Learn how to write effective news headlines

Learn how to write effective news headlines.

1. Writing Effective Headlines

2. What is a headline? • A headline is an abstract sentence • Usually it is only five to ten words • It is a complete thought • It has a subject and a verb, and often an object The goal is to grab the reader • Ask yourself this question as you compose a headline: If people see my five to ten words, will they know what the article is about? • It's not hard to find examples of headlines that answer that question in the negative. Sure, they may have a couple of words that point to a subject, but they don't answer what's it about.

3. Learn the functions of a headline. A successful headline has four very important jobs to accomplish: • Get attention • Select an audience • Deliver a complete message • Draw the reader into the body copy Most people skim-read, so your headline has only an instant to capture your reader's attention.

4. Your headline is the first, and perhaps only, impression you make on a prospective reader. Without a compelling promise that turns a browser into a reader, the rest of your words may as well not even exist. So, from a copywriting and content standpoint, writing great headlines is a critical skill.

5. Some interesting statistics: On average, eight out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only two out of 10 will read the rest. This is the secret to the power of your title, and why it so highly determines the effectiveness of the entire piece. So it’s fairly obvious that if people stop at the headline, you’re already dead in the water.

6. Most important rule • The words in a headline must represent accurately what is in the story. Accuracy counts above all else. What to do? • Understand the story completely before writing its headline. • Base the headline on the story's main idea, which should be in the introduction. • Don't use in the headline facts that are not in the story. • Don't repeat the exact wording of the story in the headline.

7. Word choices • Be specific, accurate, clear and concise. • Don't repeat key words in the same headline. • Avoid unclear or little known names, phrases and abbreviations. • Alliteration should be intentional and not change the general tone of the story.

8. Verbs • No headline should start with a verb. • Headlines are complete sentences or imply complete sentences. • If a story is about present events, write present tense verbs. • If a story is about future events, use the infinitive verb (to leave, to work). • To be verbs, such as is, are, was and were should be avoided.

9. Punctuation • Use punctuation sparingly. • Don't eat up space with the conjunction and . Instead, use a comma. Principal and parents meet on school rules for next year Better: Principal, parents agree on new school rules Grammar • Don't use the articles a, an and the. They waste space unnecessarily. A new fire engine helps make the houses safer Better: New fire engine helps make houses safer

10. Web headlines • As with any news story, a strong headline is vital for a web story. • Headlines often are found in lists of links, where they are a reader's first introduction to a story. If they do not sell a reader on the story immediately, the reader is unlikely to click the link to navigate to the story. • SEO is search engine optimization. SEO is search engine optimization. Search engines favour coherent headlines. Your headlines can be essential to search engine optimisation, which draws traffic to your website.

11. Thousands of dead fish have washed up over the past week in a lagoon in Rio de Janeiro that will host rowing and canoeing events at next year's Olympic Games.

12. Sea of dead fish clogs Olympic waterway

13. A student spent five months chasing compensation after a driving collision involving the boss of AA Smartfuel.

14. Student wins compo over crash

15. Jeremy Clarkson has revealed that he thought he probably had cancer at the time he hit a Top Gear producer.

16. Jeremy Clarkson recalls cancer scare 

17. A family who fled a religious sect are thriving in the outside world, ironically thanks to skills learnt in their former, heavily-structured lifestyle.

18. Gloriavale escapees thriving in outside world

19. The British music scene could be on the verge of a return to the Britpop battles of the 1990s after rumours emerged that  Oasis  could be planning to reform.

20. Oasis to reform, definitely maybe

21. Star Wars creator George Lucas has announced plans to set aside 50 acres of his California ranch to build hundreds of homes for poor Americans. The reason? His neighbours in one of America's priciest areas blocked plans for a film studio there.

22. George Lucas strikes back – at neighbours

23. Firefighters have been stretched tackling a series of gorse fires across North Wales over the weekend.

24. Crews tackle gorse fires across North Wales

25. A woman was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight last week after a man claimed she had "stabbed" him with a pen for snoring.

26. Passenger 'stabs' snoring man on flight