Let's face it, the headline is...the envelope, the tweet, the forward-along and the subject line.
It's the moment of truth when your audience either gets engaged, or moves on.
That's why this quicklist of 10 questions to ask while writing a headline is worth a read:
- Is the headline accurate?
- Does it work out of context?
- How compelling a promise does it make?
- How easy is it to parse?
- Could it benefit from a number?
- Are all the words necessary?
- Does it obey the Proper Noun Rule?
- Would it work better as an explanatory headline?
- Does it focus on events or implications?
- Could it benefit from one of these 10 words? Top, Why, How, Will, New, Secret, Future, Your, Best, Worst.
via poynter.org
