./with Imagination

Why Headline writing for web is important

Wednesday, January 12th, 2005

Have you ever heard of the phrase “Outgoogling, google?” Well whatever you learned from wherever you heard if from, unlearn it. Getting ranked high in the search engines is not about how you can outsmart your way with some shady technique you found from PR10.com. Now, don’t take this wrong, but there are several factors that go into higher serps, but in this article I will be focusing on writing better headlines, and how to improve your online writing in general.

First, just to get the obvious out of the way, Google isn’t about Rocket Science. I mean seriously, take one look at the guy who decides your rankings. It’s a Utopia over there. Or at least that’s what they want us to think. Impressing the search engines should not be done by any ill fashioned method or practice. Simply use Web Standards, and use the right (x)html tags that hold meaning.

Ok, so you get the point. Good.

Writing for the Web

Writing for the web is all about writing what you really want to say. If I was telling you that monkeys ought to stop jumping off the bed and what I really meant to tell you is has something to do with why I think President Bush should mind his own country, then I should tell you the latter. The web isn’t print, so don’t write for print. For instance, if you wanted to

hear more news about George Bush you wouldn’t type in monkey’s, would you? (No comment).

Making fun of others will only make yourself look bad

Listen up bloggers. We’ve all done this before and my Bush comment won’t help my case. However, this doesn’t mean you still can’t make fun, in fact, making fun of yourself is probably the best form of comic relief. So, just to be fair to the President, I ate my own bugers until I was ten years old.

I hope that was sufficient.

Take for instance the classic Nielsen vs. Zeldman act. These are probably the two biggest guys in the web design industry, and they won’t stop poking fun at each other. Although, I admit, it is kind of funny to see Zeldman link out to a page that shows Nielsen is more popular. Do you see my point?

More to the point, if all you do in your blog is bad mouth your competitors and blogmates, you’re no better off than those you’re making fun of.

Ok, back to headline writing

When choosing a headline for the web, be precise what you’re talking about. Those very words will determine your audiences interest. Not to mention, it will qualify your readers straight from the start. Take for example the articles that I write.

I’ve put such heavy optimization on each article’s headline, those words are how people find my web site. If I write about a famous porn star in my headline and I’m comparing the model to web design, I’m going to piss off a lot of teenagers full of hormones who expect to have their fantacy’s fulfilled because google thinks you’ve got something saucy to talk about. Heh, I could just imagine.

Wha? Where’s my hot bodies? What’s this about hot and sexy…style sheets?
…Oh Hi mom, I was just reading about (takes a double look), sprucing up my blog

Poor Web Developer

Just be sure to tell you mother that a blog is not an adult toy.

Search the topic before you write about it

This can be as simple as taking just a few minutes to see who’s already covered the topic you’re going to write about. During this time, jot down a few extra words and phrases you find interesting. When you’re finished, use these to brain storm possible idea’s for your headline. At this point you can use your excellent skills you’ve learned about seo and apply them to your decision of what your headline is going to be. Which brings us to the next point.

Don’t be a keyword whore

Don’t forget that people have to understand your titles (not to mention the rest of your body text, but we’re focused here, focused, focused I tell you). There’s nothing worse than seeing someone trying so hard to keywordize their entire website. Props to you folks. I’m now convinced that you have the best online cyber webpage site…um…net, com?

Mother Mom, will you please por favor pass, whale, slide, slip, bring on over, the salt that looks like white grainy rocks?

Example of a keyword whore

Thanks, but no thanks.

The Anatomy of a good headline

Let’s take for instance the title of this very article and break it down word by word. Now, if you’re like the filthy scum we just talked about, you’d see right pass the words that have no meaning. So, you would see something like this:

Why Headline writing for web is important.

Now of course the words “why,for,” and “is” are not that important for search engines, but to normal left (and right) brained people, it helps us understand. People don’t come to websites looking for a thesaurus, they want definition content.

Your headline should define your webpage. The headline of this article’s headline is 7 words long. To me, I’d say that’s perfect. And while I’m no expert of saying what exactly is the right or wrong length, I try to keep my titles between 4 to 10 words…oh well maybe 15? It’s so hard to say. My true opinion is to not think about it too hard. If you’re writing about web design, and just web design, and I mean JUST WEB DESIGN, then you’ll at least need to write how you feel about it. Maybe something like:

Web design: It sucks

Quick and to the point

This at least explains to your users that you’ll be going off about how much you hate web design (that’s right, I eventually pulled in one of you teenagers because I mentioned the word “keyword whore”). If you’re talking about a particular subject within web design, put the subject somewhere in your headline…and while you’re at it, put how you feel about it. For instance

Style Sheets break in Internet Explorer

A statement that’s often too true

To put this whole thing into scientific terms, it’s like this. You need a subject, and you need a verb. An adjective can be helpful, but not always the kicker. I still use them because…I always have an opinion, and plus it helps my readers know how I really feel straight up front.

So, back to the headline in question. Here it is broken down by properties.

• Subjects
  • headline
  • web
• Verbs
  • writing
  • is
• Adjectives
  • important
• Human aids
  • why
  • for

If you feel lucky, try a play on words

Although I would avoid spending too much time coming up with a clever phrase, mainly because people might not understand it, you can try your luck on coming up with something catchy that still includes words on what you’re talking about. For instance, if you’re talking about spiders and websites…well…you get the point, right? Another word of caution is that it’s just common courtesy to not waste your visitors time with headlines filled with euphamisms and rhetoric. So be careful when using a play on words.

Finally

Although this is not directly related to the topic (not that I’m very good at staying on topic), Use <h1> for top level headings. I would hate to see your headlines go to waste because you’ve wrapped them in a <font> tag located somewhere near the middle of your document.

And just for fun, come back and click on the link below in a few weeks. We’ll see how we’re doing :)

Why Headline writing for web is important