Blog 12 Jake Holt

This last week taught me plenty about headlines that I’d never known before. I wasn’t aware of the format that involves the number of lines and the size of the font. I just figured it was kind of whatever fit on the webpage best.

I actually liked writing them quite a bit. It’s an art form in and of itself. I learned that people will subconsciously skip over a headline if it isn’t quick and catchy. If it doesn’t include the right keywords, it won’t strike people as relevant.

There is so much material online, that people have trained themselves to filter out bad or boring content automatically. So a headline that pops and sets up an interesting story is crucial to any article. Another thing that helps a headline is if there’s a bit of humor sprinkled in, if it’s in the right situation, that is. If the article is serious, it’s important to frame the headline as very serious, as if it’s the reader’s civic duty to click on the headline and read.

There’s a lot that goes into writing a headline that I didn’t know before this class. I definitely have a better sense for what I like and don’t like now.