Reader
As I wade and sift through tons of Web content regularly, looking for good stuff to share with you here, I can’t help but notice one thing: A lot of people really suck at writing headlines.
Folks, if you can’t write a decent headline for your article or blog post, you’ve pretty much killed any chance of your work getting much in the way of readership.
I know, writing a good headline isn’t easy. Which is why if you’re good at it, you can make a good living just doing them. If you find writing headlines difficult, here are a couple of tips that you may find helpful:
Unless you’re a master at it, forget creative, cute and/or clever. Go for informative. When in doubt, just simply tell readers what they’ll find in the article or post. Period.
If you can’t come up with a simple informative headline, you may want to rethink the article or post. Seriously. That headline’s basically an elevator pitch. For your work. If you can’t informatively sum up what you wrote in a headline, that piece is probably something nobody needs… and likely nobody will read.
Your work doesn’t need them? Let me congratulate you then for being so renowned and highly respected in your field, people sacrifice their children to the gods just for the privilege of reading every word you decide to release to the masses. The rest of us may want to think of and remember the following, however:
What do you think a crap headline tells readers they’ll find in the article or post?
Food for thought.
If you need help, scan through today’s featured selections. None of them have headlines that will win awards and adulation. But they do the job. Have fun!
— EES
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Entrepreneur
Ad spend on digital channels set to overtake traditional mediums by 2021
“The latest media ad spending forecast calculates that digital channels will surpass traditional mediums as early as 2021”
Facebook reportedly plans to launch its own cryptocurrency
“Facebook is reportedly planning to launch its own cryptocurrency, according to a report from Cheddar’s Alex Heath.”
How To Monetize A Creative Podcast
“It was like $1 the first month and $5 and then $20 and now I’m up to around $850 per show, two shows a month. So it’s like $1600, plus other forms of monetization.”
How to Set Up a Successful Pinterest Business Account
“With about 200 million monthly users, Pinterest [is] a great platform for brands that want to creatively showcase how to use their products as services, as well as create connections with their target audience.”
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56+ SEO Experts Share Future-Proof Link Building Strategies
“[S]everal SEO experts, niche marketers and bloggers are going to reveal their best link-building strategies… Their effective white-hat backlink tactics are sure to stand the test of time and will work today, throughout this year and far beyond… ”
Modern SEO Trends That You Need To Know
“The reality is that people are sick of reading ‘fluff’ content. One of the reasons is that we all have read roughly the same article about 5 times without really noticing it, until now.”
Marketing
6 things I learned marketing for startups (and early stage companies)
“The other day as I was putting new strings on my guitar, something interesting happened. As the sixth and final string slid up into tune, the other strings came alive…”
Here Are 10 Buyer Persona Examples to Help You Create Your Own
“[C]reate a buyer persona to help you get to know your audience, improve your marketing strategies, and create better content.”
Writing
8 Simple Writing Strategies That Helped Stephen King Sell 350 Million Books
“You don’t have to be a fan of King’s writing to appreciate the wisdom within the pages of this book. Nor do you have to be a novelist: The book has highly practical strategies that writers of nonfiction can immediately apply to their writing.”
How NOT To Mess Up Your Book Series
“Writing one book is hard. Writing an entire series of books, with their interconnecting subplots, arcs, and golden threads, weaving first book to last, is even harder.”
Read @ Writers Helping Writers »
How to Write a Novel Even if You’re a New Writer
“[Y]ou feel you could, but think that you need some training first. Yes, that may help, but… I’ll share a method that you can use immediately, even if you’e a completely new writer.”
Seven ways to demonstrate you’re not ready to query
“I ask for what I need to assess your work… If you don’t send it, it tells me you’re going to be a pain in the hat to work with.”
Read @ Janet Reid, Literary Agent »
