Maple Leaf 2.0 - Technology and Web 2.0 News in Canada

Want my attention? It’s the headlines stupid–Write good headlines for more readers.

by Tris Hussey on March 19th, 2008

I’m an RSS addict.  I try not to track how many feeds I follow, it’s kinda scary (it’s between 700 and 800), but the volume of information I receive is essential to me doing my job.  There is a catch though, I need to read your post for it to enter into my consciousness. In order to read your post, it has to get my attention.  To get my attention, you must have a good, descriptive, catchy headline.

Louis Gray feels the same way, and he points out that it isn’t just getting our attention via RSS, but Digg, Reddit, Techmeme, FriendFeed focus on headlines so a poorly written headline won’t get play there either:

Contributing factors to whether I share a post on my link blog include the newness and uniqueness of the information, the quality or brand of the source and conversely if it’s a new and emerging blogger, the amount of interest I have in the topic, that I perceive my readers to have in that topic, and the quality or content of the post itself.
But also a factor? The headline. If I happen upon two stories on the same topic, of interest to me and my readers, where the source is equal, it can be the headline and first paragraph that make one item shared over another. And as it is only the headline that is displayed in my Google Reader shared items on my blog or on FriendFeed, that’s sometimes all the consumers see as well.
The issue of headlines becomes especially important for sites like Digg, Reddit and the like. Reddit, in fact, shows only headlines, begging for an up or down arrow. Digg shows a headline, and a submitter’s authored one paragraph description. When you see stories that have hundreds or thousands of Diggs, do you really think all of those folks clicked out to the story, read it, and returned to Digg it? I doubt it.
Outside of social news submission sites, you can also see the importance of the headline on places like TechMeme. Items in the TechMeme discussion links show only a headline, and the story’s source. Often, there can be 5-20 different stories from different sources on the same topic, making the headline, or the brand of the source, be the deciding factor for which post to click. Source: louisgray.com: In Blogging and RSS, Headlines Can be Make or Break: Silicon Valley Blog

Louis shares his Google Reader attention data…here is my latest slice from FeedDemon:

Notice that the top feed is my meta feed from aideRSS.  Why is that?  Because it is distilled.  And that information comes from other sources like links, comments, and sharing on Google Reader–all places where headlines are key.

I found Louis’ article on Techmeme…just from the headline.

Tips for a great headline
I might not be the best person to ask (I’d defer to Darren of ProBlogger or Brian of Copyblogger), but I’ll give it my best shot.  My tips are both for SEO and attention (please feel free to add to the list in the comments):

• be descriptive. Use the product or company name in the headline. Give some idea of what the article is about (like are you challenging the status quo)
• be cheeky. Given above, a little controversy or humour goes a long way to get attention and readers.
• write the headline, write the post, check the headline.  I always write my headline first, but sometimes when I’ve finished the post, the headline doesn’t hit the key idea I’ve written about.  Go back and check the headline.  Does it match?
• Look at the top headlines on Reddit, Techmeme, Digg, etc.  What gets your attention?  There is a good reason for that–so why don’t you use those as examples?
• Do not just copy someone else’s headline or something similar.  Again, Techmeme is a great place to see this in action.  When there are hundreds of post about a topic, how many just seem like a rehash?  A lot, correct.  Why? Because the titles are just a minor rehash of what everyone else is saying.

That’s all I have.  I know, pretty thin, but I think there are just a few rules to look at and you’re on your way.

Just for comparison, I just took this screenshot of Techmeme … what headlines catch your eye (click for full screen)?

Share This

Related Stories

Do you try to pull in all the comments or go where they are?
NewsGator Online adds aideRSS PostRank as fast sort option
Newspond leaves me dry
Blogs as Media Sources
Good SEO starts with great writing, but some techie tips help too

POSTED IN: RSS