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Make Headlines

Written by: Max Kalles

Article Overview: On the web, headlines are often all you have to get your message across.

Make Headlines

If you have done any research into how people read on the web, you will have come across the word “scan”. Large blocks of web copy causes surfers to bolt from a page in search of easier to consume information. They prefer bullet points, highlighted text and short paragraphs; copy they scan to quickly determine if it is appropriate.

“Scanning” copy is nothing new. Readers have always scanned newspaper articles, book chapter titles and report headings looking for the most interesting bits.

However, it is the web surfers who have taken the art of scanning to new levels. Not content to scan just business headlines in the business section, as newspaper readers must, at any given time, web surfers will be scanning a wide variety of information, from the latest video releases, to tomorrow’s weather report, to a Facebook message - all while over-dubbing their latest guitar lick.

Surfers scan web pages at incredibly high speeds and often determine the validity of a web page with a few seconds of landing on it.

What does all this scanning activity mean for companies trying to get their message across on the internet?

You need to make the headlines. Make them short, understandable and engaging.

Headlines are important because they let readers know a little bit about the content. The ease at which web surfers pop around the web makes headlines exponentially more important on the internet. In those few precious seconds that surfers give you to prove your worth, your headline is probably the only thing they will read entirely. You better make it good.

Unfortunately, there’s no secret formula for creating a good headline. Different types of headlines will work for different sorts of information and content. However, there are some basic criteria that, if met, will significantly increase your chance of keeping a web visitor on your page for longer than usual.

Your headlines need to make a connection with your intended audience. Using this article, aimed at owners and operators of SMEs, as an example, most of the target audience will inherently understand the marketing value of publicity, or “making the headlines” and they will have that connection to the headline.

A good headline also gets the reader to read the first line of copy. If this article was titled “Capture Attention with Good Headlines”, readers will be less motivated to read on because the headline has given them a lot of good information – so there is no need for further reading.

It’s been said that headlines are so important, you should spend as much time writing the headline as you did writing the copy. There’s no hard and fast rule, except better headlines get better results.

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  Fishing for Prospects: Why Headlines are Important
  Headline Copy Tweaks You Can Make Today to Increase Sales Tomorrow
  How Do You Write Compelling And Successful Headlines?

Article Tags: effective headlines, web headlines, writing headlines



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