Today I want to talk about making headlines.
Specifically, writing a headline that attracts readers, and gives you maximum attention and engagement.
In an age ruled by search engine optimisation (SEO), targeted keywords and meta description, it might appear that the case for carefully crafted English is dead.
Digging equipment
If we don’t call a spade a spade, Google goes off into a whirl of outraged confusion and will refuse to show anyone anything we’ve published ever again.
Do you know how many readers that sub-heading just cost me?
In a world where there is so much content competing for our attention, where we endlessly scroll until it seems that is the entire occupation itself, it might seem there is no place for clever and subtly nuanced words.
Tempting
Now, I am all for plain English, but not dull English.
Let me pin my colours to the mast. Or if Google is listening, let me give you a clue on which side of the shovel I stand.
For years, I worked as a back bench sub-editor on newspapers. These are the folk that come up with the punchy, accurate yet intriguing headlines that tempt the reader in to buying the paper.
Think Paddy Pantsdown. Or think I’m Only Here for De Beers. Think Super Caley Go Ballistic. Think North-east Man Lost At Sea*
(* this is the apocryphal story of the Press & Journal’s 1912 headline about the sinking of the Titanic. It’s not true.)
Timber
I was taught that if a headline doesn’t tempt you in, there is little point in the article that follows.
The same goes for online copy now. Your blog or LinkedIn article might be the most useful piece of advice anyone could read, but the headline has to attract the reader.
Like a tree falling in the forest, if immaculately researched, beautifully written and insightful prose is never read, it is silenced forever.
Now, I have a friend who is an expert in digital SEO. I say digital, even though to the best of my knowledge there is no other kind of SEO.
Anyway, she always firmly advises against using teasing headlines with gentle humour.
I can hear her eyes rolling at the headline to this article, let alone mention of spades and pinning colours to masts.
Headline peril
The argument usually starts with me saying that a dull headline means people don’t click through and it remains unread.
She counters that a clever headline misses the algorithm. Which means people don’t even get to see it, no matter how enticing – and it remains unread.
But gloriously unrepentant, I am still guilty of writing for an audience, not an algorithm.
In my book, the purpose of a headline is to intrigue or amuse, without misleading.
Look, clever and funny! Google would hate that.
Curiosity
So, how do I solve my dilemma? Just because I understand SEO, doesn’t mean I have to agree with it.
You can defy the algorithm by generating waves of engagement, so you have to make those first words count.
In this age of social media, there is a fine line between making people feel they have to know what happens next, and clickbait and all its negative connotations.
The skill is in satisfying the curiosity that made the reader click on the link in the first place.
So do keep on, scrolling away, and don’t you think of me and my ongoing one-woman battle against the algorithm.
But if you see a good headline that makes you smile, appreciate the effort!
A final aside
Looking back on some of my recent blogs, I noticed I love a question mark in a headline.
I think all of them started as questions and it was only when I realised how ridiculous this was that I changed it.
Then I listened to a podcast by comedian Robin Ince that asked: if a headline ends in a question mark, is the answer always no?
He says using a question mark is a way of asserting something as a fact without having to stand by it as a fact.
Lazy and cynical ploy, or the influence of social media? Take a listen and decide for yourself.
Hoolet is a strategic communications consultancy. Come say hello on Twitter at @hoolet_hoots, or follow us on LinkedIn.
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