Aside from the overall appearance (emphasizing the importance of a first impression), nothing screams “amateur” like a poorly written headline. The vast majority of your newsletter’s readers will scan the newsletter and read the headlines first. I can’t overstate the importance of writing good headlines.  

A well-written headline will tell the reader what the point of the article is. Your headlines need to contain positive, strong action words – the shorter and simpler, the better. 

Unfortunately, I see too many writers try to be cute or clever when writing headlines. Many of our major metropolitan newspapers do so every day – perhaps giving the impression that this is acceptable! Let me remind you that you have but a few seconds to grab the attention of your readers and make them want to read your newsletter. I strongly believe that 99 percent of the time, “cute” will not close the sale. 

Here are three things that a headline should do:

Grab Attention – Simply put, the headline must stop the readers in their tracks and cause them to read further.Tell the Story – A well-written headline tells readers right away what a story is about.   Enhance the Page – The headlines on a page should all work together to help you close the sale. In this case, the “sale” is merely getting your readers to agree that giving up five or ten minutes of their time to read your newsletter is a worthwhile decision. 
 
Here are five tips to help you write great headlines:

1. Use active voice.
2. Use present tense.
3. Use short, descriptive words.
4. Make positive statements.
5. Avoid abbreviations and jargon. 

Finally, you may want to avoid using consistent headlines for recurring articles, instead varying the headlines according to the theme. For example, if you must have a “President’s Column” or something equivalent, change the headline with each issue to reflect the important message of the individual article. Learn more about this topic in my book, Newsletter Secrets Revealed – How to Use a Newsletter to Make Your Profits Soar.

Posted by Jim Palmer, The Newsletter Guru and is filed under content, newsletter tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.