Killer Headlines: A guide to web headlines

How to create… A guide to web headlines

Why we need to improve our headlines
Headlines are the shop window to our content.
Headlines improve our, the author as well as the website, brand.
Headlines are a big traffic driver.
A headline is potentially more important than the article.

Topics covered:
The evolution of headlines
Where headlines can end up
How important is a headline?
SEO keywords and linking
What makes a good online headline
Print headlines vs. Web headline

The evolution of headlines

The evolution of headlines The beginning: Print headlines straight to web Form: Witty, puns.

The evolution of headlines The beginning: Print headlines straight to web Form: Witty, puns. 1st change: Search engines Form: Keyword heavy

The evolution of headlines The beginning: Print headlines straight to web Form: Witty, puns. 1st change: search engines Form: Keyword heavy 2nd change: RSS feeds Form: eye-catching

The evolution of headlines The beginning: Print headlines straight to web Form: Witty, puns. Finally: The ultimate headline Form: Eye-catching, clever and includes keywords 2 nd change: RSS feeds Form: eye-catching 1 st change: search engines Form: Keyword heavy

Web headline’s audience
Who are you writing for?
?????
?????
?????

Web headline’s audience People!

Web headline’s audience Social Media

Web headline’s audience Search Engines

Web headline’s audience
THREE audiences:
People
Social Media
Search Engines

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

SEO in order of importance:
URL - web address, taken from headline
Headline - title of article
First paragraph/meta description – Keyword heavy
Inbound links – Links from external/internal sites - This is why social bookmarking and blogging are important. Blog about your articles!
Keywords in text – Top heavy (first paragraphs)
Meta keywords – The hidden keywords
All articles should aim to have all these elements.

G o o g l e News values:
Freshness of content – hot new articles
Diversity of content – different angles
Rich textual content – keywords
G o o g l e news is an aggregator of news sites content
G o o g l e will not show more than 65 characters.
Headlines get indexed quickly. If there’s a mistake or you have a better headline change it quickly.
The G o o g l e Rules

Where can a headline end up?

Where can a headline end up? Sounds obvious but your website is the first place. A mistake here and you damage your personal (author) brand!

At the top of an RSS feed Where can a headline end up?

Social Bookmarking sites Where can a headline end up?

Print vs. Web headlines
Web headlines:
Are often isolated with little or no context
Appear in many places on a site
Pop up on external sites
Don’t always appear with other content
Can’t depend on text size for impact
Must get the point across
Your headline won’t necessarily be the headline people use
You can change web headlines!

What does this headline tell you?

Be clear and concise, think about the keywords and what how the headline reflects the article.

Which headline works best?
Google abandons Yahoo web ad deal
Google! aborts! Yahoo! deal!
Google pulls plug on Yahoo! ad deal

Which headline works best?
Google abandons Yahoo web ad deal
Google! aborts! Yahoo! deal!
Google pulls plug on Yahoo! ad deal
Top headline is boring.
Second headline is exciting but annoying.
Third headline is engaging and clear

Good headlines
Air France Airbus crash: its last few minutes?
Video: Nokia to ship N97 'iPhone killer' this month
Cheating husband caught on Google Street View
Apollo 11: The computers that put man on the moon
Download iPhone OS 3.0 from iTunes
Cybercriminals sell Facebook profiles for 89p
Seven IT tips for surviving the recession
Photos: Google Street View car in police drama

Headline top tips:
Your headline is your angle: Does the headline reflect the article?
Plan your headline: Think about which words hold the most importance and make sure the top two are in the headline
Be clever and witty: Will your headline stand out against the crowd?
Who are you writing for: Get into the mind of your audience, what do they want?
Keywords are king: What will people search for?
Be clear and concise: A misleading headline can and will lose you traffic.

Always remember the four Cs
Clear
Concise
Compelling
Ceywords (Keywords)

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Killer Headlines: A guide to web headlines

by faisalalani on Aug 27, 2009

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Killer Headlines: A guide to web headlines — Presentation Transcript