headline writing

In the days when articles were on physical paper, headlines appeared in large type directly above the content. They were written to capture the essence of the story and, frequently, amuse with clever wordplay. While a newspaper’s main headline was written, in part, to sell copies, article headlines served to get you to read, or start reading, the article.

What’s one of the most simple traffic building tools that even most top bloggers don’t use? Surprisingly, few bloggers take advantage of the ability to target a separate headline for people browsing the site and people searching via Google, Bing, etc..

Should you spend as much time polishing the few words of your headline as on the hundreds of words that comprise your news article or blog post? The answer may well be, “Yes!” according to a new study by OTOInsights. In an unusual combination of neuromarketing and social media research, the firm looked at how users responded to Digg entries using eye-tracking and physiological signals (heart rate, breath rate, body temperature, skin conductance) as well as traditional survey methods. What users focused on, and what they mostly ignored, make interesting reading:

by: Ilya Vedrashko

I remembered a great quote from an old colleague of mine: "The web is the only medium in which you must create content which impresses machines." This is especially true for headlines, and, increasingly, not only blog headlines.
With online versions of traditional newspapers adding Digg Me
buttons and incorporating automated contextual advertising and other