How to Make a Catchy Title for a Newspaper Article

M.t. wroblewski.

The inherent brevity of headlines usually belies the ingenuity it takes to write a good one.

If you're learning about the craft of newspaper writing in school, then you might think you're home free when it comes time to write the title of a piece. But there's more to headline writing than meets the eye. By all means, strive to write catchy headlines, but make sure you know the basics of effective headline writing first.

Explore this article

  • Master the Basics
  • Catch On to Some Headline Tips

1 Master the Basics

Headlines must accurately and succinctly communicate the substance of the article -- and in the clearest terms possible. There is no room for double meanings or confusion, or worse, offensive content. Headlines also must perform the powerhouse function of grabbing readers' attention. Short, lively verbs are the lifeblood of headlines, especially if you're determined to write a catchy one.

2 Catch On to Some Headline Tips

No one is a born headline writer; it's a learned art that takes lots of practice. So begin the process by choosing exactly the right verb -- you probably will have room for only one -- that is as catchy as it is pithy. Then look for an element of humor in the article, which opens up the opportunity for irony, a pun or a play on words. Do so only when appropriate, however, and never at the expense of accuracy or clarity. Cliches are generally frowned on in newspaper writing, but it's fun to exercise some creative license by taking a well-worn cliché and giving it a new, unexpected ending. In the same vein, look for ways to take a well-known saying or advertising slogan and infuse it with a new twist. Tweak the first draft of the headlines you write and strive to make them better, deleting “deadwood” and clutter while sharpening and enlivening each and every word. With time and practice, you will improve -- as long as you never sacrifice accuracy for catchiness.

  • 1 Columbia University: Department of Journalism and Mass Communication: Headlines
  • 2 The University of Kansas: Headlines: Making an Impact -- Accurately
  • 3 Associated Press Guide to News Writing; Rene J. Cappon; 1991.

About the Author

With education, health care and small business marketing as her core interests, M.T. Wroblewski has penned pieces for Woman's Day, Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal and many newspapers and magazines. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Northern Illinois University.

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Title

Maximize search-ability and engage your readers from the very beginning

Your title is the first thing anyone who reads your article is going to see, and for many it will be where they stop reading. Learn how to write a title that helps readers find your article, draws your audience in and sets the stage for your research!

How your title impacts the success of your article

Researchers are busy and there will always be more articles to read than time to read them.  Good titles help readers find your research, and decide whether to keep reading. Search engines use titles to retrieve relevant articles based on users’ keyword searches. Once readers find your article, they’ll use the title as the first filter to decide whether your research is what they’re looking for. A strong and specific title is the first step toward citations, inclusion in meta-analyses, and influencing your field. 

how to make a good title for a news article

What to include in a title

Include the most important information that will signal to your target audience that they should keep reading.

Key information about the study design

Important keywords

What you discovered

Writing tips

Getting the title right can be more difficult than it seems, and researchers refine their writing skills throughout their career. Some journals even help editors to re-write their titles during the publication process! 

how to make a good title for a news article

  • Keep it concise and informative What’s appropriate for titles varies greatly across disciplines. Take a look at some articles published in your field, and check the journal guidelines for character limits. Aim for fewer than 12 words, and check for journal specific word limits.
  • Write for your audience Consider who your primary audience is: are they specialists in your specific field, are they cross-disciplinary, are they non-specialists?
  • Entice the reader Find a way to pique your readers’ interest, give them enough information to keep them reading.
  • Incorporate important keywords Consider what about your article will be most interesting to your audience: Most readers come to an article from a search engine, so take some time and include the important ones in your title!
  • Write in sentence case In scientific writing, titles are given in sentence case. Capitalize only the first word of the text, proper nouns, and genus names. See our examples below.

how to make a good title for a news article

Don’t

  • Write your title as a question In most cases, you shouldn’t need to frame your title as a question. You have the answers, you know what you found. Writing your title as a question might draw your readers in, but it’s more likely to put them off.
  • Sensationalize your research Be honest with yourself about what you truly discovered. A sensationalized or dramatic title might make a few extra people read a bit further into your article, but you don’t want them disappointed when they get to the results.

Examples…

Format: Prevalence of [disease] in [population] in [location]

Example: Prevalence of tuberculosis in homeless women in San Francisco

Format: Risk factors for [condition] among [population] in [location]

Example: Risk factors for preterm births among low-income women in Mexico City

Format (systematic review/meta-analysis): Effectiveness of [treatment] for [disease] in [population] for [outcome] : A systematic review and meta-analysis

Example: Effectiveness of Hepatitis B treatment in HIV-infected adolescents in the prevention of liver disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Format (clinical trial): [Intervention] improved [symptoms] of [disease] in [population] : A randomized controlled clinical trial

Example: Using a sleep app lessened insomnia in post-menopausal women in southwest United States: A randomized controlled clinical trial

Format  (general molecular studies): Characterization/identification/evaluation of [molecule name] in/from [organism/tissue] (b y [specific biological methods] ) 

Example: Identification of putative Type-I sex pheromone biosynthesis-related genes expressed in the female pheromone gland of Streltzoviella insularis

Format  (general molecular studies): [specific methods/analysis] of organism/tissue reveal insights into [function/role] of [molecule name] in [biological process]  

Example: Transcriptome landscape of Rafflesia cantleyi floral buds reveals insights into the roles of transcription factors and phytohormones in flower development

Format  (software/method papers): [tool/method/software] for [what purpose] in [what research area]

Example: CRISPR-based tools for targeted transcriptional and epigenetic regulation in plants

Tip: How to edit your work

Editing is challenging, especially if you are acting as both a writer and an editor. Read our guidelines for advice on how to refine your work, including useful tips for setting your intentions, re-review, and consultation with colleagues.

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17 Easy Tricks How to Write Catchy Titles and Headlines

January 7, 2023

how to write headlines

You need to get your audience hooked! Promise that you are going to deliver value. Make sure you write titles and subheadings that tell the reader why they need to invest time reading your content.

Catchy headlines can make or break your content. There are infinite ways to write a headline. You can combine the principles of writing effective headlines to get even more possibilities. In the following post, I will give you tips and tricks have proven themselves for many years. Next time you have to write a catchy headline, use these easy and powerful headline formulas.

Great headlines give you an edge and convince your audience to read and respond to your copy. These headline examples will inspire you to get creative and write headlines that work for you.

Good headlines will make people click your content. They will also read longer and share even without reading.

On the average, 5 times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent 80 cents out of your dollar. – David Ogilvy

First I will start with seven general principles:

1. Keep It Short, Simple, and to the Point

Write Catchy Headlines

Great headline goes directly to the point of your content. Don’t try to be clever or intriguing. Clear headlines don’t play with words or try to make a joke. Most people will miss it. So, don’t do it. Get to the point! Bring out the benefits and make clear offers when talking about your products and services. The same applies to your content marketing articles and videos. The headline should answer your audience’s question “what’s in it for me.”

  • Free E-Book That Will Help You Get X
  • The Ultimate Guide to Writing Catchy Headlines
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2. Be Clear About Your Main Benefit

Don’t list features! Turn features into benefits and make sure you put the most important one in your headline. Your headline is an ad for your content that has to convince the audience that your content has the answers they are looking for. If you promise them value in the headline, they will click through to get it.

Of course, to put the big benefit into the headline, you need to know what it is. You need to know your target audience. Even if people don’t click through, they have seen your offer.

Product review site, Above House , does a great job with this with titles like: “Alesis Nitro Drum Set Reviewed for 2021 [By a Drummer]”. The addition of [By a Drummer] is a clear unique selling proposition compared to all of the other results that pop up.

You can test different benefits to find out what works best.

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Another great example of this comes from an Estonian site called TMM that reviews various gaming platforms. One of the first headlines on their page puts strong emphasis on the fact that the site is created “by gamers, for gamers” , instantly building a connection and quite likely giving a good reason to trust their information.

3. Announce Exciting News (News Your Audience Cares About)

Let’s be frank! Nobody cares about your company news – seriously. But people do care about the things that are important to them. Let them know that there is something new that makes a difference in their lives. Most businesses do not have a constant stream of news, so use old material and present it in a novel way. Use newsjacking to tie your content to recent and upcoming events.

When covering your products and services, you can introduce new features and discounts. Or, new ways to get the most out of your product.

Bring the news to your headlines and your audience is intrigued.

  • Finally, the Gadget Hits the Stores!
  • Introducing the Newest Idea in Distant Learning from X
  • Top SEO Trends From the Past 6 Months
  • Yes! The New Thing Improves Results but More Than Expected

4. Questions in the Headline

The question in the headline should be something that your audience wants to know. If you ask something they don’t care about, then you’ll lose them. To be interesting, you need to tie the question to your main benefit. You aim for one of two responses:

  • “Yes” as in do you want to know how to get a result that is amazing?
  • “Hmm? Tell me!” – This tool blew the analysts’ expectations

As you can see, you can combine questions with the news formula, and make your headlines even more irresistible. The question doesn’t always have to be in the form of the question. You can just imply or hint at it.

  • Do You Want to Know the Top 5 Mistakes Most Bloggers Make?
  • What to Do with Your Dog on a Rainy Day?
  • Your Boss Wants to See You in His Office? Read This!

An example of this is our Jungle Scout review (we use our own principles!):  Jungle Scout Review 2021 (Do You Really Need it? YES)

5. Appeal to You Reader’s Hunger for Knowledge

how to write headlines

If I can learn to do something in X easy steps, then I would want to know how. Most people do! Use your headline to tell your readers they can learn something. You have to make it sound easy.

Do not include the process into the headline since it tends to sound like a lot of work. Target the result and the reader’s real motivations. For example, this might not be the best headline:

  • Making Money by Carefully Investing for the Next 50 Years!

Instead use:

  • Huge Profits in Options Trading You Can Learn in 15 Minutes!

The benefit and excitement of learning something new that I can use immediately to improve my daily life will make your audience click on your headlines. The most common version of this title is the “how to” headline.

  • How to Stop Smoking Right Now [For Good!]
  • Easiest Way to Run a Marathon in Under 3 Hours
  • Write Headlines That Force People to Share Your Content

6. Tell Your Audience What to Do!

Catchy Headlines

Create a headline with a command in it. Tell your audience what they have to do to get the value you are offering. Be direct and demand action. You, the expert, tell them to act in a certain way. You make them ask “why” and that in turn will make them click through to your website. Some examples of commanding headlines:

  • Subscribe to our service and get X for free!
  • Stop Wasting Your Budget on Social Media. Get 10x Results from Email!
  • Throw Away Your Old Snowboard, This Is What You Need!

7. Create the most valuable information resource

Take a look at the best content out there and create something better. Better examples or more complete guidelines let you create a definite piece of content in your industry that will work for years.

But the internet is full of information. People don’t want more information; they want to make their lives easier. We usually look for quick fixes, steps, tips, and tricks. Make sure you communicate that value in your headline.

