photo credit: jonfeinstein
Fact is, you can get all of the fundamentals right and still end up with a lousy headline. Sometimes, the only way to improve isn’t being told what to do… it’s being told what not to do.
Below are quite a few “don’ts” when writing your headlines that I recently came across on CopyBlogger that I found to be very interesting and very truthful when you think about them.
- Don’t be clever. Yes we all think that funny is a great way to catch people’s attention, however, you run the risk of too many people not “getting it” and thus moving on to a different post.
- Don’t forget about your readers. They want to read something that they care about not something that you care about.
- Don’t ignore your personal style. Many writers headlines can be named before the actual post is even read, this is because they have their own unique style that sticks out like a sore thumb.
- Don’t settle. If you think your headline is good but not great, go back and tweak it a little until it is great.
- Don’t beg for attention. The last thing you want is a headline that screams out “desperate” because that is a sure way to drive your readers away from your post before they even open it.