3 Comments

ReveNews Reader Mail: Your Headlines Suck

Jan 6, 2007
by

I’ve been meaning to start talking about reader email for almost two years now, but I just never got around to it. I LOVE reader email. It’s great, good or bad, send it my way. Your voice matters, and usually you’re pretty correct in your praise, or criticisms. I will attempt to respond to more reader email in the future, so send it in.

Why respond to reader email online? What’s the point? In most major newspapers, you’ll see a column inside the front page from the managing editor-in-chief that does just that… he/she talks about what readers sound of to them about, and they try to explain themselves and their actions. It’s fascinating really.

Today’s reader email is about our headlines at ReveNews. The author shall remain anonymous, but just so you know, it’s not a usual suspect, but rather someone completely outside this industry’s circle.

clipart-snailmail.gif

HEADLINES ARE IMPORTANT
Please tell your bloggers to write a headline and first few words that give the reader a clue as to what the article is about.

Starting off with “Hello, how are you, here’s something that I was sort of thinking about while I was in the shower…”
doesn’t tempt the reader to read the article, it tempts the reader to skip to something that might not ramble on.

Of course, it could be the best article, something I really need to read, but I’ll never know if the headline and first few words (what appears in the email) don’t tell me. I won’t read the article.

When asked for further explanation and examples…

Your main page at www.revenews.com, as well as the email I get from time to time, contains headlines and the first few words of a blog entry.

More than Brand Links and Logos
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing
“Wow, what an amazingly crazy fourth quarter that was. I think I slept about an hour a night, and not just because of my newborn baby girl. It always seems like the 4th quarter is so far away during the year and then out of now where it is here…”

Good Night and Good Luck
Filed under: Online Marketing
“Dear readers of revenews, I’d like to begin with wishing you all a good afternoon. And a very happy new year. Anyways, there is an expression (maybe even a bumper sticker) that goes like this: “all good things must come to an end”. At first, I did not trust that…”

Do you have any clue what you might get if you clicked on one of these? Better headline and opening lines copy would increase your readership. It would also send more readers to your contributors’ blogs.

The reader then gave some examples of re-written, better headlines that were well done and very professionally “newsy”.

My response to the reader?

Dear reader,

I have to say that you are right, and wrong. You are right that our bloggers could be writing better headlines. The problem with that is I don’t approve each headline or blog entry, each blogger just blogs away, so the opportunity to improve the headline isn’t there before posting.

I also think you are wrong. The example of good headlines you gave me are in fact very good, but those are newspaper headlines. We are writing blogs. ReveNews isn’t a trade journal, or an online magazine. We don’t have writers trained/schooled in journalism, heck, our bloggers are not even paid. We have business people who just write, usually fast to get something out between meetings or their busy day.

So again, yeah, we could do better, and we will try. Thanks again for feedback. I do appreciate it.

So there you have it? What’s your take on our headlines? Maybe we need the copyblogger to dole out some free advice?

About Jim Kukral

You can find Jim on Twitter: @JimKukral.

Filed under: ReveNews
  • http://www.cumbrowski.com carsten cumbrowski

    It’s a very valid and important comment. A good headline and first paragraph are important not just for Blogging or Newspapers, but also Landing Pages, Ad-Copy of PPC Ads, Website Homepages etc. etc.

    Pretty much everything.

    It does really matter what your specialty is in this industry. Understanding how Headlines or Titles work is something every marketer should learn. At least the basics. Then try it yourself and play around with it a bit and try to improve.

    Not everybody is a professional copywriter or has the skills and talents to become one, but that is often not really needed to achieve what you want.

    I am always trying to improve on it myself with sometimes more and sometimes no success. I keep trying though ;)

  • http://www.jangro.com Scott Jangro

    I’ve been looking at a lot of headlines during development of my recent project, and it has never been so clear to me how important good headlines are, especially when they’re taken out of the comfy context of your site viewed only by readers who know you.

    Blog headlines really do need to stand on their own, I think, even more than traditional media headlines as with syndication, they can be placed anywhere and all by themselves.

  • http://parosparadise.blogspot.com/ Michael Shepherd

    When I saw this headline my first thought was Aha, someone thinks the same as I do.

    But it turned out they and you were on to a bigger subject.

    The only thing that I don’t like about ReveNews is not being able to tell in advance what the post is about.

    I, for one, would read more if I had a clue.

    Take that as you will,
    Cheers,
    Michael