  • 10 Most Important Tips to Make Your Sex Life Better
  • Complete Guide to Cooking Perfect Meat Every Time [With Videos!]
  • 7 Secrets That Help to Make Every Vacation a Dream

[BONUS] Add Numbers and Symbols

There’s something in the headlines that begin with numbers and contain parentheses. Numbers as digits work amazingly well even when compared with the same numbers as words. For example:

  • “5 Best Beaches in the World” usually gets you an engagement rate that is double of “Five Best Beaches in the World.”

Add a bonus to your headline. Include that in parenthesis or square brackets. Special characters make your headline stand out, and people will click it more.

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  • A Beginners Guide to Pinterest [Free E-Book!]
  • How Powerful Will Video Marketing Become? [Infographic]

A recent example from our own content is taking the boring old product review headline, and adding a spin to it by including how much work and research went into it:  MasterClass Review: Is It Worth It? [50+ Courses Watched]

Now Go Make Your Content Better

You can improve your results now! Go back to your old content and edit the headlines to make them better. Set aside one hour per week for editing headlines. You will spend about 10 to 15 minutes per headline, and then you can update 30 to 40 pieces of content per month.

Of course, if you create new content make sure that your writing process includes coming up with a catchy title. Processes help you save time and be consistent in your content creation.

Coschedule's Headline Analyzer

One more thing before we continue! There's an awesome tool from coschedule.com that helps you hone your headlines to perfection: Blog Post Headline Analyzer . But that’s not all! If you want concrete examples and formulas to create catchy headlines I will show you 9+1 simple formulas to create killer headlines that work every time:

9 Formulas to Create Awesome Headlines in Minutes

Interestingly, a lot of your shares come from people who just read the catchy title. What makes the headline informative and intriguing enough for people to click and share? There are repeatable formulas for that.

Make your headline to stand out and make people click. Here are nine formulas that help you write headlines that make people pay attention, read more, and share.

1. Who Else Wants [Something]?

A classic headline format that uses social proof. By beginning with “who else wants” you show that people already do want.

  • Who Else Wants to Work Less and Get Paid More?
  • Who Else Wants a Free Social Media Marketing Training?
  • Who Else Wants to Work from Home and Earn $500 Per Day?

2. [Number] Secret(s) of [something]

Another great headline formula is playing on your curiosity. Who wouldn't want to know the secret? The reader assumes that they get access to inside information and this makes the headline work.

  • The Untold Secret of Successful Blogging
  • 5 Secrets to Effective Time Management
  • 10 Secrets to Better Search Engine Rankings Today

3. Here's How [Somebody] [Does Something]

Simple, straightforward, personal. Make readers recognize themselves by replacing [somebody] with your target audience. Make sure [something] is a benefit they want to achieve.

  • Here’s How Coca-Cola Gets Results from Social Media
  • Here’s How Women Can Look Younger
  • Here’s How You Can Double Your Organic Leads

This headline also works in a slightly modified “here’s why” version.

  • Here’s Why You Need to Speed up Your Old Website

4. [Number] Little Known Methods [to Do Something]

Similar to the “secrets” and “how to” but works on the idea that if it's little know, then you may get an advantage over the people who do not know.

  • 5 Little Known Methods to Gain More Followers
  • 8 Little-Known But Effective Methods to Avoid Stress
  • Little Known Method to Reduce Your Gas Consumption

5. [Number] Quick Solution (Or Ways) to [Something]

Instant gratification! Most people want things to happen yesterday and headlines that promise fast results get our attention.

  • 5 Quick Ways to Fix Your Search Engine Rankings
  • Fast Solutions to Your Money Problems
  • 10 Quick Methods to Get Rid of Spam Comments

6. Now You Can Have [Good Thing] and [Other Good Thing]

These are two good things that have not been previously possible together. Who wouldn't want the cake and eat it, too?

  • Now You Can Have Your Mac and Use Chrome
  • Now You Can Eat More and Lose Weight
  • Now You Can Beat the Pros Without Hard Work

7. How to Do [Something] like [World Class Example]

Identify what your target audience wants and combine that with the best example. You can also use a number in this headline to give a list of more than one way of doing things.

  • How to Blog Like Seth Godin
  • How to Dominate the Market Like Microsoft
  • How to Sing Like Robbie Williams

8. All You Need to Know About [Something]

This headline implies that there's not much effort involved and intrigues people to find out more.

  • All You Need to Know About Facebook Advertising
  • Everything You Need to Know About Getting Fit
  • All That You Need to Know About Writing Headlines

9. [Number] [Superlative] [Something]

People love lists! Lists are easy to scan and read. List of X best things works like a magnet if you know what your audience is interested in.

  • 6 Insightful Social Media Video Interviews
  • 22 Inspiring Examples of Facebook Page Designs
  • 15 Must-See Interactive Youtube Ads

10. Add You!

Here's a bonus idea that will make all these headlines even better: make the headlines personal by adding just one little word – you .

Find out more about headlines, titles and copywriting here:

7 copywriting formulas to energize your social media posts, how to create engaging titles and headlines [infographic].

_____________________ Image: The Anxious Type JD Hancock Image: “Funny Camden Chronicle headline MACHETE ATTACK MANIAC HUNTED” by Cory Doctorow

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How to Write a Newspaper Headline

Last Updated: May 5, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Megan Morgan, PhD . Megan Morgan is a Graduate Program Academic Advisor in the School of Public & International Affairs at the University of Georgia. She earned her PhD in English from the University of Georgia in 2015. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 281,351 times.

Choosing a limited number of words to convey the main point of an article is the key challenge when considering how to write a newspaper headline. Because newspaper headlines are limited by the space available on the printed page, word choice and clarity are crucial to a good headline. In the digital age, newspaper headlines for online publications must also be searchable and make readers want to click on them to read more. [1] X Research source

Understanding the Purpose of a Newspaper Headline

Step 1 Understand the key elements of a newspaper headline.

  • Accuracy is very important when writing a newspaper headline, as you do not want to create an unintended meaning or confuse your reader. Avoid exaggerating or embellishing the content in the article by using an overblown headline. Instead, aim to communicate clearly with your reader through a short, one to three word headline.

Step 2 Try to solve a problem or answer a question.

  • Often, readers will be willing to read a headline that provides factual information that will solve a problem they might have or provide the answer to a question. For example, the headline: Lincoln: ‘The war has begun' would be of interest to people reading the newspaper in 1860, as it would answer their question: What is going on with the civil war in the United States?
  • As well, a reader may continue reading an article with a headline like: Make Your Car Engine Sparkle if she is looking to solve the problem of cleaning her car engine.

Step 3 Use search engine optimization if you are writing a headline for an online newspaper.

  • Keep in mind the expectations for newspaper headlines for online publications have shifted from more traditional rules of newspaper headline writing. Many websites will sacrifice accuracy and information for headlines that over promise or exaggerate a news story. Online newspaper headlines, and some print headlines, are also using emotion to tap into a reader’s curiosity and encourage the reader to read the rest of the article. [6] X Research source
  • For example, headlines like: The Cutest Otters on the Internet and You’ll Never Believe Who Prince Harry is Dating Now contain very little actual information and are full of hyperbole. However, these types of headlines are very common in online publications and some current print publications. You may also come across headlines that telegraph emotion, or tap into the reader’s emotions, such as: Daughter Comes Out to Father in Video. His Response Will Make You Cry , or Images of Men That Will Make You Happy on a Monday .
  • These types of headlines appeal to a certain audience and are usually used for light news stories. Hyperbolic headlines are not recommended for breaking news stories about local events, world events, and social and political topics as they can weaken the professionalism of the article. Rather than appeal to emotion or exaggeration, focus on creating newspaper headlines that inform your reader and that are based on fact.

Writing a Newspaper Headline

Step 1 Identify the key terms in the article to create the headline.

  • For example, in an article about migrants found dead in a truck in Vienna, the first sentence of the article might read: “The decomposing bodies of as many as 50 people assumed to be migrants being smuggled across Europe were found in a truck abandoned on a highway east of Vienna on Thursday, the police said.” You may then highlight key details that should be included in the headline, such as the location of the incident (Austria), the number of people dead (as many as 50), who the people were (migrants), and where they were found (in an abandoned truck). Your headline may then be: Austria Finds Up to 50 Bodies Thought to be Migrants in Truck . [7] X Research source
  • Another example is an article on Google and the European Union’s antitrust laws, with the first sentence: “Google on Thursday rejected claims from the European Union’s top antitrust official that the company favored some of its own search results over those of rivals, saying there was significant competition in the region’s online search market and that the company’s services increased choice for local consumers.” You may then come up with a short, clear headline that identifies the subject of the article (Google), the action the subject is taking (denying or rejecting), and who the subject is reacting to (European Union’s accusations of violating antitrust laws): Google Denies Europe’s Antitrust Accusations . [8] X Research source

Step 2 Use action verbs and the active voice in the headline.

  • Avoid verbs like “think”, “believe” or “feel”, as these are not verbs based on fact or statements. The headline should use only factual evidence from the article and should not be based on emotion or uncertainty. [9] X Research source
  • An effective headline should also be written with logical sentence structure and a strong present tense verb. Using the active voice will make the headline feel immediate and draw your reader in. For example, a weak headline in the passive voice, with weak verbs, might be: No affair, says Clinton, suggests witness should ‘tell the truth’ . A better headline in the active voice, with action verbs, might be: Clinton claims no affair, urges witness to ‘tell the truth’ . The second headline is much clearer and the subject of the article (Clinton) is stated first in the headline.
  • You should also avoid using words that could be read as either a noun or a verb. For example, in the headline Violinist linked to JAL crash blossoms , the verb “blossom” can be read as a noun or a verb in the context of the rest of the headline. The reader is not sure if “crash blossoms” refers to the noun “blossoms” or the verb “to blossom”. [10] X Research source If you read the article, you will understand the headline is referring to a violinist. Her father dies in a crash, but her career blossoms. The headline only makes sense once you read the article, which means the headline itself is confusing and not useful to the reader.

Step 3 Put the headline in the present tense if the events are happening now.

  • You likely will not create a headline for an event that happened in the distant past, unless there are new developments in relation to the event. You can use the past tense or the present tense for the headline. For example, Robert Durst Murder Case Reopened in Light of New Evidence or Robert Durst Murder Case Reopens in Light of New Evidence .
  • Whenever possible, remove articles like “an”, “a”, “the” and connecting terms like “because” or “due to” in the headline. These are considered padding in a headline and are not necessary to get the key points of the article across. For example, The Robert Durst Murder case will be reopened because of new evidence can be shortened to Robert Durst Murder Case Reopens in Light of New Evidence .

Step 4 Do not use jargon or slang in the headline.

  • For example, Syrian head visits Senate . In this headline, “head” is a headlines, as it is not clear if the headline is referring to an actual head of a Syrian or a Syrian who is the head of a department or office.
  • Similarly, the headline FBI probe expected in hijacking case is confusing as it uses the headline jargon “probe”, but this term does not give the reader any clear information about the actions of the FBI. A stronger headline might be: FBI investigation expected in hijacking case .

Step 5 Include humor or puns in the headline only when appropriate.

