Blogging headline formulas—DO NOT ABUSE

Many people who want to increase traffic on their blog seem to have taken advantage of their search engines and have run across blogger-targeted articles, such as the fabulous “10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work” [http://www.copyblogger.com/10-sure-fire-headline-formulas-that-work/]. There’s oodles of advice out there about how to grab eyeballs, and it is clear that people are using these techniques. One formula type in particular is the one in this paragraph. It’s built like this: “[number] Things You Should Know about [topic]”.

Just remember, any time you use these formulas, make sure that you have great content to match them, otherwise you will let down your reader. It isn’t necessarily a conscious letdown, but it registers anyway, even if it is deep in the subconscious. Eventually, lots of those subconscious letdowns can add up and suddenly register in the conscious.

In the case of the formula “_____ Things You Should Know about _______”, if each thing in your list isn’t really great information, you actually risk two things:

1. You risk diluting your credibility as a provider of good content
2. You risk poisoning that particular formula
   

If everyone starts writing cruddy suggestions with this formula, then eventually readers will learn not to believe the headline formula. Suddenly the great formula no longer works.

How do you make sure that you don’t let down your readers? Don’t just give them lists; give them insight. Anyone can use Google and build a list off of someone else’s list, but you demonstrate real value by providing insight and penetration for each list item.

Don’t think that people won’t notice crud-writing attached to exciting headline formulas. I’m starting to notice it, and I really loathe having my time wasted by an exciting headline perched over drivel.

I could end this blog post right here, but I’m going to tell you a story that relates to this issue of misusing a formula. I think I will title my story, “How the TV news lost its hold on me.”

When I was a teen, I found TV news fascinating. I could watch it hour after hour. But gradually, after watching it often enough, I started to notice a pattern emerging. At the end of a news segment, the announcer would say something like:

Coming up next—Are chinchillas the next fashion in fur? Then, find out how one university has achieved an astonishing increase in graduation rates. And, are you paying more for your groceries than the people across town? All that and more, coming up after the break…

This kind of narration was accompanied by video footage that made it seem like a very exciting story. As a viewer, it piqued my curiosity enough that I was willing to sit through the commercials. But the more I watched, the more I started to notice the news story I anticipated so highly was never quite as interesting as it had been hyped. Nor was it as in depth as I expected. I don’t remember how many rounds of teaser-commercials-news I went through before I began to become cynical about the TV news form, but my cynicism developed when I was just a teenager. Once made cynical, I began to avoid TV news.

Why do I tell you this story about TV news when this blog post is about blogging headline formulas? Simply to make this point-- we don’t want to repeat those mistakes in the new, pristine medium of blogging. SUBSTANCE, people, we need SUBSTANCE!!