How to Write Magical Headlines that Invite Reader Attention

About 80% of the success of a news story or an article depends on the headline it has. Headlines can come with seductive power or as plain boring. The key skill of an article writer or news writer is to come up with a headline that captures the imagination of readers and to pull them to the story.

There are different styles used in headline writing. In modern times, the factual headlines attract more readers than headlines that come with qualifiers. This is true for news stories.
For example:

‘A doctor from Hyderabad injects HIV virus to 617 persons’

Or

‘Hyderabad Doctor Injects HIV Virus to His Patients’

Performs better than

‘Rowdy Doctor plays with life of his patients’

The first two headlines are more factual and specific about the activity of a Hyderabad doctor. Anyone who knows what HIV is likely to read the story. The story sells better to people who have related to Hyderabad in any way.

Article writers have to notch up a bit on factual headlines to attract article readership. News writers have the option to capture the attention by simply telling the facts. It is not the case with article writers. Article writers have to appeal to the emotion of the readers. There are few techniques that article writers use to pull the eyeballs of their readers to their articles.

Article Headline Writing Technique No 1 – Make Your Readers Feel that Something is Too Easy to Achieve

This type of titles appeals to readers because the readers quickly think they can achieve something without any pains. The following titles have been used by Article Writers and Copy Writers on a regular basis to woo customers.

E.g.

How to earn $ 127 a Day Starting Today

How to Lose Four Pounds a Week While Eating All the Chocolates and Ice Creams

Cure Obesity without Dieting or Exercise

Article Headline Writing Technique No 2 – Promise Your Readers to Teach Something New, Use ‘How to’ or ‘Seven Tips to’ Title

Write a title that starts with a phrase ‘How to’ or ‘Seven Tips to’. People always like to learn something new. The ‘How to’ and ‘Seven Tips to’ title ignites the imagination of your readers and will be attracted to your article. See ‘How to’ title at work, read the title of this article.

E.g.
“How to Win Friends and Influence People”

Seven Tips to Take Stunning Photographs with Your Digital Camera

Seven Tips to Enhance Your Digital Photographs with Photoshop

The number seven produces a special effect on human minds. ‘Seven Tips’ formula works better than ‘three tips’, ’11 tips’, ‘9 tips’ or ‘five tips’. I don’t know the exact reason, but it is the way things are.

Article Headline Writing Technique No 3 – Create Curiosity in Reader’s Mind with a Targeted Question

“Do You Make These Simple Mistakes in English Grammar?” was the title question that made Max Sackheim, a Russian immigrant to America richer than his wildest imaginations. That was the title of his advertising campaign to attract customers for his grammar lessons.

A question that creates curiosity or confusion in the minds of readers always attracts the attention of readers of all types.

The question must be specific (mistakes in English grammar), targeted (you) and should create curiosity (simple mistakes).

E.g.
Are You Aware You Are Losing $ 1327 a Year in Mortgage?

Do You Know Why You Can’t Keep Friends to Your Side?

Article Headline Writing Technique No 4 – Promise to Reveal Some Secret, Use ‘Secret Revealed’ Phrase in Your Article Title

People always want to know what is kept a secret. If you can tell your readers that there is some secret that you know, but your readers don’t, make it a point in your article title.

E.g.
The Secrets of Millionaire Brains Revealed

Key to Adsense Riches: Insider Secrets Revealed

These four article headline writing techniques will teach you how to write attention grabbing headlines for your articles.

Are you a newbie article writer? Do you want specific guidance on writing article headlines on any specific issues? Do leave a comment below or send me an email (email ID at ‘VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE’ on the sidebar.

Article Writing Basics – How to Write a Telling Intro that Captures the Attention of Readers

A hard hitting intro quickly captures the attention of your readers and attracts them to read your article till the end.

A hard hitting intro captures the essence of the story in one telling sentence. I saw the following intro on April 18.

“Virginia student kills 32 before shooting himself on his face.”