  • For example, a news story on a former environmental disaster zone in Hungary that use reinvented itself as a center for sustainable energy might have a headline like: Town hit by red sludge goes green . This headline works because it is factually accurate, and uses a simple pun (red to green). [13] X Research source

Step 6 Do the TACT test.

  • Is it in good taste? Is there anything possibly offensive in the headline? Can anything in the headline be taken the wrong way?
  • Is it attractive to the reader? Can it be improved so it is more engaging and interesting, without sacrificing accuracy?
  • Does it communicate the key points of the article? Is it clear and simple? Does it use the active voice and active verbs? Are there any odd words or double meanings that could confuse the reader?
  • Is it accurate? Are the proper words or terms from the article used in the headline? Is the headline factually correct?
  • If you answer no to any of these questions, you will need to rethink the headline and adjust it so it meets the TACT criteria.

Formatting the Headline

Step 1 Capitalize the first word of the headline.

  • All headlines should be flush to the left and should not take up more than one to two lines in the publication. In general, shorter headlines are best.

Step 2 Do not spell out numbers in headlines.

  • For example, 3 dead in car crash , or 20 dead in explosion .

Step 3 Use punctuation properly in the headline.

  • Use periods for abbreviations only in headlines. For example, U.S. fights Iranian government .
  • Use single quotes for any double quotes in the article. For example, Lincoln: ‘The war has begun’ , Clinton urges witness to ‘tell the truth’ .
  • You can also use a colon as a substitute for the word “said” in a headline. For example, Lincoln: War inevitable, victory essential .

Community Q&A

Community Answer

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Write a News Article

  • ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-write-a-catchy-headline-in-1-minute-and-7-seconds/
  • ↑ http://www.columbia.edu/itc/journalism/isaacs/client_edit/Headlines.html
  • ↑ https://www.wyliecomm.com/2021/06/how-long-should-a-press-release-headline-be/
  • ↑ https://crowdfavorite.com/how-to-write-effective-attention-grabbing-headlines/
  • ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34073534
  • ↑ https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/es/MEMO_17_1785
  • ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/09/secrets-great-headline-writing

About This Article

Megan Morgan, PhD

To write a newspaper headline, identify the key terms in your story that tell readers what the article is about. You want the headline to clearly reflect the content without exaggerating or embellishing the story. Once you have a short list of keywords, connect them using action verbs, which makes the headline more exciting. For example, “Shopkeeper defends store from thieves.” Make sure your headline is in present tense, which makes it sound more immediate and engaging. If it’s a casual or fun story, you can use a pun or joke, but avoid using these for serious articles. For more tips from our English co-author, including how to use Search Engine Optimization for online headlines, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Catchy Titles for Articles – 21 Formulas That Work Like Magic

Writing catchy titles for articles is a key part of on-page SEO. Catchy article titles result in a higher click-through rate (CTR) from the search results.

This article gives you 21 tried and tested formulas for getting clicks from your blog post titles.

#1. Use Numbers

  • #2. Include the Word 'Guide'
  • #3. Create a 'Curiosity Gap'

#4. Titles That Solve a Problem

#5. avoidance of pain, #6. promise change, #7. use fear of failure, #8. use negatives, #9. use the unusual insight, #10. make bold statements, #11. make a prediction, #12. offer help, #13. use fomo, #14. use insider information.

  • #15. Use 'Secrets Of The Experts'

#16. How To Do This Without Doing That

#17. be controversial, #18. things i wish i had known.

  • #19. 'I Did It and So Can You'
  • #20. 'Things You Didn't Know'
  • #21. Start With The Word 'Why'

A Tool to Help You Write Better Titles

More articles about writing.

While CTR from the search results may not be a direct ranking signal, it more than likely affects ranking indirectly,  as Larry Kim shows in this article .

In a nutshell: the more people who click on your SERP snippet , the higher your page will rank.

And that’s why the SEO title is the most important part of your article.

So how do you write catchy SEO titles?

Here are some examples:

  • The 7 Worst ___ Mistakes
  • 5 Facts About ___ You Didn’t Know
  • Why Everyone is Doing ___ and You Should Too

But let’s look at it in more detail.

In this article, I’m going to show you 21 headline formulas that are used over and over again in online marketing.

Why do people keep using these formulas?

Because they work!

How To Write Catchy Titles for Articles

I’ve spent hours analyzing successful titles to better understand the psychology behind click-worthy headlines. From my research I’ve distilled these 21 formulas that will help you unleash the power of words and make your articles impossible to resist.

So, buckle up and get ready to master the art of writing catchy titles that grab the reader’s attention!

This is the key ingredient in writing catchy titles for articles: use numbers! Numbers produce order out of chaos (God made the world in 7 days). They also promise something people can read quickly, as in a list post : 

  • [#] Reasons _____  Is The Best  _____
  • [#] Ways To _____  With Your Next  _____
  • The Best [#] Formats For  _____

Further Reading: 5 reasons using numbers works in article headlines

#2. Include the Word ‘Guide’

Guides usually cover a topic from A to Z, so the word ‘guide’ suggests your article is authoritative. That’s going to help you get more clicks:

  • The Definitive Guide To   _____ 
  • The Ultimate Guide To   _____ 
  • The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need To   _____

#3. Create a ‘Curiosity Gap’

One way to write catchy titles for articles is to create a curiosity gap. A curiosity gap is where your reader is left wondering what something is. Here’s an example:

  • 7 Tips For Getting ___ (#3 Will Surprise You)

On one level, you probably know that this is a ploy to get you to click on the link. But on another level, you’re wondering what Tip #3 is: it could be a tip that you’ve never heard before. And there’s only one way to find out – so you click on the link.

Here’s another way of creating a curiosity gap. Whenever you insert the word ‘the’ before a number, it implies that these are not just any tips but very specific tips. Again, the reader wonders what these particular tips are.

Here are some examples (as you read them, try them without the word “the” and you’ll see the difference):

  • The [#] _____ Tips That Will Make Your _____
  • The [#] _____ That Tripled My _____ in 7 Days
  • The One Thing You Need to Know Before Starting a _____

Further Reading: The Curiosity Gap: How to Entice People to Click Your Emails and Read Your Content

When people find your pages in the Google search results , it means they have a problem they’re trying to solve.Use the word ‘How’ in your title and you immediately signal to the reader that you’re about to solve a problem:

  • How I Got Rid of  _____  Forever With This One Simple Trick
  • How To Create Amazing  _____  That  _____
  • How To _____  Even If  _____

Avoidance of pain is an even stronger motivator than the pursuit of pleasure. If your title suggests your reader could avoid loss, cost, or pain, you’ll likely get more clicks:

  • Why  _____  Could Be You Business’s Biggest Enemy
  • Why  _____  Could Be Hurting Your ____ and Costing You ____
  • [#] Reasons Your _____ Is Turning People Away and Costing You _____

We’re all looking for something that will change our lives. And it doesn’t have to be something huge:

  • How _____ Will Change the Way You Think About _____
  • The Little-Known Formula That Will Change the Way You _____
  • One Simple Technique That Got Me ____ in 7 Days

One of our greatest motivators is the fear of failure, so if you want to write catchy titles for articles , you should consider invoking fear of failure.Unfortunately, it motivates people more than the desire for success:

  • Why Most People Will Never Succeed with ____
  • Why Your ____ is Failing and What to Do About It
  • Why Your Competitors Are Beating You At ____

MORE ARTICLES ABOUT WRITING

  • Best Blog Post Format – 19 Tips for Formatting Online Content
  • How To Structure a Blog Post – 13 Elements You Need
  • How to Write Your First Blog Post – 17 Tips For Best Results
  • How To Write Blog Posts: 10 Best Tips For Ranking on Google
  • 21 Great Ideas For Your Next Blog Post
  • How To Use Inverted Pyramid Writing for the Web
  • How To Write Powerful Titles For Your Blog Posts
  • How To Write a Blog Intro (The 4-Step Formula)
  • The 7 Most Effective SEO Copywriting Tools For 2022

You would think we are more attuned to positives than negatives.But the reverse is true: our survival instinct picks up on negatives much quicker than positives. That’s why the newspapers are full of bad news – bad news sells.

  • What Wikipedia Can’t Tell You About ____
  • The [#] Worst ____ Mistakes Of All Time
  • When Not to Use ____ On Your ____

Further Reading: New Outbrain Study Says Negative Headlines Do Better Than Positive

An unusual insight is where a lesson learned in one field of activity is applied to a completely different field of activity. These kinds of headlines grab people’s attention because they offer a completely new perspective on something.

  • What The Amish Can Teach You About ____
  • [#] Things Sumo Wrestlers Know About ____
  • What Cheese Rolling Can Tell You About ____

Bold statements stop people in their tracks and grab their attention.

  • Why Your ____ Could Be Killing Your Business
  • Why ____ Get More ____ Than Any Other ____
  • Why ____ Are the Key to Better ____

21 formulas for creating catchy titles

We’re all worried about the future. Even if what we’re doing now is working, will it still work in 5 years’ time?

  • Where ____ Is Headed in the Next 5 Years
  • The Future of ____ Beyond 2021 – Five Predictions You Need to Know
  • [#] Reasons ____ Will Radically Change in The Next 5 Years

We all want to be helped and nurtured. Use the word ‘Help’ in your title.

  • How ____ Can Help You Write Better ____
  • How ____ Can Help Strengthen Your ____
  • How ____ Can Help Boost Your ____

This is a huge trigger for human behavior. Fear of missing out is so basic to human nature that it has its own acronym. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is simply the fear that others are getting something you’re not.

  • Why Everyone is Doing ____ and You Should Too
  • Why The Experts Don’t ____ (and You Shouldn’t Either)
  • Why The Pros Are Switching to ____

We all want to get ‘inside’ information that is not available to the masses. That’s why these kind of titles get masses of clicks:

  • [#] Little Known Ways of _____
  • [#] Unexpected Ways ____ Can Affect Your _____
  • [#] Ways to Get More ____ That Would Probably Never Occur to You

#15. Use ‘Secrets Of The Experts’

Most people believe that experts never share their best secrets, so this is another kind of title that will trigger a response:

  • [#] Things About ____ the Experts Won’t Tell You
  • [#] Things About ____ the Pros Don’t Want You to Know
  • [#]  ____ Tips The Experts Are Keeping to Themselves

It’s a fact of life that most of the things we want involve doing something we don’t want, hence the saying: “no pain, no gain”. And that’s why this kind of title has such a strong appeal – it promises the result without the pain. This title formula takes the form of ‘How To Do This (Positive Thing) Without Doing That (Negative Thing)’.

