You probably saw Gray Wolfs article on How to Get Your Non Tech Site into Digg about a month ago when it came out.
One thing he almost touched on was the proper use of headlines. Ever notice how many articles that are delicious or dugg have headlines that resemble what you would see on magazine covers? I noticed while standing in the airport and looking over magazine covers that there is a commonality between the headlines on magazines designed to get you to buy/read them and a successfully written blog headline.
Essentially, you want to write headlines that grab peoples attention and scream “this article will be interesting AND helpful to you.” Shock value and mystery also come in handy. Examples include-
1. Top ten Ways to . . . .
2. Beginners Guide to . . .
3. How to Make more money by . . .
4. These Geeks Nail Hot Babes . . . Here’s How
5. The dangers of . . .
The key is to grab peoples attention, and then fufill there expectation in the article. I know this type of headline is sensational and may not appeal to the intelectual in you. But think of it as a game and the one with the most readers, wins.
If you’re stuck, look at the headlines on magazine covers. Cosmo, Maxam, GQ . . . you name it. They are all experts at writing headlines that grab readers and sell magazines.
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. What will work in Blogging is the same thing that has worked for newspapers and magazines for the last 100 years.
