Headlines are bloody important.
The best blog authors write irresistible headline and titles. Magazines with millions of subscribers fill every issue with juicy headlines. Top Gun copywriters spend hours brainstorming hundreds of headlines BEFORE they write.
My buddha at Copyblogger says…
“On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. This is the secret to the power of the headline, and why it so highly determines the effectiveness of the entire piece.”
Headlines are that important.
But Where Do You Get Headline Ideas?
Everyone has something to say about the mechanics of a great headline. A quick search on Google proves the point. However, most people (me included) wrestle with cooking up new headlines. How do you capture the essence of your post in one punchy, neck-snapping sentence?
How about looking for inspiration from online sites, cult classic books, and master copywriters that consistently field the best headlines in the business? Nothing gets the creative juices bubbling like seeing great headlines in action.
So, I’m going to get you started by introducing you to some of the crazier places you can use to get headline inspiration.
Check out these headline honey holes …
- Copyblogger Archives – Brian Clark has been beating the headline drum for years now. He practices what he preaches and Copyblogger is a honey-pot of great headlines. I obsess over the post archives looking for ideas. You should too.
- Readers Digest – Those nifty little books with the home-spun stories still house some of the best headlines you’ll every come across. Reader’s Digest has been fighting in the newsstand trenches for years and their headlines are top notch.
- Slate “Life Section” – Slate’s headlines are edgy and modern. They are masters at creating provocative idea starters that capture readers hook link and sinker.
- Alltop – Alltop is a directory that showcases the RSS feeds of hundreds of blogs. This makes it easy to go headline shopping.
- Cosmopolitan – Top headline masters sing the praises of Cosmopolitan as a headline source. They are right. Cosmopolitan needs to hijack eyeballs to survive and their headlines are top notch.
- Digg – Digg used to be the shizel for headline research and guess what? It still is. People try incredibly hard to get to the front page and some people have honed their headline writing into a science. Navigate to your particular topic to see specific headline examples in your niche.
- Advertising Headlines that Make You Rich -This is a book by David Garfinkel. David is a master-class copywriter and spills the beans in this book. This book is a great way to quickly grab a headline template guaranteed to work.
- Early To Rise Newsletter (ETR) – ETR is one of the popular email newsletters published by Agora – an information marketing powerhouse. Agora trains copywriters and employs some of the best in the world. The ETR newsletter is an easy (and cheap) way to get your hands on some of the best headline ideas – ever written.
- Drudge Report - No matter what you think about the politics – the aggregation of attention-nabbing headlines is awesome
- Problogger Archives – The sheer volume of posts with great headlines at Problogger.net makes this blog an regular spot for inspiration.
- Amazon.com – The climb to the top of the bestsellers list is brutal. Publishing companies have turned writing great book titles into a science. Amazon is the publishing houses real-time laboratory for headline testing. Go to Amazon, navigate to your niche, and study the top book titles closely. There’s gold there.
- Newser.com – Another news aggregator that specializes in great pics + neck-snapping headlines.
- How to Write 7 Types of Catchy Headlines – Excellent summary with a handful of great headlines
- Jay Abraham – 100 Greatest Headlines Ever Written. Some consider Jay Abraham to be the most brilliant marketer and teacher ever. While I won’t jump on that bandwagon, I WILL say that the guy is a spectacular copywriter that knows how to write killer headlines.
- Mens Health Magazine – I think Men’s Health can go toe-to-toe with Cosmopolitan in the headline battle. The publishers know their audience and can get any knuckle-head guy to stop dead in their tracks with their trademark headlines.
- Huffington Post – Huffpost is on the razor’s edge of attracting readers. They take their headlines seriously and pump out dozens of winners every day.
- Your Tracking Software – Yes, dig into your own traffic data for your blog. Focus on the posts that were shared the most (Twitter or Facebook). These post’s headlines may be winners hiding in plain sight.
New! Even more great headline hidey-holes…
Over the last few days, you all have given me more spots to find spectacular headlines. So, I’m going to keep this list going! I won’t change the title so that I won’t bust any links but tell your friends to scroll down to the end of the post.
Here we go…
- Tim Ferris Blog | The 4-Hour Workweek – Tim is a student of headline writing. Check out the popular posts on the sidebar and go to school.
- Buzzfeed – I discovered Buzzfeed from listening to Internet for Smart People Radio #6 over on Copyblogger. Buzzfeed creates a directory of articles based on the popularity and viral performance. A quick scan always yields some great idea starters.
- Inc Magazine – Inc. shows 4-5 related articles at the end of each story on its site. Take a look at the headlines. They are pure gold especially if you serve the business audience!
- More to come!
By the way, I can help you whip your blog headlines into shape. Check out the Spectacular Blog Review if you are interested.
Leave me a comment and tell me where you find your best ideas.
thank you for this great post ,Sure Headlines are important.before i used forums to get Headlines and now i use your way it’s great
http://www.squidoo.com/how-increase-traffic-500-000-visitors-month
Well this is an interesting article! Great list — Another resource is within your own content. When writing, we often compose catchy phrases without realizing their potential as good headlines. As an example, I might have headlined this comment, “Within Your Own Content.”
Hi Stanford. I find coming up with a catchy title for my post really challenging. There’s so many excellent blog posts to read, I know I need to grab their attention, to check mine out. Your headline “17 Crazy Places to Get Jaw Dropping Headline Ideas” certainly got my attention. Thanks for the ideas; I look forward to seeing your video on the subject.
Stanford! You surprised me. Not with the awesome post, because I expect that from ya. But dang! You gave me all those great resources, but when I clicked so I’d remember to check them out, it took me away from your stuff! Now I’m wondering if there was some deep, dark, wise secret behind it. I really am wondering, honest.
