Headlines used to be easy. Just scan the copy and sum up the contents. Headlines read, “Girls Varsity Basketball Wins Championship” or “Student Council Travels to Washington, D.C.”

Yes, they were easy. They were also dull. We didn’t really need to read the story because the headline told us the most important details.

As headlines have improved over the years, they’ve also gotten harder to create. With a little thought and inspiration, your headlines can be clever, creative and attention-grabbing.

First, let’s talk about why it’s important to have good headlines. Good headlines attract attention, not only with their design but with their content. They have the power to draw the reader into a story they might otherwise ignore. Good headlines also marry the photos and the words on the spread. They provide a visual/verbal link between the most important photo on the spread (the dominant) and the most important words on the spread (the main story).\

Confederate, Lee-Davis HS, Mechanicsville, VAThe angle of the story is homecoming and its first-time attendees. The dominant photo shows a student taking the first taste of cotton candy. There’s the visual/verbal connection. The secondary head links everything together by providing more information: Homecoming night a first for old, new students.

Those attention-getting primary headlines usually contain only a few words — sometimes even just one. Unlike those dull sentence headlines of the past, they often do not give us information about the spread content.

That’s where secondary headlines come in. Our catchy, attention-grabbing headlines need secondary headlines which give us information about the subject of the spread. In addition, just like the primary headline links the dominant photo to the story, the secondary headline links the headline to the story — filling in the information we cannot give in so few words.

It’s important to remember that the primary headline and the secondary headline are two separate pieces of the headline package. A secondary headline is not part of the main headline that is in a smaller font size or a lighter font weight. The secondary headline might read into or out of the primary headline, but the secondary headline is made up of a sentence or sentences that provide more information than the primary headline.

Those sentence headlines of the past came with a lot of style rules. Some don’t apply anymore, but we still need to remember these few guidelines:

 Write with action verbs Write in present tense Use single, not double, quotes when applicable

Forget the periods in primary headlines Avoid abbreviations Avoid labels

Now here’s the secret to creating dynamic, clever, arresting primary headlines: the visual/verbal connection. That’s right. It’s that easy — or that hard.

Here’s how to make that visual/verbal connection. First, read the story. You need to have a clear idea of the focus of the spread and the angle of the story. Next, look at the dominant photo. Brainstorm key words that come to mind when you look at the photo. Sometimes the words are so easy the headline writes itself. Other times it takes a while, a thesaurus, an idioms dictionary and several tries. But isn’t it worth it to make that connection that people think is so intriguing that they have to read the story?

Wanna kick it up a notch?Try some of these techniques...

RHYMINGThis clever headline not only rhymes but it’s a play on words. When we read it, we think of the common phrase “The Dream Team.” Our visual/verbal connection features the reaction of the team as they redeemed themselves. The Hawk, Pleasant Grove HS, Texarkana, TX

POP CULTURE REFERENCESReferences to popular phrases from movies, retro songs and other current cultural phenomena can create headlines that trigger memories. The headline “Don’t mess with the Mohan” plays on a well-recognized phrase from a recent movie.Odyssey, Chantilly HS, Chantilly, VA

ALLITERATIONThis device involves the repetition of beginning sounds of words. Think tongue twisters. Here we have a repetition of the “b” sound in the headline. We have a great visual/verbal connection with the photo of the two men racing to drink from baby bottles. Rampages, Casa Roble HS, Orangevale, CA

PUNS AND WORD PLAYPlaying on the common description mind boggling, this headline makes the visual/verbal connection and changes the headline to “mind goggling.” Westwind, West Henderson HS, Hendersonville, NC

Look at magazines and newspapers for even more ideas of how to take your headlines from “Science Students Conduct Numerous Experiments” to “Mind Goggling.” The interest and attention you generate will make it worth the time and effort.

Contributed by Lynn Strause, Herff Jones Special ConsultantHerff Jones Yearbook Discoverries Volume 14 Issue 3

Why You Should AlwaysWrite Your Headline First

Want to write great headlines and even better content?

Start with the headline first.

You’ll of course have a basic idea for the subject matter of your blog post, article, free report, or sales letter. Then, simply take that basic idea and craft a killer headline before you write a single word of the body content.

Why?

Your headline is a promise to readers. Its job is to clearly communicate the benefit you’ll deliver to the reader in exchange for their valuable time.

