I Bet Sexy Russian Spies Write Good Blog Post Headlines.

Stacy McCain, who has blended the roles of journalist and wild-eyed blogger as well as anyone, handed out a valuable blogging tip for free today in his Twitter stream.

He’s going to get a bazillion hits on that post. And why? Because he knows how to write a killer headline.

I am convinced that the reason talented writers don’t get their blog posts written is that they write headlines that are as bland as a no-salt, organic, low-fat peanut butter sandwich on stale white bread with the crusts cut off. They have no flair for the punchy five to ten word hook that’ll fill their Sitemeter stats with readers the way Jesus brought in the fish for Peter and the gang.

I’m no expert in the headline-writing world, but I’m not shabby either. So let me share my three favorite ways to punch up by post headlines. Perhaps there’s something in there you can use.

1) Attitude: Even if your post is 2,000 words on the relationship between sub-Saharan tribal societies and the degradation of the agrarian society, you can make it sound like a Clive Cussler adventure novel with a headline that brings some attitude. Try something like, “Africa Needs Hoes”. If you don’t want to go quite that far into humor (and I probably wouldn’t on a potentially serious subject), you could use “If Africa’s Farmers Die, Will Everyone Else?”. There is plenty of attitude in both of those. People will click. Remember, the idea here is to throw a hook with enough bait that people will be halfway into your post before they realize you’re actually writing on a dry subject. Attitude is a very tempting kind of bait.

2) Humor: Not every post involves life or death matters. Using your sense of humor at every appropriate opportunity will mark you as both clever and not one of those screaming, basement-dwelling troglodytes who think every blog post is a deathmatch invitation. You don’t have to sit in the the Henny Youngman Seat of Masterful Zingers, either. Read around a few blogs, I recommend Ace, Moe Lane, and Stacy McCain to get a feel for when they use humor and, more importantly, where they find the humor in the stories about which they write.

3) Schtick: A schtick is nothing more than a recurring theme that you make your own. A good headline schtick can become an unofficial trademark that lets people know, even before they click your post, that you had something to do with it. Professor Glenn Reynolds has gotten a ton of mileage out of his “They told me if I voted for John McCain…” schtick. Ace has done the same with his “[Number of] terrorists killed by [innocuous thing] and [explody thing], but mostly [explody thing]” headlines. Ace and Glenn have become so associated for those schticks that they even get backlinks from (honest) bloggers who borrow the style for a post of their own.

The truth is, it’s not hard to get in the habit of writing solid post headlines. No magic is involved, just time, practice, and a bit of reading. Surely the extra traffic your snappy headlines will bring and the good reputation you’ll get are worth a little extra effort, wouldn’t you say?

Other Posts of Interest:

• New at NewsReal Blog: Me!
• Moving Day for Stacy!
• So You Say You Want To Be A Blogger?

Tags: Blogs and Blogging

Category: Blogs and Blogging