Comments on: 5 Killer Headlines that make me queasy

By: Bookmarks about Headlines

Bookmarks about Headlines — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:30:11 +0000

[...] – bookmarked by 2 members originally found by ninjagrrl91 on 2009-01-02 5 Killer Headlines that make me queasy http://www.lifeonavenuez.com/2008/07/10/5-killer-headlines-queasy/ – bookmarked by 2 members [...]

By: John Hewitt

John Hewitt — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:32:08 +0000

Warning: These titles work, but they’ll cost you your soul

I feel for you. I try to be creative in new ways, but the old standards work like a charm. Don’t forget to use the word free….

5 Free Killer Apps That You Probably Don’t Know About

By: steph

steph — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:23:06 +0000

That’s just it. I recently read that you use it so long as it works. No trying to be different, no clever writing. Just writing that people read. Kind of depressing, the way it’s depressing that the bestsellers are usually what the general public will read vs really good writing.

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:23:01 +0000

Claire, I’m afraid my own little research supports the idea that “The [Blank] Top Reasons You Should [Blank]” works. These types of links are consistently the highest clicked-on articles in newsletters I write. By far. Sigh.

Brian, welcome from copyblogger! Nice to see you here. I keep meaning to add you guys to my link list. I am slow that way.

By: Brian Clark

Brian Clark — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:18:49 +0000

Ah, declaring a revolution against human nature.

Let me know how that works for you.

By: Claire

Claire — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:11:11 +0000

I think the only way to change headline hell is not to use it. Do they really work? How do we know? How do we know someone isn’t just saying they do and everyone follows along? What statistics are they providing and how scientific are those statistics? Know what I mean?

I hate writing headlines. They suck usually, and unless I’m really in tune with the product, I don’t nail it that often or to me they sound horribly trite, corny, too cute, or boring. I just wrote one for a client that I thought rocked and it focused on the fact that they had 40 million people in their database, which his original content mentioned quite often. THEN he tells me they aren’t planning to focus on that fact. ARGH. Now I have to think all over again. LOL