Promises tend to be made before being fulfilled. Writing your content first puts you in the position of having to reverse-engineer your promise. Turn it around the other way and you have the benefit of expressly fulfilling the compelling promise you made with the headline, which ultimately helps to keep your content crisp and well-structured.

Trying to fulfill a promise you haven’t made yet is tough, and often leads to a marginal headline. And a poorly-crafted headline allows good deeds to go unnoticed.

What’s the Reward for Reading?

The first thing to keep in mind is that a headline is a promise. It promises some kind of benefit or reward in exchange for attention. That reward could range from an amusing diversion to the solution to a pressing problem.

A good way to make sure your headlines always offer a compelling reward is to use the 4-U approach. This is a copywriting technique taught by AWAI.

Your headlines must:

1. Be USEFUL to the reader,2. Provide him with a sense of URGENCY,3. Convey the idea that the main benefit is somehow UNIQUE; and4. Do all of the above in an ULTRA-SPECIFIC way.

Great Headline Formulas:1. The Secret of [blank]

This one is used quite a bit, but that’s because it works. Share insider knowledge and translate it into a benefit for the reader.

The Secret of Successful Podcasting The Secret of Protecting Your Assets in Litigation The Secret of Getting Your Home Loan Approved

2. Little Known Ways to [blank]

A more intriguing (and less common) way of accomplishing the same thing as “The Secret of…” headline.

Little Known Ways to Save on Your Heating Bill Little Known Ways to Hack Google’s Gmail Little Known Ways to Lose Weight Quickly and Safely

3. [Do something] like [world-class example]

Gatorade milked this one fully with the “Be Like Mike” campaign featuring Michael Jordan in the early 1990s.

Speak Spanish Like a Diplomat Party Like Paris Hilton Blog Like an A-Lister

4. Have a [or] Build a [blank] You Can Be Proud Of

Appeal to vanity, dissatisfaction, or shame. Enough said.

Build a Body You Can Be Proud Of Have a Smile You Can Be Proud Of Build a Blog Network You Can Be Proud Of

5. What Everybody Ought to Know About [blank]

Big curiosity draw with this type of headline, and it acts almost as a challenge to the reader to go ahead and see if they are missing something.

What Everybody Ought to Know About ASP What Everybody Ought to Know About Adjustable Rate Mortgages What Everybody Ought to Know About Writing Great Headlines

6. Give Me [short time period] and I’ll Give You [blank].

This headline promises a strong benefit to the reader, like all good headlines do. But this one is especially effective because it promises to deliver in a very short time period.

Give Me Five Days – And I’ll Give You the Secret of Learning any Subject! Give Me Three Minutes a Day – and I’ll Give You a Better Complexion.

7. If You Don’t [blank] Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later.

We love to belong, but feeling excluded is a real bummer. Whether it be a financial opportunity or the social event of the year, we simply hate it when we get left out.

If You’re Out of the Market Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later. If You’re Not at SXSW 2007, You’ll Hate Yourself Later. If You Don’t Edit Your .htaccess Now, Google Will Hate You Later.

8. The Lazy [blank’s] Way to [blank].

This headline has always worked well with time-pressured people, and that’s certainly true for most people today. No one likes to think of themselves as lazy, but everyone likes to save time and effort.

The Lazy Man’s Way to Riches. The Lazy Dad’s Way to Quickly Getting Dinner on the Table. The Lazy Blogger’s Way to Write Great Post Titles.

9. Do You Recognize the [number] Early Warning Signs of [blank]?

OK, technically this is still a list, but it’s wrapped up in a much more compelling structure than your typical “Top 10” article. People want to avoid problems, and this headline promises the critical tips before it’s too late.

Do You Recognize the 7 Early Warning Signs of High Blood Pressure? Do You Recognize the 7 Early Warning Signs of an Employee Meltdown?

10. You Don’t Have to Be [something challenging] to be [desired result].

People almost always have preconceived notions about things, and this can be a barrier to taking action. Remove the barrier that stands between them and the desired result with your headline, and people will flock to read what you have to say.

You Don’t Have to Be Rich to Retire on a Guaranteed Income for Life. You Don’t Have to Be a Geek to Make Money Online.

11. Warning: [blank].

If you’ve read this far, I guess it still works. Starting a headline with the word warning will almost always catch attention, but it’s what you say next that will determine how well it works for your particular content.

