curiosity of the reader - the curiosity you have created with your headline - or explaining how to take advantage of your company's latest offer.
A sub-editor's manual gives many ways of doing this, but here are a few:
1. Sum up the whole story
What's the main point you want to get across? What's the most important or intriguing or relevant part of your article or offer? Hone it down into as short a phrase as possible and make that your headline. Then make sure the rest of the article 'delivers' - the headline should never offer something the article then doesn't live up to.
2. Use doing words
Using a verb in the present tense makes the headline active and immediate, rather than passive. This tends to attract interest.
3. Make headlines look easy to read
When browsers are roving quickly for something to read, they are less likely to read headlines that look like they'll take more effort to read, understand or absorb. The shorter and simpler the words in a headline, and the headline itself, the better chance you have of attracting a reader.
4. Add a subhead
Once you've got attention, maintain it by giving people what they want - more detail, quickly. You do that by writing a subhead - a longer headline below the first one, that again sums up the whole story but fleshes out the detail, or answers the question raised by a headline. It still needs to be concise, punchy, relevant and to the point. A first sentence can serve the same function.
There are many different types of headline, but the main ones are:
1. Direct sell. These don't try to be witty or intriguing - they tell it like it is. Straight away. Blunt. Upfront. No messing. As short and punchy as possible - simply getting your point across, laying out what benefit or reward you are offering.
2. Indirect. This more subtle approach could be a question, or raise curiosity by being ambiguous. The aim is to raise a question in the reader's mind, which is then answered in the 'copy' (text) that follows. Sometimes you can use a double meaning. Sometimes humour. But it must be something that the reader can empathise with - and designed to attract your target audience.
3. Newsy. News headlines can be direct or indirect, but the point is they need to be... newsy. They must say something that is news to the reader - something they've not heard before but are excited, shocked, intrigued or curious to know. It can range from the announcement of a new product to name-dropping a celebrity that is likely to attract the type of reader you want.
4. Explainer. This is also called the 'Reason Why' headline. E.g. 10 Reasons Why My Service Will Change Your Life; 100 Ways to Improve Your Marriage.
5. Testimonial. This works by offering objective opinion from someone other than yourself. It might be a celebrity endorsement (whether that's a respected preacher or a pop star!) or just someone who has been helped by your ministry or pleased by company's product or service. Put their quote in quotation marks so the reader knows they are reading what someone has said. Then continue with more of what this person has said in the rest of your copy - and perhaps what others say too. E.g. 'I Love Reading Articles By Andrew Halloway' Says The Queen.' (I wish!)