The Art and Science of Great Headlines Caroline Howard & Miguel Morales, January 2015.

The Art and Scienceof Great Headlines

Caroline Howard & Miguel Morales, January 2015

http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html

Own It! You Are A Forbes Contributor

• In most cases, the answer is… YOU ARE AN EXPERT. Aim to be CENTRAL to the conversation on your beat/topic.•That starts with the headline.

• You Your blog readers, social followers• Channel Editors Channel readers• Homepage Editors Forbes readers• Social Media Editors Forbes followers on

Twitter, FB, LinkedIn , etc. • Search (Google, Bing)• Syndication Partners (Yahoo, MSN, Comcast)

**Pssst: It’s all of them

Who’s Your Audience?**

ttp:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html

Importance of the Headline

Before After % ChangeAbbot 795 2,995 +277%Nintendo 188 321 +71%

• Abbott Ditches Its Drug Business

Amputation May Improve Abbott’s Prognosis

• Nintendo Projects First-Ever Annual Loss

Sorry, Nintendo, But Another Zelda’s Not Gonna Cut It

Visits 1hr before and 1hr after headline rewrite

Best Time To Write A Headline

• BEFOREAdvantage: Helps structure + frame postDisadvantage: Haven’t written the piece yet

• AFTERAdvantage: Summation of completed postDisadvantage: None

• BOTH: That’s the ticket

TAKEAWAY: Headlines Are NOT An Afterthought!

Make Bold Statements

-- Speak with Authority and Clarity

Do #1

You are an expert. Write like one. Set readers up for a strong authoritative piece. Keep it simple.

Hot Take: The Ebola Treatment You Haven’t Heard Of

Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ Could Be The Last Platinum Album Ever

Bill Gates Just Revealed His Goal For The Rest Of His Life

What I Learned About Health Care When My Cat Died


Be Conversational

Do #2

Think relaxed, informal. Leave readers wondering: “And then what…?”

Whirlpool: 5000 Jobs Going Down The Drain

Is The TSA Cool With Your Pot?

Take Food Nannies With A Grain Of Salt

Amazon Releases Diversity Numbers For The First Time And Surprise, It’s Mostly White And Male

Why Giving Away $100M Is Harder Than You’d Think

Wait, Did This 15-Year-Old From Maryland Just Change Cancer Treatment?

Be Unexpected, Contrarian**

Do #3

The King Of Online Gambling (Is 34)

The Curious Comeback Of U.S. Downtowns

Think Like A Woman And Make More Money

Manufacturing Jobs Aren’t Coming Back, And That’s OK

Even Your Unborn Child Can Have A Social Media Presence

Neil Young’s Pono Finally Launches, But Will Anyone Care?

**WARNING!! Don’t use this style headline if you can’t back it up


Use Active, Muscular Words

Do #4

Why be weak when you can be strong? Active voice, strong words are way more interesting

Alibaba Rescues Slumping Luxury Brands In China

Buy It Like BuffettOriginal: 5 Undervalued “Quality” Stocks That Reflect Track Record of Buffett’s Portfolio

The Billionaires Betting On Internet Gambling

Piping Hot: Domino’s Surges On Pizza Growth

Keep Eyes and Ears on News

Do #5

• What Will Define Yellen’s Fed Term?• Holiday Surprise: J.C. Penney Logs Robust Sales• The Money On The Line In College Football’s

Champsionship Game• Meet The Italian Billionaire Calling The Shots At

Walgreen• Baseball Will Have Big Jersey To Fill With Jeter

Retiring

Don't Be Vague or Elusive or

Too General (Keep It Simple)

Don’t #1

• Yen Pin• Necessity’s Child• Here Are Your Best Ideas• Leaders Apologize• The Truth About Your Problems• Yahoo Should’ve Bought BuzzFeed, Not Tumblr

And The Seven Dwarfs Of Acqui-Hires• Brazil’s 2016 Olympics• Iniquity, Irresponsibility, And/Or Incentives?