Warning: If You Depend on Google for Both Traffic and Advertising, You Pretty Much Work for Google

Warning: Two Out of Every Three People in Your Industry Will be Out of Work in 5 Years—Will You Be One of Them?

Warning: Do You Recognize These 7 Early Warning Signs of Blogger Burnout?

12. How [blank] Made Me [blank].

Use this structure when relating a personal story. The key to the most effective use of this template is for the two blanks to dramatically contrast, so that the curiosity factor goes way up and people feel compelled to read more.

How a “Fool Stunt” Made Me a Star Salesman How an Obvious Idea Made Me $3.5 Million

13. Are You [blank]?

A nice use of the question headline, designed to catch attention with curiosity or a challenge to the reader. Don’t be afraid to be bold with this one.

Are You Ashamed of Smells in Your House? Are You Ready to Learn Chinese for Your Next Job?

14. [Blank] Ways to [blank].

One of the best list structures, because it’s really a “how to” headline enhanced by specificity that either impresses the prospective reader with how many tips you’ve got, or at minimum let’s them know exactly what to expect.

101 Ways to Cope With Stress 21 Ways to Live a Better Life With Less

The Eminem Guide to Becoming a Writing and Marketing Machine

by Sean Platt · 193 Comments

Ten years back, my soon-to-be wife, Cindy, and I first noticed the bombarding beat for Marshall Mather’s “My Name Is.”

“What an idiot,” I said as the two of us sat to watch the Grammies a year later. “It’s sad he can sell so many records just by being vile. Really, how much talent can that possibly take?”

“Have you heard the record?” Cindy asked.

“No,” I admitted. “But I’ve heard enough to know he’s an idiot.”

She pursed her lips in silence as I stuttered through a series of half-articulated examples — the criticisms of others slipping through the filter of my voice. Unlike me, she was withholding judgment of the music until she’d heard more of it.

“You know if you listen to the album you’ll be a lot more entitled to an opinion, right?”

My wife has taught me, and continues to teach me, more than anyone else.

The next day I bought the Slim Shady LP along with the newly minted Marshall Mathers album. I then spent the next few months in a new sort of aural awe.

I’m not sure what my expectations were, but they certainly weren’t to meet a man who would murder my preconceptions of the alphabet.

Though I’ve always been drawn to great lyricists and songwriters, I’d never heard anyone able to effectively indulge satire, rage, sorrow, shame, guilt, regret, power, passion, loneliness, bravado, stupidity, genius, leadership, idiocy, misogyny, sympathy and, believe it or not, tender

compassion. And Eminem was doing it in a stream of pentameter that would, I’m certain, cause William Shakespeare to shudder.

Plus, the dude is a brilliant storyteller.

Eminem is a lyrical sniper with a shotgun, and vents more in a few hundred words than many are able to effectively communicate in pages of copy. When I listen to an Eminem record, I’m hearing a man who cares about every single syllable and the exact tone of its delivery.

This isn’t to say all his songs are good. In fact, each album has a handful of songs I find both repugnant and unendurable. Yet they are always peppered against gems of absolute genius.

Eminem is a complicated artist, and could easily provoke pages of arguments on his positives, negatives and overall impact on our culture for better or worse. But as a writer and marketer, few can touch what he’s managed to accomplish.

Meaning that if we pay attention, there’s plenty to learn.

What Eminem can teach you about writing

1) Write and read all you can

Eminem started writing while just a child, constantly sanding the rough edges of his craft, knowing without doubt that the only thing that would get him out of the trailer park and into a better life was furious effort and endless practice.

Eminem familiarized himself with the greats until storytelling was as natural as drawing breath. He may have started by imitating the pioneers who came before him, but Eminem soon blended their legacy into his own brew that was like nothing else.

2) Edit ruthlessly

Eminem’s best tracks harbor some of the tightest writing I’ve seen in any medium. One has to wonder just how long he spends on each song, considering how securely each syllable is cemented in place.

Not only can Eminem craft a compelling argument in prose, he can also structure it in a way that would dazzle Dr. Seuss, not only by rhyming words that shouldn’t rhyme, but by packing more poetry into a verse than should be technically possible. Only fastidious editing can pull the written word so taut.

