Headlines
I just read about drawing readers by writing good headlines. The gist of the article is that if the headline is good, it will attract interest. We are also told that if a headline attracts interest, it is good.
I dont know if all that is true or not. Or if it works. My posts dont have headlines. They have titles. I always thought a good title was one that accurately described the content of the post. There was no goodness weighed on its attention getting ability, just on how well it described the content.
An attention getting title in front of a boring article is just going to make the reader angry. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. If reader dissapointment is extreme or if the reader thinks he has been fooled, he may remember who did it and not allow that to happen again.
Then you have the case of a really good title (or headline) with equally valuable content but it is only of value to a small percentage of the reader base.
My take on titles (headlines) is that they are not all that important. They take care of themselves as long as the writer focuses on good content and the title accurately announces that content. Finding content that has universal appeal is difficult to do.
How about ‘FREE MONEY‘? Talk about universal appeal? Go ahead, dont be chicken. Click on the link.