If you are writing a press release, news piece, guest article or blog post, the headline or title is without doubt the most important part of it.

The headline is the first thing your readers see and if it doesn’t get their attention, they won’t read it. Here are three tips to help you construct a headline that will get people reading.

Be succinct

Don’t make your headline too long; use the fewest words possible to fully describe your story. Your readers should be able to know exactly what the story is about from the headline, but at the same time be encouraged to read on for more details. There is a fine line between having too much or not enough information in the headline, and there is no rule on exactly how many words to use. A typical intro to a press release will deal with the who, what, when, where and why; in your headline, stick to the what and you’ll be on the right track.

Whilst being succinct is a good idea, avoid headlines like this one that went a little too far:

Tantalise your audience with the facts to get their attention, and them fill them in with the whole story in the rest of the piece.

Be interesting

The danger when writing your headline, especially when considering the last point, is to be so straight to the point that it becomes flat. Think about the more interesting aspects of your story; is it an exclusive? Is there someone high profile involved? Has there been a major breakthrough or achievement? In essence, tell readers what the most dramatic or interesting aspect of the story is to get them reading on.

Sometimes, like the example below, there will be numerous angles of drama or interest, but these are once in a lifetime:

This is slightly different with blogs as there are different rules, but essentially you still need to let people know what the article entails straight away. The trick with blogs is picking the right subject and explaining the whole piece in the title. Some great examples of brilliant blog titles can be found on Cracked.com, where pretty much every article demands you click through.

Don’t try and be too clever

Trying to sound to stylish and clever will, unless you are the editor of a national newspaper, most of the time, be confusing to your audience. Avoid puns and play-on-words, because even if you find them brilliant or hilarious, there is a chance that not everyone will get it. Stick to the facts and keep it simple, that way you can let your readers know the whole point behind your piece.

Sports stories (particularly football) are choc-full of these, mainly because the audience expects them from time to time and also because it’s sport and it doesn’t have to be taken too seriously – although it is most of the time. Check out this classic, printed in The Sun when Inverness Caledonian Thistle dumped Celtic out of the Scottish FA Cup:

Again, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and unless you are as arrogant as The Sun, then chances are you won’t go with this.

The best advice I ever got for writing headlines was try to tell the whole story in as few words as possible. I’ve mentioned the inverted news triangle in a previous blog post, and how you should imagine you’re telling the story to a friend in the pub. Introduce the subject: “John’s getting married”. Then, gradually fill them in with the rest of the story: “He asked Margaret last Friday and she said yes, the wedding’s next May”.

Obviously, your story will be much more enthralling than the epic love story of John and Margaret, but hopefully you get the idea.

If you have any other tips or advice on writing great headlines for press releases, articles, blogs or anything else, please share them in the comments.