3) Write what you know

One of the things that makes Eminem so polarizing is that his message flies from mind to mic with only the thinnest filter in between. Listening to his music is like tuning into a live therapy

session that would make Tony Soprano seem stable by comparison. It’s easy to believe that is Eminem speaking directly from his heart and unique set of experiences.

4) Start strong and finish stronger

The best of Em’s songs achieve something rare in commercially produced music — they realize a powerful climax prior to their conclusion. Many of Eminem’s songs are written as arguments, and it’s usually in his third verse when he drives his point home, often with a lyrical sledgehammer.

5) Be concise and use powerful sentences

Eminem pares his arguments down to the marrow. His intuitive sense of flow allows him to seamlessly drift from the measured cadence of ordinary speech to an unrivaled intensity of verse, but it is always the power of his writing which enables him to drive his point home with such precision.

“I was playing in the beginning, the mood all changed. I been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage. But I kept rhyming and stepwritin the next cypher, best believe somebody’s paying the pied piper

“See I’m a poet to some, a regular modern day Shakespeare. To shatter the picture in which of that as they paint me, as a monger of hate and Satan — a scatter-brained atheist. But that ain’t the case, see it’s a matter of taste. We as a people decide if Shady’s as bad as they say he is. Or is he the latter — a gateway to escape? Media scapegoat, who they can be mad at today . . . “

“How much damage can you do with a pen? Man, I’m just as messed up as you woulda been if you woulda been, in my shoes, who woulda thought, Slim Shady would be something that you woulda bought? “

Eminem is complicated and undeniably controversial, and though his critics would correctly point out that his music is filled with hate and vitriol, few of them seem to acknowledge that he is also manipulating his own material, taking his arguments to such ridiculous extremes that he turns them into farce.

Love him or hate him, the man known as Eminem has proven that he’s an important force in both modern music and culture. You don’t have to like his lyrics or his message to learn something from him. I’m grateful for the day my wife wondered out loud if I really knew what I was talking about.

About the Author: Sean Platt is a direct response copywriter and independent publisher. Follow him on Twitter.

How Twitter Makes You A Better Writerby Jennifer Blanchard · 284 Comments

By now you’ve most likely joined Twitter (and if you haven’t, you need to, pronto!). Twitter is not only a great place for businesses and marketers, but it’s also a great place to spruce up your writing skills.

Yes. You read that correctly.

Twitter can make you a better writer. Here’s how.

Twitter forces you to be concise

If you’ve ever used Twitter, you know that you have 140 characters to say whatever you want to say. Now keep in mind, I didn’t say 140 words—or even 140 letters—I said 140 characters.

That’s not a lot of room. Letters, numbers, symbols, punctuation and spaces all count as characters on Twitter.

What all of this means is, you have to be concise. You have to know exactly what you want to say, and say it in as few words as possible.

Many writers, however, are “wordy” and often have long, drawn out descriptions and sentences, so it can be pretty difficult to create a message that’s only 140 characters.

Here’s where Twitter comes in again.

Twitter forces you to exercise your vocabulary

Since you only have 140 characters to get your message across, you’re forced to dust off your dictionary and thesaurus and find new words to use—Words that are shorter, words that are more descriptive, and words that get the job done in 140 characters or less.

Crafting a message for Twitter requires you to “pump up” your verbs (replacing adverbs and adjectives with them), and discover a better, clearer and more concise way to say what you want to say.

Now most people won’t hit 140 characters right away. No, they’ll end up with 160 or 148 characters to start out with (Twitter tells you how many characters you need to remove to make your message fit).

This is the final way that Twitter makes you a better writer.

Twitter forces you to improve your editing skills

Every writer needs to be able to edit their work. And by using Twitter, you can really hone your editing skills and make them top-notch.

It’s almost like playing a game; trying to write a 140-character message and still get your point across in a way that inspires your followers to take action, to click on your link or to “retweet” your post.

I like to think of it as a brainteaser, forcing me to think hard and dig deep down into my vocabulary to find a way to shorten my message.

I’ve been using Twitter since January, and my writing skills have not only improved, but I’ve been writing better copy as well.

Yet another reason you should be using Twitter. Not that you needed one.

About the Author: Jennifer Blanchard is a creative and effective copywriter. Her blog, Procrastinating Writers, offers writing advice, motivation and inspiration for writers who procrastinate.