Tidbit of the Day: How to write awesome headlines

For all of you SEO folks out there, I just have one thing to say to you:

Fooey. These are real headlines.

How To Write Awesome Headlines
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: barcamplondon5 socialmediacamp08)

Courtesy of Todd Andrlik.

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2008
10/07
CATEGORY
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  • Robquig: Thanks! The advice about writing the headline first was only for journalists - if you're a sub editor / copy editor, you definitely have to read the story first. I'm still surprised that newspaper journalists can write a story with no idea what the headline might be or how it might be presented on the page.
  • I agree with writing the headline first. This tried-and-true method has worked for movies, too. Something tells me that the film titles "The Thing With Two Heads" and "They Saved Hitler's Brain" preceded the shooting scripts by a considerable length of time.
  • Rob - I like having some sort of dummy headline in there, even though I always go back and change it after. Just a habit, I guess.

    Bob - Those definitely were some cool old stories, huh?
  • Bob Wieszcholek
    I understand the point of the presentation, which actually has relevance when writing just about anything. However, what I really enjoyed was reading some of the actual articles.
  • Nice presentation. I was a copy editor in a former life, and I've written thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of headlines. There is good advice in this presentation, though I would NOT write the headline first. Read the story first, even if quickly. Too many headlines miss the point or misread the point of stories. The best explanation for that is often that people write a headline then breeze through the story.
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