This technique has the added benefit that it allows you to include a secondary keyword in your title:

  • How to Remove ____ Without Risking ____
  • How to Get More ____ Without Spending a Dime on ____
  • How To ____ Without Feeling Like a Fraud

The Internet is swamped with free content that basically regurgitates advice that’s already available in hundreds of different blog posts. And that’s why controversial or contradictory titles get clicks. You’re telling the reader: “This is something different”. Here are some examples:

  • Why Most ____ Experts Are Wrong About the Future of ____
  • The Big Mistake Most ____ Make Every Time They Hit ‘Publish’
  • [#] Reasons I Don’t ____ Anymore

We all know that learning from other’s mistakes can save us months, if not years, of frustration. So this is another type of title that people click on:

  • [#] Things I Wish Somebody Had Told Me When I Started ____
  • [#] Things About ____ I Wish I Had Known Before I Got ____
  • [#] Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started My ____

#19. ‘I Did It and So Can You’

One of the fears that people have on the Internet, especially when they are starting out, is that the people giving advice are successful because they have some advantages that the reader doesn’t have. So if you can assure people in the title that they can get the same result you did, that’s going to get clicks.

  • How I Got _____ And You Can Too
  • How I Amassed 50K Followers on ____ and So Can You
  • How I Got Published on ____ (& You Can Too)

#20. ‘Things You Didn’t Know’

When people read a title, they’re trying to decide (in a split second) if this is information they already have. And that’s why this kind of title gets so many clicks. Because you’re telling them, upfront, that this is information they definitely don’t have .

  • [#] Facts About ____ You Didn’t Know
  • [#] Strategies You Didn’t Know for Getting People to ____
  • [#] Techniques You Never Heard of For Getting More ____

#21. Start With The Word ‘Why’

When you begin your title with the word ‘why’, it tells the reader you’re about to give them a reason. And reasons have a powerful effect on human beings.

In 1977, American professor of psychology, Ellen Langer, conducted an experiment where she got students to jump the queue for a photocopy machine. The students gave three different reasons for jumping the queue:

  • Version 1 (request only): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”
  • Version 2 (request with a real reason): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”
  • Version 3 (request with a fake reason): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I have to make copies?”

It was version #3 (which is not actually a reason) that was the most successful in getting people to agree to the queue jumping.The takeaway? Reasons are so powerful in human psychology that even a meaningless reason will work. You can read more about this experiment in James Clear’s article: The One Word That Drives Senseless and Irrational Habits .

  • Why You Should Avoid Selling Your Home ‘As Is’
  • Why Too Much Praise Could Be Ruining Your Child
  • Why You Shouldn’t Invest in Bitcoin, Even If The Price Is Surging

If you want help writing your headlines, try Co-Schedule’s Headline Studio .

This is a powerful content marketing tool designed to help you create compelling and engaging headlines for your online content. Whether you’re writing a blog post, social media updates, email subject lines or any other form of digital content, Headline Studio will help you craft attention-grabbing headlines that resonate with your audience.

There’s a paid version and a free version but the free version works just fine.

how to make a good title for a news article

Headline Studio evaluates your headline based on various factors such as word balance, length, sentiment, and emotional appeal. It provides a score and suggestions for improving your headline to make it more captivating and attention-grabbing.

I’ve been using it for a couple of years – I find it a great way to get the juices flowing.

Start off by typing in your basic title (don’t worry if it’s not very good – the tool will tell you how to improve it).

Then just keep following the suggestions until you get a score in the 80’s. And then you’re good to go!

To access Headline Studio click on the link below and then scroll down to ‘Our Products’ and click on ‘Headline Studio’:

Co-Schedule’s Headline Studio (free tool for writing better headlines)

how to make a good title for a news article

The title of your article has a huge impact on whether people click on your snippet in the search results. Yet for many bloggers, the title of their blog post is an afterthought. Titles make or break your articles. And that’s why it’s worth spending some time writing a compelling title.

Try using just some of these title formulas on your next blog post and watch as it rises up the search results.

And if you’ve got a moment, go back to your old blog posts and see if you can use these formulas to come up with better titles for them as well.

  • How To Write Powerful Titles For Your Blog Posts – The Complete Guide
  • How To Write a Blog Intro (The 4-Step Formula That Pulls Readers In)

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4 thoughts on “Catchy Titles for Articles – 21 Formulas That Work Like Magic”

Excellent ! Really amazing tips, appreciate clarity explanation and excellent examples. Must read before before finalizing title to their articles. Mahesh Hegde

I like how you mentioned that people can read numbers quickly in news titles. My brother is wanting to become a news reporter and he was wondering how he can make intriguing titles for his job. I’ll be sure to tell him to make news article titles with numbers in them.

Thanks, glad it was useful – Rob

Thanks, Mahesh, glad it was useful – Rob

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How to Write Catchy Headlines and Blog Titles Your Readers Can't Resist

Corey Wainwright

Updated: September 11, 2017

Published: June 15, 2017

It's one thing to write great content, but it's another thing to get it read and ranked -- which is where nailing the title comes in.

writing titles formula

How long should my headline be? What words should I use? What words should I avoid? Should I optimize it for search, or for social? Or both?

Luckily, we've come up with a simple formula for writing catchy headlines and blog titles that you can reference from here on out. So let's just dive right in, shall we?

A Foolproof Method for How to Write Catchy Headlines and Titles

1) start with a working title..

Before you get into the nitty-gritty of coming up with a perfect title, start with a rough draft: your working title.  What is that, exactly? A lot of people confuse working titles with topics. Let's clear that up:

Topics are very general and could yield several different blog posts. Think "raising healthy kids," or "kitchen storage." A writer might look at either of those topics and choose to take them in very, very different directions.

A working title, on the other hand, is very specific and guides the creation of a single blog post. For example, from the topic "raising healthy kids," you could derive the following working titles:

  • "How the Right Nutrition Can Strengthen Your Kids' Bones"
  • "A Parent's Guide to Promoting Your Child's Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Well-Being"
  • "X Recipes for Quick & Healthy Dinners Your Teenagers Will Gobble Up"

See how different and specific each of those is? That's what makes them working titles , instead of overarching topics. It's also worth noting that none of those titles are perfect -- they should just be specific enough to guide your blog post. (We'll worry about making it clickable and search-friendly later.)

2) Stay accurate.

Accuracy is critical when trying to finesse a title, because it sets clear expectations for your readers. While I'm sure lots of people would love to click into a post that said "10 B2B Companies Killing Facebook So Freaking Hard They Don't Need Any Other Marketing Channel" ... it's a little bombastic, no?

Unless, of course, you truly did find 10 B2B companies rocking Facebook that hard, and you could confirm that all 10 of them had stopped using other marketing channels. First and foremost, your title needs to accurately reflect the content that follows.

One way to ensure accuracy? Add bracketed clarification to your headline, like we did in this blog post:

bracketed-title-example-soph

In a study of over 3.3 million paid link headlines, we found that headlines with this type of clarification -- [Interview], [Podcast], [Infographic], etc. -- performed 38% better than headlines without clarification . Again, it's all about setting clear expectations. Thanks to the brackets, these readers knew exactly what they were getting themselves into before they even clicked.

So if you remember nothing else from this blog post, let it be this: The most important rule of titles is to respect the reader experience.  If you set high expectations in your title that you can't fulfill in the content, you'll lose readers' trust.

Accuracy encompasses more than just hyperbole, though. With the example working title above, you'd also want to confirm all of the examples are, indeed, B2B. Or even that they're all companies -- instead of, say, individual bloggers that target B2B audiences. See what I mean?

3) Make it sexy.

Just because you have to be accurate doesn't mean you can't find ways to make your title pop. There are a lot of ways to make a title sexier.

Of course, all of this hinges on understanding your core buyer persona. You need to find language that resonates with them, and know what they find valuable. (Haven't created or refined your buyer personas yet? Download this free template to create your own buyer personas for your business .)

Once you're armed with knowledge of your buyer persona's preferred style, try testing out some of these tips for making your headlines a little sexier:

  • Have some fun with alliteration. The title and header in this blog post, for instance, play with alliteration: "Foolproof Formula." It's a device that makes something a little lovelier to read, and that can have a subtle but strong impact on your reader.
  • Use strong language. Strong phrases (and, frankly, often negative ones) like "Things People Hate," or "Brilliant" pack quite a punch. However, these must be used in moderation. As one of my coworkers likes to say, "If everything is bold, nothing is bold."
  • Make the value clear. As we mentioned above, presenting the format and/or contents to a reader helps make your content a little sexier. According to our research , templates tend to be particularly powerful for CTR: We found that adding "[Template]" to our titles got the most average views of all bracketed terms.
  • Make it visual. Is there an opportunity to include visuals within your post? Make that clear in the title. Our research revealed that headlines featuring the word "photo(s)" performed 37% better than headlines without this word.
  • Focus on the "whos," not the "whys". Want to intrigue your audience? Focus on the "who": Headlines including the word "who" generated a 22% higher CTR than headlines without it.

For example, let's say you're writing a post titled, "15 of Our Favorite Brands on Snapchat." How might we punch up our accurate-but-boring working title? Here are some options:

  • 15 Brilliant Brands Who Are Killing It on Snapchat
  • Snapchat Success: 15 Inspiring Brands Who Just Get It
  • 15 Must-Follow Brands That Are Seeing Snapchat Success

4) Keep it short.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to how long or short your title should be. It depends what your goals are, and where your headline will appear.

Do you want this post to rank really well in search? Focus on keeping the title under 70 characters so it doesn't get cut off in search engine results.

Are you trying to optimize your title for social sharing? According to our own analysis at HubSpot, headlines between 8–12 words in length got the most Twitter shares on average. As for Facebook, headlines with either 12 or 14 words received the most Likes.

headline-length-vs-social-shares

Additionally, headlines with eight words had a 21% higher clickthrough rate than the average title, according to the folks at Outbrain .

The lesson? It's always a good idea to run a few tests to see what works best for your particular audience.

Let's say I was writing this blog post: "Think Social Media Is Just for Kids? Here Are 10 Statistics Guaranteed to Prove You Wrong." To shorten it, I would simply try to rephrase it and cut out extraneous words. For instance, I might do something like this:

  • Before: Think Social Media Is Just for Kids? Here Are 10 Statistics Guaranteed to Prove You Wrong
  • After: 10 Stats That Prove Social Media Isn't Just for Kids

See? It's that easy. Try sounding out the title in your head to make sure it's easily digestible for your readers. The less of a mouthful you can make your titles, the better.

5) Try to optimize for search and social.

I say "try" because, sometimes, trying too hard to optimize for these things can make your title sound strange. Remember: You want to optimize your title for your audience above all else, but if you can optimize for both search and social, that's great.

The secret to thinking about all three at once? Focus on keywords that you know your audience is already searching for, then look into the search volume for those keywords.

Once you have a keyword in mind, you'll want to be sure to place it as closely as possible to the beginning of your headline to catch your reader's attention. (Again, you should keep your headline under 70 characters so it doesn't get cut off in search engine results.)

Another important consideration? Make sure your headlines are tweetable: "The 120-130-character range is the sweet spot for high clickthrough rate, according to an analysis of 200,000 tweets with links ,"  explains my colleague, Senior Marketing Manager Lindsay Kolowich .  "This leaves enough space for people to include a short comment if they choose to manually retweet and cite you." 

Here's an example: Let's say I'm writing a post titled, "X B2B Companies Using Facebook in Cool Ways." Looks like there's some wiggle room to optimize it without compromising clarity, right?

