Put audience members first
Front-loading your headlines with your topic word just makes sense if your readers are going to encounter those headlines in online lists — a search engine results page, for instance, or your online newsroom.
That’s because readers look at only the first two or three words of the headline when scanning lists (Rev Up Readership members only; join Rev Up Readership). This technique is so important that usability expert Jakob Nielsen ranks it the No. 1 thing you can do to improve the ROI of your website.
But what’s the topic?
Too many communicators (and, let’s be honest, their reviewers) believe that the company or its product or service is the topic. But the real topic is the reader or what they reader can do, as these Silver Anvil Award-winning headlines demonstrate:
Blood Cancer Patients and Advocates Visit Capitol Hill to Inspire Continued Support for Be the Match
July 18 Legislative Day event aimed at delivering more cures to patients in need
— Be the Match Silver Anvil Award-winning campaign
Teens Get Opportunity to Celebrate With an Idol
State Farm and Grammy Award Winner Kelly Clarkson team up for teen driver safety
— State Farm Silver Anvil Award-winning campaign
Parents and teen drivers dangerously disconnected
New State Farm survey reveals an alarming gap between parents’ and teens views on driver safety licensing laws
— State Farm Silver Anvil Award-winning campaign
Color Your Easter with Eggs
HGTV Interior Designer Sabrina Soto Offers Easter Decorating Tips to “Dye” for
— Edelman and The Egg Board Silver Anvil Award-winning campaign
Before spring planting, expert says, “Dig a little. Learn a lot.”
— Natural Resources Conservation Service Silver Anvil Award-winning campaign
Cover Crop Mixes — They Just Work Better
— Natural Resources Conservation Service Silver Anvil Award-winning campaign
Survey: Cover crops deliver strong harvest amid drought
Agency focuses on helping farmers build resilient farms through soil health
— Natural Resources Conservation Service Silver Anvil Award-winning campaign
JOIN THE TEEN DRIVER SAFETY CELEBRATION SUPPORTING NEW DRIVERS
Communities commit to drive safe in support of new drivers during National Teen Driver Safety Week
— State Farm Silver Anvil Award-winning campaign
Hey! Even the IRS is getting in on this approach. Here’s a recent newsletter headline:
10 Million Taxpayers Face an Estimated Tax Penalty Each Year; Act Now to Reduce or Avoid it for 2017; New Web Page Can Help
Don’t write about us and our stuff. To catch your reader, write about the reader and the reader’s needs.
Grab readers with great headlines
By the time you’ve written your headline, said ad man David Ogilvy, you’ve spent 80 cents of your communication dollar.
Indeed, many times more people will read your headline than your body copy. Are you getting 80% of your ROI out of your headline?
Learn how to use the most important line in your message at our headline-writing course.
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