Secrets to Creating Great Headlines

Great! You finished your piece and now need a headline. Usually headlines are less than ten words and need to be expressed in short, expressive, active words. This provides quick focus and pull in. By waiting until you know what you are ending up with, it will save you time. You can give a temporary headline while drafting. If you have a good lead paragraph, you will find the headline. If you want to intrigue or hook your readers, look at the significant points instead. Which idea or thought can you use as that hook. Here are some tips on how to write that headline: * Grab a highlighter and underline the nouns and key words in your lead paragraph. * From the key words, imagine yourself composing a telegram, and each word is costing you $10. Avoid articles -- A, An, The -- and prepositions -- On, Under, Beside, etc. * Substitute simple but effective synonyms to keywords. Say "polls" instead of "elections" or "go on" instead of "continue." * Write headlines that are simple and easy to read. Don't use heavy words. Use words that are short and familiar. * Directly give your story's main idea at the beginning of your headline. * Try and working in the main benefit the reader gets for reading further. Also, add another benefit in the lead paragraph, to keep them moving forward. * Use dynamic and powerful words. Not what you think is powerful but what you reader is going to think as powerful. * Always be specific and avoid generalities. "Do this and you will get this" needs to be specific to be believable. Provide examples or statistics. Give the result that is believable to the reader. * Only use a person