If the goal is to rank for the term, "Facebook Marketing," I'd recommend something like this:

"New to Facebook Marketing ? Here Are 10 B2B Companies Doing It Right"

This new title works for a few reasons:

  • It's 56 characters long. This means that it's short enough to not be cut off in search engines and it's short enough to be retweeted.
  • The keyword is in the beginning. By moving "Facebook Marketing" to the beginning of the title, we're ultimately increasing the odds that we'll grab our audience's attention.
  • It's human. I wasn't kidding when I said you should focus on optimizing for your audience first. This title presents both a pain point and a solution all wrapped up in one.

( Download this ebook for more data-backed SEO strategies we recommend .)

6) Brainstorm with someone else.

Once you've refined your title using the tips above, it's time to come up for air and connect with another human. Title brainstorming is an essential part of the process.

Here at HubSpot, we spend a decent amount of time and brainpower coming up with our titles. The final step before scheduling a blog post is pulling another member of our team into a back-and-forth title brainstorm in a chat room. One member of the duo will post the title they recommend into the chat pane window. The other person will then refine that title even further, or suggest other angles. After several back-and-forths, the duo will agree on the title that's accurate, sexy, concise, and SEO-friendly.

Only when both parties agree on a title do we schedule our post for publishing -- which can take as little as five seconds and as long as ten or so minutes. While that seems like a long time, it's essential to put our best feet forward with each post we publish.

What's your process for crafting titles? Let us know in the comments.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in October 2013 and has been updated and for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

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5 Easy Tricks to Help You Write Catchy Headlines

On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.  —David Ogilvy

In a world full of noise, how do you get people to read what you write? It takes more than good content  or great design. The most important part of writing an article is the headline.

5 Easy Tricks to Help You Write Catchy Headlines

The same principle applies to blog posts, book chapters, and so on: The title is where your focus should be. You should begin and end every article with the question: “ Would this make me want to read on?”

If not, don't publish until you've got a catchy headline. Concentrate on this, and you'll get more readers, more buzz, and more love.

How to write catchy headlines

Too often the headline is the most neglected part of writing an article. People just gloss over it without taking much time to consider it. In their minds, it's the cherry on top. No, friends; it's not. The headline is the sundae.

I sometimes deliberate over titles for 30–60 minutes before settling on one that works. And I often go back and change them. This is what it takes to write a good headline.

If you need some help concocting catchier headlines, here are a few simple tricks:

  • Use numbers to give concrete takeaways
  • Use emotional objectives to describe your reader's problem
  • Use unique rationale to demonstrate what the reader will get out of the article
  • Use what, why, how , or when
  • Make an audacious promise

1. Use numbers to give concrete takeaways

There's a reason why so many copywriters use numbers in their headlines. It works.

Do an experiment: Go to the grocery store, and scan the magazines in the checkout lane. Look at the front-page article headlines. It doesn't matter if it's a fitness magazine or a tabloid; many of them will be using numerals to start off the headline.

There aren't really any rules (as far as I know) regarding what numbers work best, but people typically only remember three to five points. That said, sometimes a really obscure number like 19 or 37 can catch people's attention.

Warning: don't overuse numbers or use them arbitrarily. If your article clearly has some key takeaways, adding a number to the headline can help make the takeaways more digestible. But if the article doesn't, don't force it.

2. Use emotional adjectives to describe your reader's problem

Here are some examples:

  • Painstaking

3. Use unique rationale to demonstrate what the reader will get out of the article

If you're going to do a list post, be original. For example consider the following:

If possible, never use things . Please, for the love of Pete, don't use things . You can do better than that.

4. Use what , why , how , or when

These are trigger words. I typically use “why” and “how” the most, because I'm often trying to persuade or enable someone. Typically, you'll use either a trigger word or a number. Rarely does it sound good to do both.

5. Make an audacious promise

Promise your reader something valuable. Will you teach her how to learn a new skill? Will you persuade her to do something she's never done before? Will you unlock an ancient mystery?

What you want to do is dare your reader to read the article. Without over-promising, be bold . Be seductive (in the most innocuous way possible, of course). Be dangerous . And then deliver what you promised.

Try this formula

Here's a simple headline-writing formula:

Number or Trigger word + Adjective + Keyword + Promise

Example: Take the subject “bathing elephants.” You could write an article entitled, “How to Bath an Elephant” or “Why I Love Bathing Elephants.”

Or you could apply this formula and make it: “18 Unbelievable Ways You Can Bathe an Elephant Indoors”

Another (more serious) example: Take a bold promise like “selling your house in a day.”

Apply the formula and you get: “How You Can Effortlessly Sell Your Home in Less than 24 Hours”

Here are some examples of my most popular articles and the headlines behind them:

  • 10 Ridiculously Simple Tips for Writing a Book
  • 8 Tips for Waking Up Early & Conquering the Alarm Clock
  • The Short Guide to Launching a Self-hosted Blog in 8 Minutes
  • How to Overcome Writer's Block: 14 Tricks That Work
  • 4 Essential Elements to Writing a Great Blog Post
  • 5 Easy Tricks to Write Catchy Headlines (yes, the post you're reading right now)

When in doubt, be clear

People don't want to be tricked into reading something boring; they want to be drawn into something exciting. Make it worth their while.

Take extra long time to consider what headline will grab people's attention the most, and make sure that it describes your content in an honest, but attractive, way. They won't regret it, and neither will you.

And if you don't yet have a blog, check out my 8-minute video walk-through on how to launch a self-hosted WordPress blog .

how to make a good title for a news article

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How to Write a News Article That's Effective

It's similar to writing academic papers, but with vital differences

  • Writing Research Papers
  • Writing Essays
  • English Grammar
  • M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
  • B.A., History, Armstrong State University

Techniques for writing a news article differ from those needed for academic papers. Whether you're interested in writing for a school newspaper, fulfilling a requirement for a class, or seeking a writing job in journalism, you'll need to know the difference. To write like a real reporter, consider this guide for how to write a news article.

Choose Your Topic

First, you must decide what to write about. Sometimes an editor or instructor will give you assignments, but you’ll often have to find your own topics to cover.

If you get to choose your topic, you might be able to pick a subject related to your personal experience or family history, which would give you a strong framework and a dose of perspective. However, this route means you must work to avoid bias—you may have strong opinions that could affect your conclusions. You also could pick a topic that revolves around a personal interest, such as your favorite sport.

Research for Your News Article

Even if you end up with a topic close to your heart, you should begin with research, using books and articles that will give you a full understanding of the subject. Go to the library and find background information about people, organizations, and events you intend to cover.

Next, interview a few people to collect more information and quotes that give perspective on the topic. Don't be intimidated by the idea of interviewing important or newsworthy people—an interview can be as formal or informal as you want to make it, so relax and have fun with it. Find people with backgrounds in the topic and strong opinions, and carefully write down or record their responses for accuracy. Let the interviewees know that you will be quoting them.

Parts of a News Article

Before you write your first draft, you should be aware of the parts that make up a news story:

Headline or title

The headline  of your article should be catchy and to the point. You should punctuate your title using Associated Press style guidelines unless your publication specifies something else. Other members of the publication staff frequently write the headlines, but this will help focus your thoughts and maybe save those other staffers some time.

  • "Lost dog finds his way home"
  • "Debate tonight in Jasper Hall"
  • "Panel chooses 3 essay winners"

The byline is the name of the writer—your name, in this case.

Lead (sometimes written "lede")

The lead is the first sentence or paragraph, written to provide a preview of the entire article. It summarizes the story and includes many of the basic facts. The lead will help readers decide if they want to read the rest of the news article or if they are satisfied knowing these details.

Once you’ve set the stage with a good lead, follow up with a well-written story that contains facts from your research and quotes from people you’ve interviewed. The article should not contain your opinions. Detail any events in chronological order. Use the active voice —not passive voice —when possible, and write in clear, short, direct sentences.

In a news article, you should use the inverted pyramid format—putting the most critical information in the early paragraphs and following with supporting information. This ensures that the reader sees the important details first. Hopefully they'll be intrigued enough to continue to the end.

The sources

Include your sources in the body with the information and quotes they provide. This is different from academic papers, where you would add these at the end of the piece.

Your conclusion can be your last bit of information, a summary, or a carefully chosen quote to leave the reader with a strong sense of your story.

  • How to Write a Research Paper That Earns an A
  • Avoid the Common Mistakes That Beginning Reporters Make
  • Tips on How to Write an Argumentative Essay
  • Understanding Organization in Composition and Speech
  • What Is Expository Writing?
  • Tips for Writing an Art History Paper
  • These Are Frequently Used Journalism Terms You Need to Know
  • The Five Steps of Writing an Essay
  • How to Write a Persuasive Essay
  • 5 Steps to Writing a Position Paper
  • Finding Trustworthy Sources
  • Tips to Write a Great Letter to the Editor
  • MBA Essay Tips
  • 5 Tips on How to Write a Speech Essay
  • Write an Attention-Grabbing Opening Sentence for an Essay
  • 10 Important Steps for Producing a Quality News Story

Examples logo

News Headline Writing – How-to’s and Examples

pexels photo 902194

In any form and style of writing, the headline or title best describes what the article is all about. Imagine newspaper articles with no headlines? How will the readers be able to determine and identify what these articles are about? Not only that, newspaper and magazine articles without headlines can be confusing and annoying. You may also see essay writing examples & samples .

  • News Article Outline Examples & PDF
  • Entertainment News Outline Examples & PDF

In journalism, news headlines do not only capture the audiences’ attention but also give a complete overview of what the news article is all about. It is straightforward and accurate, and should be able to answer the who, what, where, when, why and how  questions. By definition, a headline is a set of words set found at the head of a passage for introduction purposes. Specifically, it is found at the top of an article or page in a newspaper or magazine. You may also like article writing examples & samples .

Difference Between Headline and Title

These terms have been loosely used and associated with each other. They signify the same thing, however, there are subtle differences between the two. Here are some similarities and differences between a headline and a title:

1. Headlines are commonly used in news (i.e. newspapers or broadcast reports). It is straightforward and precise, and doesn’t leave room for more questions as it is a brief general statement given to a news article/report/story.

2. On the other hand, titles  are mainly used in feature magazines. Titles for articles don’t necessarily need to give the entire information immediately similar to a headline. Feature stories and other creative writing pieces commonly use titles.

3. Titles in journalism, meanwhile, can mean differently. The title of a newspaper is the name of the newspaper publication. It is sometimes called as the “nameplate” of the newspaper.

Although these are just subtle differences and there are actually no international rules governing the usage of the two. It is important to understand that there are in fact differences in the usage and meaning of both headlines and titles. However, they are both similar in a way that they are found above the articles or write ups. And they both tell something about what the write up is all about. You may also see application writing examples & samples .

newspaper

Functions of a Headline

1. attracts attention.

According to a study conducted by the Poynter Institute, headlines were determined to greatly help readers navigate through a page. The study found that the readers only see 56% of the headlines but they are informed of only 25% of the content and they have only read a portion of that. With all these said, it is apparent that headlines help attract readers to look at and read the news/news stories. You may also see tips for writing an effective essay .