Don’t Be Overly Clever / Personal

Don’t #2

• Social Media Switches Me Off• Her Car Broke Down And Her Career Took Off• Hands On With Samsung’s 110-inch 8K Glasses-

Free 3D TV. AKA My Head Hurts• 50 Shades Of Business School Admissions Grey• Woops...There Seems to Be Some Contagion This

Morning• The Worst And Best Advice I've Ever Gotten• How Hewlett-Packard Proved Me Right


Don't Curse, Use Unnecessary Superlatives

Or Slang

Don’t #3

• The New SAP Store for Mobile Apps: Yep, It's Kind of a Big Deal• Bundling. Brands. And Big Ass Fans• Investors Diss Twitter, But Career Climbers

Shouldn’t • Memo To The CEO: Price War? Let’s Not Join In• As Scotland Mulls Independence, A Stupid

London Plays It Dirty• @GSElevator: More Kids Should Skip College


Don't Write Overly Long Headlines

Don’t #4

Think tweet-ability + *no more* than 100 characters

• What Are Examples of Things In The Common Knowledge About History That Historians Almost Universally Consider Incorrect?

• How Pharmaceutical Companies Can Help Take The ‘Neglected' Out Of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)

• After One Of Kidnapped Israeli Teens Phoned Police, They Were Ordered To Lower Heads, Then Shot By Hamas Terrorists

*

Don’t Use Jargon or SAT Words

Don’t #5

• Steve Jobs’ Deification Serves As A Basic And Fundamental Human Need• EHR Vendors Risk Decertification For Hindering

Interoperability• Citigroup Stockholder Wins Expungement Even

Though Customer Pays a Settlement• Belgian Study Supports Use of FFR to Guide

Therapy in Intermediate LAD Lesions

FORBES Style

• Use serial caps: First Letter Of Every Word• Do not use ALL CAPS• Limit punctuation: including !!!, ???, colons,

semi-colons• Do not include tickers (Apple, not AAPL)• No BREAKING or EXCLUSIVE (or variations)• Single ‘quotes’ rather than double “quotes”• Do not use first person: I or We• M for millions ($24M), B for billions ($52B)

FORBES Style Pt 2

NO EXCUSES for poor grammar and typos. • Write in Word and using spell-check. • Use grammar sites on Web, such as

@GrammarGirl, for questions such as affect vs. effect

• Refer to primary sources for names, companies, products: Buffett, not Buffet

• Read out loud


A Few Thoughts On Numbers + ListiclesThe Internet loves them. But if that’s all you can do, you’re not trying

hard enough. It’s just one way to tell a story.

• Mentally Strong People: The 13 Things They Avoid

• 7 Crippling Parenting Behaviors That Keep Children From Growing Into Leaders

• 20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don’t Get

• How Entrepreneurs Avoid Downfall: The One Essential Ingredient


The Q* & A, “How” And “Why” Headline

• Are Grocery Stores Doomed? Study Shows More Shoppers Are Buying Food At Target, Walmart, Pharmacies• Why The Definition Of A Platinum Album Needs To Change

In 2014• How Obamacare Helped CVS Kick The Habit• Why Low-Income Students Have The Most To Gain From

The SAT

Betteridge’s law states: “Any headlines ending in a question can be answered by the word no.”

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• What search queries will readers use to find your article?

• Use these keywords, be descriptive (Remember Don’t #1: Don’t Be Vague)

• Don’t try to trick (don’t stuff keywords / false advertise)

• Follow DOs & DON’Ts to improve SEO

SERP – Search Engine Results Page

Google displays 65 headline characters (with spaces)

Before You Press Publish, Ask Yourself…

Do I have something to say that matters?

Will my community and competitors want to read?

Retweet? Comment? Blog about?

What am I adding to the online conversation?

The Art and Science of Great Headlines Caroline Howard & Miguel Morales, January 2015.

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