Deep Jive Interests

Here’s how an ages-old copywriting technique finds a new life in the blogosphere

Brian Clark has written a great little article and goes over 10 time tested — some would say *classic* headline “formulas” that have been used by off-line copywriters for decades. Besides breaking them down and providing some nice examples, the real hook here is how some pretty aggressive advertising techniques, that we’re often very jaded and insensitive to, has some applicability in the web2.0 blogosphere.

For example, it is debatable who is going to really respond to a “They laughed at me, but when I began to play –” sort of headline, but the take home message is clear: Headlines that are successful work because they grab your attention; they do it quickly, succinctly, and get to the core of an issue.

The headline’s humble role in your own blog should be clear.

Make your blog “titles” headlines.
That is, transplanting a similar idea to your own blog’s title is the key.

When folks are browsing the ‘net or reading their RSS feeds, they probably have dozens if not hundreds to read.
You’ve got 2-5 seconds (or less) to grab their attention, and you’ve gotta do it fast, and you’ve gotta hit them hard to make them stop and listen to your message.

Crafting a good headline should stop and make them do that.

Using Brian’s article is an excellent jumping off point, but if you want other inspiration, you have to head to nowhere else than the the shopping aisle.

Yes, from the National Enquirer to Cosmo, just pick out they’re headlines from their own front pages, and you’ll see what successful headlines are really like.

Of course they’re crass and not entirely literary — but when you think about it, its a cut-throat ecosystem those magazines live in; people rush through those lines, have a few seconds to kill while they’re fishing for a wallet or purse, and its only in those precious few seconds that those headlines have to make a difference.

tick … tock … tick … tock … *yoink*!

Another sale was just made by somebody picking that magazine up based on the 10 forgotten ways to pick up guys.

Not entirely different than the ecosystem that you and your other blogs have to live in, really!

So you want to create your own headline for your new posts?|
Well, here’s a quick how-to break down from a 21st perspective:

1. Sum up what you want to say in your article — what are you trying to get across, in one or two sentences. Is it a how-to article? An opinion piece? A fascinating piece of commentary? Late breaking news?
2. Start creating drafts of your headline, or title, in your own mind. Use Brian’s article as a template if you like. There are lots of other successful kinds of headlines as well — think to the last time you saw a men’s or women’s magazine, or grocery store periodical. “Rock hard abs in 5 days! With little or no excercise”, “What Jen Wants to Say to Brad” and so on …
3. Pick a draft you like, and run it through a credibility test. Think about who you’re writing for. Would *they* respond to that headline? is it too salesy? To press-releasy? To over-the-top? Not over-the-top *enough*? Its really difficult at this stage, but if you’re really into the blogosphere you’ll have an idea of what your readers are into and what they’re not. For example, geeks are generally turned off by sales-speak, and more turned on by facts.
4. Once you’ve got your headline, throw it up, and see what kind of effect you get! For sales letters and sales techniques they’ll sometimes break down their headlines into ‘testing’ it against different groups of people to see which headline gets the most response. You could do this too by submitting your own post (with its headline) to different blog networks or social news sites, like digg or reddit or del.icio.us. Of course, you also run into the risk of people noticing what you’re doing and calling you out on it (SPAM!) … but its something you’re going to have to decide for yourself if it passes what your own crowd thinks as a credibility muster.
5. Track your Response. You’ve got your own tracking system, right? How else are you going to see how your blog is doing? There are a number of programs available, and its beyond the discussion of this post to talk about it, but i’ve worked with SlimStat for a few weeks now and it hasn’t done me wrong at all. It even comes in a WordPress plugin. I’ve blogged about it here.

Headlines have worked wonders in the past, and have a new role in the realm of blogging and bloggers — its a fine line, however, between idea and execution. Outlandish claims and walking down the road of overly hyping your work are the darkside of it, and you’ll need to pass the credibility test for your own readership … otherwise they’ll tell you otherwise in no time at all! Or worse off, you’ll drive *away* readership.

Good luck!