2. Summarizes stories

Headlines that appear over news stories are designed to inform and not entertain. Basically, news headlines simply summarize the story as accurately as possible. Although headlines seldom win prizes for originality or bring in compliments from the readers, they are the bread and butter of headline writers and they makes news stories easier to read. This also prompts readers to read more of the story if the headline is as accurate and straightforward. You may also like formal writing examples & samples .

3. Sets the mood of the story

Headlines set the mood of the story. If a headline is straightforward, it indicates that the story is serious and intended to inform, not entertain. Headlines have a big role in helping determine the nature of the story.

4. Sets the tone of the publication

As much as it helps set the tone for news stories, it also helps set the tone of the newspaper publication. It is known that there are two types of newspapers– a broadsheet and a tabloid. Aside from the difference paper sizes, headlines in broadsheets are straightforward, direct, accurate and precise. However, in tabloids, headlines are more malicious and sensationalized. Through headlines, the tone in which the nature of the stories within the newspaper is determined. You may also check out abstract writing examples & samples .

5. Provides design elements

Aside from the other functions of a headline, it also provides typographic relief. A headline helps separate stories within the same page and relieves the “ennui” that commonly exists in newspapers.

How to Write an Effective News Headline

1. be accurate.

This is the most important thing to remember when writing a news headline. It must be accurate and must be based on the gathered facts about the story. Always stay true to the content and avoid sensationalizing just to encourage readers to read the story. You may also see report writing examples .

2. Keep it short

By nature, headlines are meant to be short and concise. It can be 5-10 word at most. Generally, in newspapers, there are limitations to the space and letters are counted to make way for other stories to be inserted in the page. You may also like free writing examples .

3. Fill the space

Speaking of space, it is a must to avoid leaving too much empty space. The headline must fully incorporate the place it is intended to fill in order to avoid white space especially in the front page of the paper.

4. Don’t repeat the lead/lede

The headline and the lead/lede always focus on the the main point of the story. However, the headline must present an angle of the story that is different from that of the lead. Best to avoid redundancy and try using different wordings or sentence syntax in the headline or lead. You may also check out minutes writing examples & samples .

5. Be direct

The news headline should be as straightforward and direct as possible. It should be able to effectively communicate the point across. It is meant to inform and not to obscure.

6. Use present tense and active verbs

An active voice entails that the event recently happened. The headline should always follow the subject-verb-object formula. However, do not start with the verb and always start the headline with the subject. For example, “Man Runs Cross-country for Homeless.” You might be interested in writing examples in pdf .

7. Avoid bad breaks

A bad break is when a headline with more than one line splits a prepositional phrase, an adjective and noun, an adverb and verb, or a proper name. Avoid awkwardly breaking apart or splitting phrases or words as it can lead to confusion. You may also see script writing examples & samples .

8. Make your headline appropriate to the story

Use or make headlines that are appropriate to the story. Humorous headlines are acceptable for lighthearted stories but not to straight news and serious stories. Always remember to match the tone of the headline to the tone of the story. You may also like writing templates & examples .

9. Know where to capitalize

Two styles of headlines are commonly used in publications: the caps with lower case and the downstyle. Regardless of the style being used, always capitalize the first letter of the first word in the headline. The rest depends on the style to be implemented. You may also check out informative writing examples & samples .

holding newspaper

Grammar Rules for News Headline Writing

1. use present simple tense for past events.

As mentioned above, present tense helps emphasize that the action is still happening. News headlines should relay that the event is current and not something that has happened a long time ago. You may also see memo writing examples & samples .

2. Leave out auxiliary verbs

Auxiliary verbs are not necessary when using perfect, progressive and passive structures as it makes headlines appear in the past tense when it is just using the past participle of the verb. Better to leave out these verbs on the headline and use active verbs. You may also like writing examples in doc .

3. Use infinitives for future events

To indicate that the event is still yet to happen, use infinitives. With infinitives, a distinct future time is not necessary to express the future tense.

4. Leave out articles (a, an, the)

It is acceptable to leave out articles such as a , an , and the . For example, “Prime Minister skips breakfast tea for charity”  (The Prime Minister skipped breakfast tea). You may also check out steps for writing contest-winning essays .

5. Leave out “to be”

Leave out linking verbs (“to be”) in headlines as it is unnecessary and can take up more space. For example, “Residents unhappy about new water system” (residents are unhappy).

6. Leave out “to say”

Reported speech is usually represented by a colon or a hyphen, with the subject introduced with ‘on…’. This entails that verbs such as comment, tell, argue, announce, shout are left out. For example, “Bush on Iraqi invasion: “This aggression will not stand.”‘ You might be interested in reflective essay examples & samples .

7. Replace conjunctions with punctuation

Punctuation marks such as commas, colons, semi-colons, hyphens and so on can replace conjunctions in the headline. For example, “Mayor, Rebel leader reaches peace agreement.”

8. Use figures for numbers

This helps communicate accurate numbers relating to the story. Instead of spelling out the number, use Arabic numerals from 0-9.  This is usually applied in stories that need specific numbers to express a complete thought like death tolls, accidents, days until an event, etc. You may also see 5 step basic guide on essay writing .

newspaper articles

Types of News Headlines

1. streamer or banner.

This is the standard headline style that is a one-line headline that stretches all the way across a story. This is commonly found in the front page and stories situated at the beginning of the page. You may also see  5 summary writing examples and samples

These are words or phrases that help catch readers’ attention. They are usually shorter than the headline itself and is set in a contrasting font style and weight.

3. Slammers

These are two-part headlines that usually use a bold face or phrase that leads into the rest of the headline. It i usually applied when a headline is separated with a colon. For example, “ Hula hoops:  hot new trend.” You may also like narrative writing examples & samples

4. Raw wraps

These are usually much shorter than the main headline and set in a contrasting font style and weight. Raw wraps are usually found below the main headline and uses words or phrases to label topics or catch the eye in order to lead into the headline. You may also check out persuasive writing samples

These headlines are usually used only for special stories or features. Hammers are big bold phrases and provides a lengthier deck below.

Tripods come in three parts: a bold word or phrase (often all caps) and two decks squaring off alongside. They work better for features as they are often gimmicky and fun. You may also see argumentative writing examples & samples

7. Sidesaddles

Sidesaddles are usually found beside the story and not above it. It’s best for a story that is squeezed into the paper, preferably one that’s boxed into a shallow horizontal space. This can be flushed left, flushed right or centered. You may also like obituary writing examples & samples

Finally, there can be many ways to write a news headline and it can be oftentimes tricky. Just remember to always be accurate and straight to the point when writing a news headline. We hope you were able to find this article useful and insightful as you write your own news headline. You might be interested in descriptive writing examples & samples

how to make a good title for a news article

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How to Write a News Article: Headlines

  • What Is News?
  • How to Interview
  • The Intro or Lede
  • Article Format/Narrative
  • How To Write A Review
  • Writing News Style
  • Naming Sources
  • Revising/Proofreading
  • Photos/Graphics
  • The Future of News?

About Headlines

Headlines are becoming increasingly important in the internet age. Not only do they capture the reader's attention, they serve as source material for search engines. Today a reader is just as likely to come across an article by reading a list of search engine results as by scanning a newspaper page.

Headlines should be clear and specific, telling the reader what the story is about, and be interesting enough to draw them into reading the article.

  • 5-10 words at the most
  • City Council to Cut Taxes doesn't mean the same thing as City Council to Cut Budget
  • Man Skateboards for Homeless
  • Convention to Create Jobs
  • Do not use articles - a, an, the
  • President Declares Peace, Holiday
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  • Rays Win - not Rays Win Final Game of Playoffs
  • They Win Pennant!
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  • World's Best Headlines: BBC News
  • << Previous: Naming Sources
  • Next: Revising/Proofreading >>
  • Last Updated: Oct 23, 2023 11:28 AM
  • URL: https://spcollege.libguides.com/news

Become a Writer Today

How To Write an Article Title? Quick Tips and How-To Guide

You’ve completed your article and now, it’s time to come up with a title. Here, we’ll go over what you need to know about how to write an article title.

Often, writing takes on a mind of its own. Even if you start with a title in mind for your article, book, research paper, or journal article, it’s often not the right fit when the piece is complete and ready for your reader. Figuring out the right title for your work can be tricky. It’s crucial that your title conveys the subject matter of your writing and grabs your reader’s attention without being showy or over-the-top.

If you’re struggling to develop a title for your work, don’t worry–many writers struggle to figure out exactly how to convey what they want to say to their potential readers in just a few words. It usually takes some trial and error to figure out the best title for an article, paper, or story, and figuring out how to grab the reader’s attention is all part of the intricate puzzle of creating your best work.

Here, we’ll tell you everything you need to know to write an excellent title for your article.

Creating An Article Title: Your How-To Guide

1. know when to develop your title, 2. use article title capitalizations correctly, 3. choose a publication type, 4. double-check your grammar , creating an article title: quick tips, 1. use search engine results optimization to your benefit, 2. follow a style guide: apa style and mla format, 3. avoid plagiarism: what you need to know.

First things first: if you’re not done with your writing yet, don’t worry about a title. As your research paper, book chapters, or short story come to life within your mind, and on the page (or on your computer), ideas for titles will likely come and go. When you’re hit with the idea that feels like it might be a winner, jot it down somewhere, and hold onto it for later. Don’t simply change the title of your work, as you may realize later that you had the perfect title idea a few days prior–but can no longer remember it.

If you’ve completed your writing, revised your piece, and it’s finalized, that means it’s time to think about a title. Brainstorming can be an intelligent way to get your creative juices flowing on your title creation. Remember, there are no wrong answers when brainstorming–write down whatever comes to mind. If you have the time, let your brainstorming list sit for a few days before you decide on a title, as it’s likely that you’ll come up with new ideas as you glance over the words and phrases that come to mind when you think about the themes of your work.

Asking a friend or family member to read over your work may help you develop a title. First, ask them what stood out to them about your work. Then, use their insights to direct you in your quest to develop the perfect title for your piece. Finally, write down any suggestions that your first readers have for a title, and keep their ideas in mind as you develop the right name for your work.

If you’re struggling to come up with anything, it’s ok to have a working title when you submit your piece. This means that your editor is aware that you may come back and change the title at a later time.

Your publication, professor, or teacher may have rules as to whether you’re to capitalize all the words in the title of your work. However, according to the experts at Grammarly, the first and last words of a title should always be capitalized .

In addition to capitalizing the first and last words, you’ll also want to capitalize nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs. If it’s important to your title that certain words do not follow standard formatting rules, feel free to make an exception to these general rules, but don’t do so without cause.

You may also want to consider the length of your title when deciding what to capitalize. For example, if your title is only three or four words, it may make sense to capitalize every letter in the title.