Love these resources, and I can’t wait to go check ‘em out. Thanks for all the inspiring stuff you write. Also, I loved Margie Clayman’s post today on Tim Burton. Another terrific social media writer. She’s a real up-and-comer in my book.
Yes, there is a deep dark secret. Ready for it? I want to show you that I’m willing to share great stuff with you – even if it isn’t on Pushing Social. I’m hoping you will go “Gee that Stanford is a cool guy, I’m going to send him a Butterball Turkey this Thanksgiving!” Seriously, I’m building trust and credibility. I hope it’s working!
Very thorough list Stan. thnx
Hey, thanks for posting. It has been a lot of help. I try to find creative ways to make an interesting headline but sometimes I just have a difficult time thinking. Is there a program that can help me generate a good title? LOL.
“Men’s Health”- If their trademarked, won’t it be hard to use them?
Great list.
Don’t Steal Them! Just use them for inspiration you sly dog
Hi Stanford — my new favorite source of headline information is Sean DSouza at Psychotactics, and his free report Why Some Headlines Fail. Of course, he might count under your Copyblogger reference as he guests there too, but the stuff on his own site is worth calling out separately in my view.
Great list above! Really vital topic. My post for my own blog tomorrow is about better writing, and several of the points dwell on headlines. I just did a free blog-review day on my site, and weak headlines were one of the biggest problems I saw.
I totally dig Sean DSouza’s Psychotactics too! You’re right weak headlines often lead to weak blogs. I’ll look forward to your post tomorrow. Thanks for hanging out here for a minute Carol
I use forums to test my headlines. If people click there they’ll click on a blog.
My own twitter stream is also good. If someone sends me a retweet I take note of the headline.
Hey Hashim, totally missed the almighty Twitter Stream! Thanks man.
Stanford, thanks for the headline tips. And just to show you can learn from bad examples too, have a look at the post: Bad Press Releases: 20 Worst Headlines Ever http://www.theprcoach.com/bad-press-releases-20-worst-headlines-ever/
Stanford–Good set of resources for headline writing. One important point that should be stated since you reference several dead tree publications like Reader’s Digest and Cosmo, it that headlines that work in print don’t always translate well to online. In particular, think city newspapers like the NY Daily News, with great abbreviations that don’t translate to search-friendly content. Happy marketing, Heidi Cohen
Hi Heidi, thanks for stopping by!
I have to disagree with you though. Some of the best headline ideas have been pioneered in “dead tree publications” – with slight modifications they can be used brilliantly online. One modification would be eliminating those pesky abbreviations (unless it works in your niche).
You can also check out some other popular blogs for headline ideas as well. In addition, reading round-up post like series featured on Kikolani also helps a lot in generating headline ideas. But, I think we should put the limit for ourselves that using those headlines for inspiration only, not copying them
Agreed, don’t copy. Inspiration only.
This post comes at the right time for me as I’m about to start planning my editorial calendar for the next few months. Like Keisha I sometimes get lazy about headlines but one great resource I use is the Zinio app on my iPad. It’s basically a magazine eReader but what I do is browse the front covers of the magazine (including Cosmo) to get headline ideas.
Fark does some awesome headlines too.
Cool, let me take a look. Thanks for the suggestion!
my jaw… where did it go?
Dude, this is awesome! I regularly use headlines from magazines. I try and pay attention to headlines in the checkout lane at the grocery store too.
Another place I look is my email; I get a ton of newsletter emails AND spam that often has ideas to go off of. I have an ongoing swipe file that I add to whenever I see something cool too.
Great post and I look forward to what else you’ll do with this concept.
I hate to admit it but I agree…some spam headlines are pretty good. Just wished they asked my permission to send the email!
Wow, Stanford that is one awesome list. These are some great ideas. Thanks for turning my head.
Very fine resources here. It’s definitely true that headlines are a great first place to look if you’re trying to
1. get more readers
2. increase conversions
3. get “shared” more online
Cracker of a list. Another place to search is direct mail letters you recieve / websites that do hard selling / books about direct mail copywriting.
I also read Andy Owen’s articles http://www.andyowen.co.uk/articles.html
What’s good about him is he is an older guy who has had to transition from print to pixels…. hey’ that’s a headline in itself!
Cheers
Rebecca
PS what’s the plugin you use for the recent blog post below my signature… I want it
Woot! Thanks for the new sources.
Great article! Sometimes I come across a great headline and it inspires me to research and think more about the topic of my future blog. Some of my blogs were written after the headlines were in place.
Readers Digest is one of the best places to start the search. I like your Amazon.com suggestion — it works sometimes!
Cheers and thank you for sharing your wisdom!
Lyudmila Bloch
Etiquette Expert
Great resources Stanford! I use a lot of these. I also like popurls.com and anything by Bill Glazer.
Hi Stanford,
I’m familiar with a few of these sites and you’re right, they often have some really great headlines that immediately spark curiosity. I admittedly get a little lazy with the headline – I get tired of having to use numbers and super hype language, but it works like a charm… every single time. Thanks for this awesome resource!
You know what? I think the best headlines rely on structure, benefits, and a laser focus on the reader’s experience. Get this right and the rest is just window dressing.
I somehow agree with Stanford, we should never misleading readers with our headline, but make it benefit-oriented and cut through the so-common HYPE we see nowadays on every other blog.
P.S. Inc and Cosmopolitan are my favorites. The best though is Amazon book titles
P.P.S. You actually mention Jay? Wow. He’s my mentor and a true genius/inspiration to other people I know.