Write Better Headlines

Deane Barker • October 17, 2007 •

Killer Web Content Examples: Gerry McGovern conducted an experiment in order to determine what headlines and summaries work best:

People were asked to scan 31 headings and 18 summaries about a particular subject and then quickly choose the one that stood out for them.

The winners where short and punchy. For example:

Winner: “Tons of tunes” at 22 percent
Loser: “Apple’s Music Store breaks the [mold] and sells technology” at 0 percent

The pattern was clear:

[…] Your website is not a murder mystery. It is certainly not a place for we-we content. Short, sharp, second person and active; that’s web content. Get to the point. Then stop.

All the content management in the world doesn’t matter if no one is reading it. The headline might be your only hook.