Headline writing is an art, they say.
But it’s partly a science too. And as headline writing becomes a more important part of PR, it’s a skill that we could do with brushing up on. If we’re honest, many of us are a bit cack at it (I speak, of course, not of myself) and when we’re put on the spot and asked what a good headline for a story would be, we trundle through a lengthy, flaccid sentence that would make a sub-editor’s eyes roll.
Headlines are meant to entice the reader to read or view the rest of the content. They’re one of the main reasons why people click on links to stories, to blog posts or to content touted using social media. The problem most PRs have with them is that they try to make the headline a single-sentence summary of the story. Which it isn’t.
So what makes a good headline? Well some, particularly those dripping with puns, are simply brilliant because they’re so brilliantly simple. Others draw in readers with ambiguity or the promise of dirt. Some make brash claims, some go large on intrigue, some on smut. Some are just wierd.
Some I remember from my days in journalism are just a bit bonkers and speak for themselves.
Pub that used to be a funeral home may be haunted? ‘Bier, whines and spirits’.
WPC who used to be a PC pursues an unfair dismissal claim? ‘No-nobby bobby loses jobby’
And a favourite from the Currant Bun some years ago, for a story that HM The Queen and her husband had apparently taken to speaking in Liverpudlian accents to each other over the breakfast table: ‘Scouse of Windsor’.
Headline writing cannot be taught as such, it’s a skill that must be learned on the job from others who’re good at it. Here are some top tips for PRs wanting to perk theirs up:
- ‘Keep it tight, bright and right’ (courtesy of a picture editor I used to work with, applied to pics too
- Always use it to flirt with the reader so they’re left wanting more (i.e. the main body of the story)
- Use short words
- Headlines do not have to be written in good English nor, necessarily, make sense. That is not their purpose
- More than 10 words is always too long.
- Do not be subtle or obscure. And if you have a pun, use it, providing it’s not so overused that it will be a turn-off. Flaunt thy copy, baby
- Use the present tense: you’re touting news, as in an actuality, not a history lesson or some fanciful future-gazing
- Avoid ‘bad breaks’ between the first and second line, so for example is the last word of the first line and first word of the second line as the crux of the headline/story. It must not just read well, it must look good too
- Use at least one emotive word, providing you back up that fact or contention in the main copy
- The inverted comma is an ally: use it to bolster the editorial value of the main copy – it is window dressing, it is the equivalent of showing a little too much leg, but go for it
And finally, a question I get asked a lot: is there any difference between headlines for newspapers, magazines, online stories, blog posts and other forms of editorial copy?
No. Apart from too many online news headlines are crap, driven by search desires rather than editorial potency ones.
Actually, one more question: are British headline writers the very best in the entire world bar none?
Yes.