Needless to say, I was shocked and was pulled into the ‘story’ and could not take my eyes off the screen till I reached halfway down the story.

Such shocking intros are not needed in article writing. In 99% of the case, it is not possible either. However, you can capture the essence of your article in a small sentence. That sentence needs to sell the article. That is, the reader must feel like reading the whole article after reading that first sentence.

The first sentence of the letter can cover up a weak headline to a small extent.

It is not really an easy task. But our teacher, John Mary, who is also a long term press reporter once has shown us how simple it is to write ‘leads’ or ‘intros’ to write stories that sell.

It is really simple to write an intro that captures the attention of readers. All you have to do is to imagine yourself in a specific situation.

Imagine you have some news that you want to pass to your friend. Your friend is travelling on a bus and you wait at the bus stop. You see the bus stop is not busy and the bus would wait for only a few seconds. How will you pass the news to your friend? Will you describe all the details or tell him? No way. You will just single out one or two elements of the ‘news’ you have and shout them to your friend, before the bus is gone.

Similar is the case of intro writing. You bring the most important aspects of the story to a single sentence and that sentence is the intro (or lead as most journalists like to call it).

Yet Another Approach to Intro Writing for Article Writing

Open an article in a conversational note. That is, write the sentences as if you are talking to your friend. More than 90% of article writing falls in this category.

There are no special efforts to bring in any effects. Just tell the readers what you have to say in your own style.

Article Writing Basics -the Basic Elements of Article Writing

Quite a few of my friends ask me to teach them to write.’ Hey, how can I teach you to write, you are no primary school child’ or ‘Any one who can talk well and can communicate well with fellow beings can write well’ used to be my response to their requests to teach them the techniques of writing.

My response stems from the fact that I honestly believe there are no special techniques in writing. But, reviewing a few written pieces, I find out I can help them out with some guidelines, tips and techniques. I also put those techniques in my blog, for the benefit of everyone who wants to be an article writer.

In the coming days I will cover topics like

How to write a headline that quickly captures the attention of readers

How to write attention grabbing intros that pull readers to your article

How to develop an article

The importance of adding details to make an article worthy for the readers

The ideal word count of an article

And other topics and issues that I find are outstanding issues with writers who are just starting out. If you have any specific query, leave your comment as a query below as well. I shall answer you as quickly as I can.
Watch out for article writing basics tutorials in the coming days.

Do You Want to be an Article Writer

Who else in interested to make a life as an article writer? Welcome to the world of article writers, where creativity and ideas are rewarded more than anywhere else.

Many technically adept persons find it hard to express themselves in a way they like to. A real article writer can express what is in his/her mind and convey the exact idea to the reader.

Article writers do have some trouble, especially at the beginning stages of their career. They doubt whether their articles really are written well. Would the client like this article, does the article meets the guidelines, and hundred other questions creep into the mind of an article writer who is just starting out.

The real break comes when one of the clients says 'you have done a wonderful job'. That is the real turning point in the life of an article writer. Be persistent till you get there and be growing after you reach there.

With the opening up of www, the average market of an article writer hit an exponential growth. An article writer sitting at his table in the suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram can write for a business running at Palm Springs or Sydney or Yorkshire.

Do you think you can express what it is in your mind in simple English? Do the writing styles of celebrated writers attract you? Do you wish you can pour out your thoughts in words?

If your answers are YES, article writing may be your forte.

Overcome Writer's Block with this Simple Technique

We all experience it at one time or the other - the dreaded 'writer's block'. It is the condition we think words just are not coming out in a way it should. We look at the blank paper (sorry! blank screen it is) for hours and feel we don't have the right words to start it off.

We pray for some magical powers that guide our fingers to create a page full of text that is meaningful to readers, that amuses them and helps our client make profits. My experience says that we all can do it by using a simple technique to overcome writer's block.

