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Where to find examples of clever headlines
The ideal length
Great headlines that led to media coverage
Headline mistakes to avoid
How and when to use sub-heads
Tricks professional headline-writers use
An editor will toss the best press release right into the newsroom wastebasket if the headline is flat, dull and lifeless.
Your well-written how-to article is likely to be forgotten, too, if the editor can’t figure out from the headline why readers should care about what you have to say.
That’s why writing attention-grabbing headlines is absolutely critical. Scientific surveys actually taken in newsrooms across the country show that an editor spends an average of only 5 seconds reading a press release before deciding whether to use it or toss it. At least one or two seconds are probably spent reading the headline.
You can apply many of the tips you read here not only to press releases but to headlines you are writing for informational products such as special reports and audio tapes, speeches and headlines posted at the top of pages at your web site.
Where to Find Example of Clever Headlines
Raleigh Pinskey, author of the books The Zen of Hype and 101 Ways to Promote Yourself, suggests you start by reading the tabloids such as the National Enquirer. Pay attention to how the headlines pull you into the story. The best headlines have these characteristics:
They arouse curiosity.
They promise answers to a question or solutions to a problem.
They are laden with benefits.
They promise to reveal secret information, or information that’s hard to find anywhere else.
They create emotional appeal.
They interrupt the readers and make them stop what they’re doing to read more.