How to write an article title? Choose a publication type

It’s key to consider the type of publication you’re creating when developing your title. For example, if you’re writing a creative piece or an article that pertains to your personal opinion, it may make sense for you to use a creative title that leaves the reader wanting to learn more about what you have to say. However, there’s no need for a creative piece to give away the story’s point in the title. Instead, the title is used to draw readers in and make them want to learn more.

Academic writing, however, is different. If you’re writing a research paper or journal article, your title should be straightforward, giving the information you will present to the reader. There’s no need for your title to be long or drawn-out, but it should paint a clear picture of the knowledge your reader will gain through your work.

If you’re writing a news article that includes a quote or a proper noun (such as the name of a book or a movie), it can be tough to figure out exactly how to format the quote or proper noun in the context of the title.

Most writers use a single quotation mark to indicate a quote or proper noun within a title. This is vital because when your article is quoted by another writer (in a paper or another news article), they’ll need to put the title of your article in standard quotation marks. If you include standard quotation marks within your title, it can be difficult for readers to understand where the title begins and ends.

If you come across a word or term that you would generally italicize or underline in standard writing and want to use it in the title of your article, book, or story, use a single quotation mark instead.

How to write an article title? Use search engine results optimization to your benefit

Your article title plays a significant role in determining whether your article will be seen by people searching for the topic you’re writing about. Make your title specific, and include keywords related to your story, news, or research.

Websites, blogs, and online news sites depend on popping up near the top of a search engine results page to get eyes on their material. Therefore, it’s essential to use search engine optimization, or SEO, techniques to get your work in front of readers. Use a  free SEO tool  to help you discover what keywords are most important to include in your title if you want to get your work noticed by as many people as possible.

Suppose you’re completing academic work for a high school, college, or graduate school class. In that case, you’ll likely be asked to work in either American Psychological Association (APA) or Modern Language Association (MLA) format. These formatting options offer standardized guidelines for writers to follow regarding style, punctuation, and formatting. In addition, they can offer tips to help you decide the correct way to format your title. 

It can be tough to come up with a title that hasn’t been used by someone else, but you must work hard to avoid plagiarism. In addition to being against the accepted code of ethics for writers, academic institutions and publishers have strict rules against plagiarism.

When you’ve decided on a title for your piece, do a quick online search to find whether the title has been used for another piece. If your title is just a few words, you may find some other books, articles, or academic works that have the same title as your work. While this is not necessarily a problem (as some titles can apply to many types of work), try to rework your title to be more original (especially if the subject matter in similarly titled articles is close to the work you’re discussing in your piece).

If your title is longer (as is usually the case for journal articles and research papers), you’re less likely to find another word with the same title you’ve chosen for your piece. If you find a paper with the same title, rework your title slightly to ensure that you have a unique sequence of words. 

If you are interested in learning more, check out our guide on how to write an article .

how to make a good title for a news article

Bryan Collins is the owner of Become a Writer Today. He's an author from Ireland who helps writers build authority and earn a living from their creative work. He's also a former Forbes columnist and his work has appeared in publications like Lifehacker and Fast Company.

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Catchy headlines for feature articles

Coin a word, go graphic and more.

Stuck for a catchy title that will make people read the article?

Catchy headlines for feature articles

Next time you’re writing catchy headlines for blog posts, email marketing, social media, online business communications or other pieces of content, try these types of headlines:

Alliteration

Here’s a catchy headline template: Use alliteration.

Alliteration occurs when you repeat initial sounds in nearby words: “Sweet smell of success,” for instance. It “makes your language lyrical,” says Sam Horn, author of P OP! Stand Out in Any Crowd .

That’s the approach Eastman Chemical communicators used when they wrote this headline, summarizing some of the things the company’s R&D department had worked on recently:

Satellites, Soap and Succotash

And The New York Times used alliteration for this headline package:

Tutus and testosterone

Men behaving balletically.

This approach can make a good headline.

Learn more about alliteration .

Graphic wordplay

When the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran a photo of a sign from which the “R’s” were missing, copy editors wrote this headline:

Thief st ikes again

One approach for a catchy headline: Use type to twist a phrase.

Graphic wordplay can be as simple as a headline that says:

Make Fewer Mitsakes

The Minneapolis copy editors used graphic wordplay for this headline and deck:

He (subject) teaches (verb) grammar (object)

Mike greiner is old-school about teaching students how sentences are built, despite what one student wrote: ‘you’re torturing us’.

Copyeditors at the Omaha World-Herald earned an ACES award for a portfolio including this headline:

Space rock to get thisclose to Earth

Scientists say an asteroid hurtling our way will miss us by a mere 200,000 miles..

Scott Beckett, a copy editor at Scripps central desk in Corpus Christi, Texas, submitted this ACES award winner:

Education = More chances 2

Grant gives san pat students opportunities in math, science.

(Note: Search engines don’t love these headlines. So use them for email, not listing posts.)

Half-and-half words

When Dixie Land (yes!) needed a headline for a piece about punishing workouts, the copyeditor for The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette wrote:

Intimidating or spine-chilling physical psyche-outs possess a fitness center client

Can’t find the perfect term for your headline? Make it up! For this technique, you create a new word by gluing two old words together.

Indeed, several ACES winners coined words for their winning headlines:

Penitence goes mobile with new confession app

Software makes it easy to say, ‘forgive me father, isinned’, — copyeditors at the detroit news, short and tweet, twitterature: the new art of adding stories to your posts, — marianne tamburro, copyeditor for the star-ledger, bon app-étit, as ipads become a kitchen staple, digital cookbooks enhance the experience of following a recipe, — copyeditors at the oregonian, dinosaurigami, more pop-ups from the ‘prehistorica’ team of sabuda and reinhart,  — gregory cowles of the new york times, one-word headlines.

Here’s a headline formula that’s easy to implement: “See if there is ONE word that captures the essence of your subject,” suggests Horn. “A one word title is more likely to JUMP! off the page.”

Her own book title is a good example of this approach:

Stand Out in Any Crowd

Make your title jump off the page in a single word.

Onomatopoeia

Buzz, crash, whirrr, splash . Onomatopoeia — Greek for name-making — is a word that imitates the sound it represents.

Headline writers at The Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader used that approach for this ACES winner:

Squeeeak … Slam! Sniffff … Ahhhh!

Screen doors let in fresh air and nostalgia.

Too often we think of feature headlines as clever heads for cute stories. The New York Times copy editors remind us that feature heads work well for emotional — even agonizing — pieces, as well.

Several ACES winners have used this approach for their award-winning heads. Copy editors for the Los Angeles Times , for instance, came up with this headline and deck:

Surrounded by her son

The mother of nfl player chris henry wanted to meet the people who received his organs. from one death, four lives were reborn.

Don’t think of feature headlines as purely clever heads for cute stories. Expand your repertoire by writing poignant heads for touching stories, too.

“Declarations sit on the page,” Horn says. “Questions engage.”

Indeed, well-crafted question headlines can draw your reader in. To write a good question head:

Peggy Boss Barney, copy editor for the Salt Lake Tribune , posed a provocative question in this ACES award-winning headline:

What Do You Get When You Cross a Human With a Mouse?

A narrowing of laws on manipulating life, patent applicants hope.

Question leads can help you avoid giving away the ending. Roy Peter Clark, editorial guru at the Poynter Institute, suggests that instead of:

Heroic measures save heroic dog

Brutis kept a deadly snake from his master and her grandchildren, but needed some quick help in turn to keep from dying from the bite.

You consider:

Would heroic measures save heroic dog?

Brutis kept a deadly snake from his master and her grandchildren. would the antivenin arrive in time to save the dog from dying from the bite.

Try it. As Paula LaRocque, author of Championship Writing , writes: “A headline with a question mark is inherently more open and engaging than a statement headline.”

Single-syllable words

Short words are powerful words.

They clip along at a brisk rate, can look great graphically and say a lot in a little space. Plus — sometimes most important if you’re writing to a strict space limitation — they fit.

To pack a punch in your next headline, try limiting yourself to only one-syllable words. Here are some examples to get you started.

For an article about taking private jets instead of commercial airlines in Northern Trust’s Northern Update marketing magazine, Loring Leifer wrote this pithy head:

Mary Forgione, copy editor for the Los Angeles Times , earned an ACES  award for this string of super-short words:

Life After Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz

In her book, an advertising lion reflects on making it in a man’s world.

Jennifer Balderama, copy editor for the Washington Post , used only one-syllable words for this ACES award-winner:

Ears wide shut

Researchers get punished for telemarketers’ crimes.

David Breen, copy editor for the Orlando Sentinel , slipped a two-syllable word into this headline, another ACES winner. But the clip of short words following it are certainly worth emulating:

Divorce: Log on, click in, break up

But critics say an online divorce is not hassle-free; others fear it’s too easy.

Still, the real queen of the one-syllable-word head is Debbie Sprong, copy editor for the Elkhart Truth . She earned an ACES award for these heads:

Cap and gone

(for an infographic on graduation), new numbers in second district race show strong lead for chocola, for many workers, lunch hour is more than a chance to eat, officials hope test plot proves merits of biosolid compost.

Gregory Cowles of The New York Times earned an ACES award for a portfolio of heads including these:

A collection of picture books teaches children about jazz and its heroes

The way of no flesh, a cultural history of vegetarianism in the west.

And Scott Beckett, copy editor for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times , called out his short words in this ACES award-winning headline:

Nature’s 4-letter words: Wind, hail, rain

Violent storm destroys home, topples big rigs.

For a preview of fall TV shows, Pat Myers of The Washington Post wrote:

Ewws and Ahhs

Too many shows will give viewers the creeps this season, but a few noble souls save the day.

Steve Byers of the Huntsville (Ala.) Times limited himself to one-syllable words for this headline:

The spies who love me

Scared parents of teens spending on surveillance.

Jeff Verbus of The Repository (Canton, Ohio) had two winning heads using only super-short words:

Knock down, drag out blight

Mounting expenses won’t deter canton from ridding city of eyesore properties, bill to squeeze pop has juice, senator proposes a limit or ban on sale of soda in public schools.

Try writing headlines using only one-syllable words. The result may well pack more of a punch than headlines using longer words.

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Title Generator

Free AI Title Generator

Generate a list of catchy titles and headlines with our AI-powered title maker. Increase your reach with blog posts, email campaigns, social media and more.

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By using AI title generator, you agree to Open AI’s terms and conditions . Wix assumes no responsibility for results, verify you have the right to use the generated results before publishing.

How to use our free headline generator in 6 steps

Great headlines are an essential tool for engaging your audience. They improve click-through rate, broaden your audience and increase your potential to monetize your content. Try our free online title maker for access to original headlines that are proven to drive clicks.

Enter your keywords

Type your topic or a couple of keywords into the Title Generator search bar.

Click ‘Get Your Title’

Select the orange button to the right of the input field to populate your initial list of titles.

Refine your results

Zero in on your target by choosing a “subject” from the drop-down menu.

Expand your options

Click “Load More” to see additional custom titles and headers generated just for you.

Copy your selections

Copy your favorite titles and apply them immediately or stockpile them for later. 

Watch them work

Enjoy the results as you see increased views and engagement with your content.

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What makes a good title?

