The gift that keeps on giving
Quick! Which is more effective?
A simple metaphor?
Bobby Holloway says my imagination is a three-hundred-ring circus.
— Dean Koontz in Seize the Night
Or an extended metaphor?… Read the full article
Headlines
Tips for writing email subject lines
Make them clear, easy to understand
What makes one email campaign generate an amazing 93% open rate, while another languishes at a dismal 0.5%?
Ask the researchers at MailChimp, an email service provider.… Read the full article
3 email newsletter formats that work
Lists, headlines & blurbs, single stories most valuable
The most valued email newsletters in the Nielsen Norman Group’s latest round of usability studies used these formats:
Why write a multi-deck headline?
Because it’s the best-read element on the page
Decks — those one-sentence summaries under the headline — do the heavy lifting on webpages.
Indeed, according to The Poynter Institute’s Eyetrack III study of reader behavior:
- 95% of webpage visitors read all or part of the deck.
Use the active voice in writing
Write about people doing things
Which of these headlines is most likely to spur you to sign up for a webinar?
New webinar helps managers improve productivity
Or:
Get all your work done in half the time, be the office hero and go home early
The first focuses on the webinar.… Read the full article
How long should a press release headline be?
Keep headlines short, like The New York Times
Hey, PR pros: Would you like to see your story in The New York Times? Then why not write like the Times?… Read the full article
Write headlines for your PR target audience
Write about the reader, not about us and our stuff
Front-loading your headlines with your topic word just makes sense if your readers are going to encounter those headlines in online lists — a search engine results page, for instance, or your online newsroom.… Read the full article
Examples of puns in headlines
4 ways to write plays-on-words headlines
When edible marijuana consumption spiked, the Omaha World Herald came up with this headline and deck:
Baking Bad
Police say edible forms of pot hit new high
List, rhyme and twist is just one way to come up with a stellar twist-of-phrase headline.… Read the full article
Avoid writing label headlines (Examples!)
Don’t just slap the topic on top of the story
Note to self: “Label headline” is not a headline.
Label headlines like Label headlines carry a double problem.… Read the full article
Stop it with the ing-ing headlines (Examples!)
Present participle heads may be worse than labels
Barney Kilgore, the legendary editor of The Wall Street Journal, once wrote: “If I see ‘upcoming’ slip in[to] the paper again, I’ll be downcoming and someone will be outgoing.”… Read the full article