Web Strategy and Development Blog

3 simple tips for improving your headlines

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Strong headlines are vital. They’re the billboards for your content.

Consider the classic 80-20 rule. For every 10 people who find your headline, eight will read the headline but only two will read the content.

Strong headlines entice your audience to keep reading.

You write headlines for many things: websites, articles and blogs, emails, social media and more.

Here are three basic tips for headline writing.

Know your audience, purpose and platform

Who are you writing for? What’s important to them? Why would your content interest them? Nick Usborne asks these questions, and others, as a starting basis in his Udemy course for headline writing.

If you know these answers, it’s easier to connect your audience with your content.

Audience/purpose: Your audience wants to know what’s in it for them. What will they get from reading your content?

Quality headlines suggest a benefit or gain.

Take the title of this blog post, for example. A very small time commitment (reading three simple tips) for a valuable outcome (improving your headlines).

Platform: Adjust your tone and style for the platform. Writing for alumni on Facebook is different than writing for current students on Twitter or Instagram.

Give direction or request action, but be brief

Guide your audience.

When we write headlines for the university homepage, we’re trying to get you to do something. We aren’t just making announcements or posting news releases.

Homepage of missouristate.edu showing featurette examples

These headlines typically begin with a verb or one of the five Ws: who, what, when, where and why, along with how. We want to give you an action to take, or help you learn about something.

Favor brevity and know your platform. Verbs are your friend. Long headlines with complex words are not.

Practice, practice, practice

Your first version of a headline won’t be your best headline. Try again. And again. And then maybe a few more times.

Upworthy writes 25 versions of a headline for each article. Try it.

Short on time? Even if you only write a dozen potential options, you’ll come up with a more effective headline than that first version.

In summary

There are many more tips for good headline writing not mentioned here.

Google “Tips for better headline writing” and you’ll have an endless amount of insight.

But these three tips should give you a start for improving your headlines.

3 tools to improve your writing

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How do you give your writing power and meaning?

With readability.

Your writing carries more impact if more people can understand it.

Using Microsoft Word’s spelling and grammar checker isn’t enough.

These online tools can improve the readability of your writing.

Hemingway App

Screen shot of HemingwayApp.com website
Hemingway App shows you words and sentences to fix for better writing.

This app was a hit at our recent digital training session. Count me as a fan, too.

I love Hemingway App’s simplicity. Visit the website, copy/paste your text and have your writing evaluated. Boom.

No downloads, sign-ups or registration. Only action. Perfect.

Hemingway App catches complicated sentences and words, adverbs and passive voice. You receive a readability grade (aim for the 5th-8th grade range). Gauge your progress as you go.

Hemingway App’s full desktop version ($19.99) goes more in-depth. You’ll have options like publishing, exporting and offline use.

But for most, the no-frills free version offers plenty.

Yoast SEO

Screenshot of Yoast SEO readability analysis.
Yoast SEO evaluates your content’s readability and SEO. Select the “Keyword” tab for SEO.

If you have a Missouri State blog, you use WordPress.com. This handy plug-in gives you the SEO benefits that Hemingway App does not.

Yoast SEO previews your content on a Google search result. It helps you strengthen a targeted keyword.

An analysis spots SEO issues to improve or address. Yoast SEO is a great way to improve your blog’s Google search rankings.

Yoast SEO improves readability as well. Use the “eye” icon to identify which specific areas are strong or need improvement.

You’ll find some readability measures that aren’t available in Hemingway App:

Like Hemingway App, Yoast SEO offers a premium version. We recommend trying the free version, first.

Story Toolz: Readability

Screen shot of Story Toolz: Readability results.
Check the structure and formatting of your writing with Story Toolz: Readability analysis.

Crunch your numbers, err, writing with this tool.

Copy and paste your content into Story Toolz’ text box. Select the “Check Readability” button and look through the results.

It rates your content in four areas: reading levels, sentence information, word usage and sentence beginnings.

Story Toolz: Readability isn’t as interactive as Hemingway App or Yoast SEO. But it’s helpful if you want to get into the specifics of your writing.

By the way, Hemingway App rated this blog post at a 6th grade reading level. That’s your sweet spot for readability.

Maximize the potential of websites, blogs and social media

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Writing for the Web

If you’re in charge of a website, blog, social media platform — or all three — you’ve likely asked the following questions:

  • What do users want my website, blog or social media to provide?
  • How do I organize content on my website so that users can find the information they want?
  • What should I be communicating on a website vs. a blog? How do the two relate?
  • How do I repurpose my website and blog content and distribute it on social media?
  • What can I do immediately to make my digital communications more strategic?

