# How to craft great headlines ## Nicolas Cole Ideas shared by [[Nicolas Cole]] in [[The Art and Business of Online Writing (book)]] ### Elements of a great headline A great headline is one that gets the audience to understand: - What the piece is about - Who it is for - The promise that you make The promise is the problem that you will solve or the solution that you offer. The promise creates a [[Curiosity gap]] By making a promise without revealing the (full) answer, you widen the curiosity gap. It creates tension that needs to be resolved to dissipate the tension. > [[True creativity is the art of clarity]] Headlines must be crystal clear and highly specific. If it's not specific enough, people won't know it's for them. Also, the promise must be compelling enough, or people won't pay attention. And you have to deliver on the promise. If you don't, then they'll feel tricked. Always speak to the audience, problem, and promise. A few examples: - **The one mistake** all new knowledge workers make - The one mistake all new founders make - **7 Small But Meaningful Things You Can** say to him to show how much you love him - How to write headlines that go viral, accumulate millions of page views, and convert readers into loyal customers Those headlines are powerful because they are crystal clear. You know what each one is about before reading. The promise is also clearly stated. Bestselling book titles combine an overarching main title with an ultra-specific subtitle in order to create a puzzling intringue (i.e., add tension). The best ones make multiple promises. ### Niche or broad? Audience and subject matter are deeply connected to each other. Either the promise answers a niche question or a broad one. The choice has a huge impact on its potential audience (and the content). Bigger and universal questions have much wider audiences (e.g. happiness, relationships, money, ...) > [[The size of your audience is directly proportional to the size of the question you're answering]] If you want to touch as many people as possible, be universal: answer a key question, something that will resonate with most people. Otherwise, answer a *very* specific and relevant question for a niche. Best of both worlds: **Use a niche topic to answer universal questions**. In summary: - Bigger questions attract bigger audiences - Niche questions imply niche audiences - Wider audiences benefit from simple, universal language - Niche audiences benefit from ultra-specific content - Titles must answer all the questions to be awesome Examples: - How to become a better writer, journal more often, and live a more present life. - The girl who ran away: Family, loss, and the power of forgiving those who hurt you most - 7 tips for becoming smarter, achieving uber-modern memory, and becoming the most interesting person in the room ### Pieces of a perfect headline Taking this title as an example: `[The 1] [Question] [That gets] [Every Single Millennial] [In Trouble]` **The 1** The first 2-3 words of a headline are the most important. When people are skimming, it's all they get to see. "The 1" implies that there's one and one only. It must be important. Using numbers at the beginning of a headline works great because: 1) It conveys conviction, and implies a strong stance or opinion 2) It sounds short, not tiresome => Low barrier to entry (i.e., this will be a quick and easy read) **Question** The one what? This tells readers WHAT they will read. Recommendations: - Create tension - Raise curiosity - Mention a reason/story/solution/problem **That gets** Connects the beginning to the end. Use strong and descriptive words. Use this sparingly. **Every single Millennial** Defines the WHO. Who specifically? All? Some? It can be by interests, age, location... **In Trouble** The PROMISE. This creates a [[Curiosity gap]] (i.e., tension), and an emotional response. Note that "Trouble" is a *great* word. No one wants to be in trouble... To find a good promise, think about the outcomes/results your audience wants or wants to avoid. Express the idea so as to maximize emotional response and excitement. > [[All great headlines take time]] ### Proven headline formats What’s unexpected is *exciting*: - Big numbers - Numbers are concrete and easy to imagine - Dollar signs - Money is universally interesting. It widens the curiosity gap - Known and credible names (e.g. celebrities, CEOs, wars, Steve...) - Hooks attention - Timeliness - Induces higher priority - Catches attention like fire - People want to feel in the know - Start with something like "This Just Happened" - Use words such as "Just", "Recently", "Today", "Now", etc - Success Story - Summarize amazing or rare events - Things that should not go together - Creates surprise, curiosity - Forces people to pause - "For the industry" - Appeals to people wanting to stay up to date and follow trends - Great when targeting a specific audience - The Topic within the topic - Make people feel like they’re getting a scoop, an insider’s look - Q/A - Start with a question and end with a hint at the answer - Great for articles with a big concept that does not fit into one headline - X number: 1 thing, 3 ways... - Gives an idea about the length of the piece - Going Meta - Combining approaches ### Approach 1) Write a paragraph with what you want to convey in your article. Use it to craft title v1 2) Did you nail down the promise? Can you promise more? What else might readers want? 3) Make the promise super specific and clear 4) Remove as many connecting words as possible 5) Write the piece now that you have your title Use POWER phrases. Those add urgency/importance/impact: - Little known - Crucial lessons - Small but profitable - Unforgettable tips - Most successful - Unconventional ways - Change the way - Memorable truths - You absolutely need to - Eye-opening - Horrible habits ... that ruin ... - Emerging trends you should know - Quickly changing the world - ...