The main problem is we really have nothing to say at the point. Or we, the writers don't know we really know what to say on the specific topic at hand. A worse problem is having no topic at all. Let me assume the article writer actually has a topic to write about.

The Technique: Write a 300-400 word silly article that you never show to anyone else.

Sounds strange? Try it for once. Write some things about whatever topic it is and keep it to yourself. It is OK to start with some absurd comment on the real serious topic at your hands. It's also OK to crack some funny comments on the topic - afterall no one is seeing what you write, right?

The assurance and guarantee that you show this work to no one else gives you all the freedom to write anything right or wrong. You have a goal while attempting this, free yourself from the clasp of that dreaded demon called writer's block. That is the only goal and you have to someway kick away the 'imaginary' block.

Writing at least a piece of at least 100 words is beneficial in removing the writer's block that blocks your larynx and tells you "stop writing, you fool".

Writing something silly on the topic acts as a big gulp of a gallon of water that washes 'writer's block' away.

Look at what you have written. Believe me, it has a lot of ideas or starting points from where you can draft a minimum of six or seven articles. Thus a point, the silly article must be on topic. All the words you write must be on the topic you intend to write.

In the Right Mood? Time to Write More Articles

Human article writers (there are article minting software out there) have times of ups and downs. Sometimes the article writer feels it is the right time of the day or the year. The conditions are all favorable to them and articles come out in no time. At the peak of such times three or more articles come out in less than an hour. Such are times an article writer must capitalize on.

Sure, no one gets into that state at will and will not be able to stay there for long. Sooner or later the writer loses the state. The main reason for losing the state of 'in mood of article writing' is a break. It can sometimes be as simple as a coffee break and at times it can be a holiday.

We are humans and we all need occasional breaks. It is better you take breaks when you are off peak. Go for a coffee when you feel you have reached a dead-end. Take a long holiday when you feel you are really worn out.

You have times when you can't produce even a single article in the whole day. This time is different and articles are coming through like locusts. The quality of these articles will also be quite higher than the articles that you produce with many hours of efforts.

Take advantage of the times when words come to your mind like a relentless stream. Harness all the free flowing words and never let it go. You don't feel it even if you miss a mealtime. Just let the words come by and tranform them to sellable articles.

Simple Two-Step Inverted Pyramid Model for Article Writing

Taking a leaf off Journalists' book can help you write articles that accurately convey your ideas.
My teachers at Institute of Journalism told me the formula is an 'inverted pyramid'. I like to call it tell and expand or touch and explain. Journalists use inverted pyramid style to convey the news in shortest possible time.

When writing a news lead, the reporter or editor has to tell the story in as little words as possible. The headline (title) and the first line of the news story (called intro or lead) quickly tell the reader what has happened and where.

The news story then goes on to explain the details. The reader gets details of the news while he or she continues reading the story.

Inverted pyramid style is called so because the reader first see the most important part of the story, followed by parts of lesser importance. The importance, as you guess is based on the judgement of the journalist.

Take that style of writing to article writing and you have a simple, but most effective article writing formula.

An article writer can use many 'inverted pyramids' in an article. Use the first sentence of a paragraph to drop an idea or a fact. Use the following sentences to explain the idea. The first sentence of the paragraph gives some idea. The reader gets a clearer idea of what the writer is saying while he or she reads the second sentence and the third sentence.

You can find the same style of writing in almost any article you read. At first you see a (new or old) topic. You get an idea what the article is about. You then read the article to find the details. In fact this is the default style of writing.

It doesn't take a journalism school training to learn this simple technique of article writing. Anyone who can express himself or herself well can also write high quality articles. Following this touch and explain model of writing never fails them to convey what he or she really means to communicate.

The single most important aspect of article writing is to convey an idea. An article writer first catch the attention of the reader with an eye catchy title and first line (lead). Then he or she explains his or her idea in simple language.

Now you have the simplest method of article writing. Stick to this simple formula till you become comfortable writing informative and amusing articles.