The office of Web and new media is offering a free, interactive training session that will address each of these questions. The workshop will also provide tips and techniques that can be implemented right away in order to make your digital communications more efficient and effective.

A session of Short and Snappy: Writing for the Digital World will be held on Oct. 28Workshop details

Who should attend

This session is open to University faculty, staff and student employees who are responsible for University websites, blogs or social media accounts.

Free registration

Registration is requested via My Learning Connection (on the Profile tab of My Missouri State).

 

Highlights from Confab Central Conference

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Confab StageIn May 2015, Lucie Amberg, Nicki Donnelson and Courtney Wendel-Stevenson traveled to the Confab Central conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The conference focused on content strategy, writing for the web, web design and technology. Keynote speakers included Jonathon Colman from Facebook, bestselling author Anne Lamott and Gerry McGovern from Customer Carewords.

You may view presentation slides and watch recordings of select sessions.

Courtney’s takeaways

  • The work we produce needs to be customer centric, rather than organization focused. Specifically, we need to work to understand our audiences and their needs, then create content that meets those needs.
  • Creating a culture of openness is crucial to creating teams that are collaborative and empathetic to their clients. Outwardly empathetic teams are characterized by their authentic desire to understand their clients’ needs. This better positions them to ask the right questions in order to uncover latent problems, for which they can deliver creative solutions.
  • Managing feedback is challenging, but knowing how to approach it can help make your work more successful. Some of Margo Stern’s tips:
    • Grounding your content in context is crucial. When you submit content for review, provide context to give reviewers a better framework of understanding. Otherwise, it’s anyone’s game.
    • Rank stakeholders. Know whose feedback is most important and revise thoughtfully.
    • When given challenging directives, ask the person: “Can you tell me more about the problem you’re trying to solve?”
    • If 85% of your work makes it, that’s pretty good. Let the last 15% go.
  • View Courtney’s #ConfabMN Twitter feed.

Nicki’s takeaways:

  • Project management takes time. If you don’t have time to plan, you don’t have time for the project.
    • Budget for it, round up, then add 20% to the total project time. This sets you up for a realistic plan for success.
    • Check out tools like TeamGantt
  • Marketing should be about differentiation.
    • What makes you better/different?
    • Talk about how that fulfills a need – hopefully in an emotional, storytelling style – to help move your audience to action.
    • Don’t feature dump.
  • Ask yourself: What is the basic group of things we can do to make a change? Start there.
    • Don’t wait until it can be done perfectly.
    • Good design today is better than great design tomorrow.
  • View Nicki’s #ConfabMN Twitter feed.

Lucie’s takeaways:

  • Watch out for the “cult of volume.” Many organizations are generating and distributing too much content, and such excessive content creates a barrier to effective content.
    • When working with clients, start by identifying what the target audience needs. Then help the client develop content that meets those needs.
    • Take a minimalist approach – which isn’t the same as simply shortening text. Minimal content is as long as necessary to meet your audience’s needs and to accomplish your purpose. But no longer.
    • Check out Marcia Riefer Johnston on Writing Tight(er)
  • Be wary of over explaining.
    • Attention spans are decreasing while competition for our audience’s attention is increasing.
    • Stay slightly ahead of your audience; otherwise you risk losing their attention.
  • View Lucie’s #ConfabMN Twitter feed.

Maximize the potential of websites, blogs and social media

by

Writing for the Web

If you’re in charge of a website, blog, social media platform — or all three — you’ve likely asked the following questions:

  • What do users want my website, blog or social media to provide?
  • How do I organize content on my website so that users can find the information they want?
  • What should I be communicating on a website vs. a blog? How do the two relate?
  • How do I repurpose my website and blog content and distribute it on social media?
  • What can I do immediately to make my digital communications more strategic?

The office of Web and new media is offering a free, interactive training session that will address each of these questions. The workshop will also provide tips and techniques that can be implemented right away in order to make your digital communications more efficient and effective.

A session of Short and Snappy: Writing for the Digital World will be held on Oct. 28Workshop details

Who should attend

This session is open to University faculty, staff and student employees who are responsible for University websites, blogs or social media accounts.

Free registration

For faculty and staff, registration is required via My Learning Connection (on the Profile tab of My Missouri State). Student employees who wish to attend should email Lucie Amberg.