Good news. Your days of agonizing over how to write a headline that converts are over. Check out our guide for choosing the best titles from our AI title generator.

Optimize the length

50-70 characters is usually the sweet spot for a catchy title. It offers enough information to hook the reader without overwhelming them or getting cut off.

Add numbers & dates

Titles with numbers in them have a higher click-through rate. Include the year to show your content is current or the number of tips you’re sharing.

Test your title

Use the acronym SHINE (Specificity, Helpfulness, Immediacy, Newsworthiness, Entertainment value) to test the strength of your headlines.

Elevate your words

Use ‘power words’ that trigger an emotional response from the reader so they want to dive in. For example, words like ‘best’ and ‘sizzling’ are great options.

Title ideas for your content creation

Our title generator will help you get ideas and create catchy titles for your "how to" articles and guides, presentations, website, product descriptions and more. 

We’ve put together a list of some of the best title examples from our AI heading generator to get you started. Try it out for yourself and ensure every piece of content you create has a title that draws attention and drives engagement. With the right title, you’ll hook audiences to keep reading, watching or listening right from the start.

10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Having Kids

5 Y2K Fashion Trends We’re Obsessed With in 2024

What’s Potato Milk and Why’s Everyone Talking About It?

Get a 6-Pack by Spring With These 7 Exercises

20 Thrifting Hacks That Will Change Your Life

The People Closest to Madonna Share Big Secrets

What the 1% Doesn’t Want You To Know

Why Mozart Is Still Relevant in 2024

15 Startling Facts About America

The Myths and Facts Behind the Royal Family

How to Know if You're Ready To Run a 5k

My Unlikely Soccer Success Story

Top 10 Easy Recipes of 2024

5 Best Gardening Apps in 2024

Why You Need To Buy This Goat Milk Soap

Are these All-Inclusive Resorts Worth the Price?

20 Birthday Party Ideas for Kids

A Complete Guide to the Stock Market in 2024

Say "Yes" to These 5 Wedding Budgeting Tips

Why Carbs Are Here To Stay

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Title Generator FAQ

What is title generator.

Title Generator is a free Wix Tool that helps you increase engagement with your content by generating catchy titles, headlines, subject lines and more.

How does our title creator work?

Our title name generator uses AI technology that transforms the words you input into a list of creative, catchy and effective headlines for you to use however you’d like.

How do you create a unique title?

Finding a unique title can be hard. That’s where our free headline creator can help. Just input your topic or some keywords into the Title Generator and you’ll instantly get a list of catchy titles.

How do you choose a good title?

When creating a title, there are a few things you should consider. First, you’ll want to make sure you are earning your audience’s trust. Confirm that your title accurately reflects your content and consider adding the year to inform scrollers that your information is current. Next, check that your title is within the character limit for whatever search engines people might be using. Around 60 characters is usually a good sweet spot. Lastly, you’ll want to make sure your title is attention-grabbing. People are exposed to a lot of content daily, so you have to work to get them to click.

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Key Tips for Writing Good Article Titles

Table of Contents

The title is one of the most powerful tools you have as a writer. You have to seize the attention of your audience. An article can need a catchy title that excites readers or one that’s informative and helps them decide to read your article more closely. We’ve listed some examples of  article good titles  to help give you some inspiration.

Although just a few words long, titles are one of the hardest pieces of text to construct. You have to find the right words that both grab attention and inform. That’s why we’ve listed some helpful writing tips along with some title examples in this article. Let’s get into the good stuff and find out how you can make the perfect title!

A WordPress page displayed on the screen of a Macbook.

How Titles Can Affect the Success of your Article

The title, needless to say, is like the front door of your article. It is your article’s first impression, and it’s what the rest of your content needs to live up to.

For readers who are scrolling through tons of data, your title can set your article apart. It can help readers decide if your article can give them the necessary information . 

Titles are also helpful for Search Engine Optimization. With the right keywords, you can boost your search ranking. This will help people find your blogs much more easily.

Different Types of Article Titles

1. numbered list titles.

Using numbers in your title or headings is a great way to grab an audience’s attention . They are also an easy way to break down a topic and make it easier for your audience to understand.

  • 5 Best Books to Read in 2021

2. “Guide” titles

Using the word Guide in your title can compel readers to keep reading because they want to learn the tutorial step-by-step. This is the best way to increase your readership while also providing better value in the process.

  • A Comprehensive Guide to Making a Business Proposal

3. ‘Curiosity Gap’ Titles

A curiosity gap is one way to create article good titles. It leaves your reader wondering and intrigued about your article.

  • 10 Tips For Getting Fit (#3 Will Surprise You)

4. How-to Titles

A how-to article title is very popular for blogs. This is because it’s effective in attracting readers who are looking for a detailed guide for something. It’s meant to instruct the reader with steps on how to do a particular task.

  • How to Build New Habits

5. Avoidance of Pain Titles

People want to avoid any potential loss, cost, or pain. And any title that can help them to do that becomes more appealing.

  • Why the New Normal Could Cause You Business Problems

6. Using Fear of Failure

Invoking a reader’s fear of failure is another effective way to phrase a title. These titles can be useful for boosting the persuasiveness of an argument.

  • Why Your Business is Losing and What You Can Do About It

7. Question Titles

The classic question titles are a staple for writers. These intrigue readers with a question and compel them to read the rest of the article to find answers.

  • Are You Making the Right Investments?

8. Command Titles

A command title indicates an action that your readers want to complete. It can also state what your readers need to do.

  • Live a Healthy Life with These 5 Tips

9. Reason-why Titles

A reason-why headline usually enumerates things that support the article’s point. It states why the reader must read the article.

  • 5 Reasons Why You Need to Drink More Water

10. Promise a Change

We all want something that will change our lives. And any article that can offer us this is worth reading.

  • The Trick to Changing Your Mindset

11. Bold Statements

A bold title statement can stir reader interest. It doesn’t matter if they agree with your statement or not. They’ll be drawn to read your article to see how you support your point.

  • Vegans are Healthier Than Meat Eaters 

12. Prediction Titles

We’re all concerned about the future. And an article that can give us some insight into potential trends and data-driven predictions is a good read.

  • The Future of Artificial Intelligence Beyond 2021 – Five Predictions You Need to Know.

5 Key Tips for Writing Article Good Titles

Keep it short and to the point..

Titles need to be concise and easy to understand. It has to encapsulate the value of your content effectively. This is why word choice is critical for a title. You’ll only be able to use a few words, so you need to make each of them count.

Highlight the value of your article

What can readers get when they read your article? Will it solve their problem? Can it give them relevant insights? Whatever value your article can offer, make sure to highlight it in your title.

Announce Exciting and Relevant News

Company news isn’t always interesting to everybody. But people do care about the things that can affect them. Update them with a news title that can make a real difference in their lives.

Businesses do not always have constant news, so they use old material and present it in a novel way. You can use news jacking to tie your content to recent and upcoming events.

Questions in the Headline

Place questions in your headline like you would in a question title. Make sure to ask something that your readers care about. If you ask about something irrelevant, you will risk losing their interest.

The question should be related to the main benefit your article provides to keep your title interesting.

Appeal to Your Reader’s Hunger for Knowledge

If I can learn something more easily and efficiently, I would like to know how. And most people do too! Keep your headline short and tell your readers something they can learn. You have to make the process sound easy.

It can be hard to think of  article good titles . But if you follow the tips in this article, you’ll have a better chance of coming up with a catchy and successful one. There are many ways to phrase the title of your article. Remember to keep it interesting, concise, and easy to read.

Key Tips for Writing Good Article Titles

Abir Ghenaiet

Abir is a data analyst and researcher. Among her interests are artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. As a humanitarian and educator, she actively supports women in tech and promotes diversity.

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6 tips for writing a great title for your research article

how to make a good title for a news article

Title is the first thing the reader sees from your research article. Based on the title the reader decides to have a look at the article — or not. So a better title will attract more readers and quite possibly increase the impact of your research. If you wonder what makes a good title, and how you can formulate one for your paper as well, then check out our six tips for writing a great research article title.

Goal: catch the attention of the *right* reader

A good title helps the reader quickly recognize whether this paper is relevant for them. The title should give the reader an accurate picture of the article — and motivate the *right* reader to go on and read the article.

Additionally, an ideal title is memorable : researchers are reading many papers, some will be inevitably forgotten. A good title ensures that your paper will stick in your reader’s mind.

Case study: Important paper missed because of its title

Let me tell you an example from my own research, about an important paper that we missed because of its title.

Article entitled Distinct contributions of Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 in action potential initiation and backpropagation has been published in July 2009 in the prestigious journal Nature Neuroscience .

A couple of months later I started to work on a project that later became my PhD thesis. And the above mentioned article turned out to be the most important study on which my whole work was based.

Yet when I started, I didn’t know about the paper. My supervisor and another professor working on similar topics didn’t know about it either.

They had surely seen the title since they were following the journal’s publications. But they didn’t recognize that this might be a relevant paper.

Eventually we learned about the paper from a collaborator from a different institute. Later when I was presenting my work at conferences, I encountered many other researchers who missed this paper, even though it was clearly relevant to them.

So, what’s the issue with this title? Read on my tips on how to write a great title , and learn along the way what is problematic with this title and how we can fix it.

1. Headline the main result, not the main effort

If your paper has a clear main finding that can be summarized in a sentence , put it in the title. Such a title is much more interesting (and informative) than a title describing your approach.

Prof. Kevin Plaxco gives the following examples in his commentary article The art of writing science :

  • Main effort (not optimal): A phylogenetic analysis of humans and chimps
  • Main result (preferred): Phylogenetic evidence indicates an exceptionally close relationship between humans and chimps

Here is another example:

  • Main result missing: Cognitive-behavioural stress management skills and quality of life in stress-related disorders
  • Main result in the title: Cognitive-behavioural stress management skills improve quality of life in stress-related disorders

Concerning our case study example, the title Distinct contributions of Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 in action potential initiation and backpropagation does (kind of) contain the main result, albeit it is not formulated as a full sentence. We’ll see later how we can improve it.

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2. Adapt the level of detail to your target audience

If your article is intended for a broader audience (that is, you want to publish it in a general journal), your title should be more general , so that it is understandable to this broader audience.

On the other hand, if your article is intended for a specialized audience and a specialized journal, you can include more details and jargon in the title.

  • article published in the broad journal Nature: The hippocampus is crucial for forming non-hippocampal long-term memory during sleep
  • article on a similar topic published in the specialized journal Neurobiology of Learning and Memory: Sleep enhances memory consolidation in the hippocampus-dependent object-place recognition task in rats

However, be careful with short and general titles . Such titles are typical for review articles , because they suggest a broad scope of the article. So your readers might mistaken your original research article for a review article.

For example, the title Axon Initial Segment–Associated Microglia sounds like it’s a review, but it is an original research article. Such a title is misleading for the readers, so it’s better to avoid it.

how to make a good title for a news article

Not every neuroscientist knows what is “Na V 1.6″ and “Na V 1.2″. My supervisor didn’t know either — and it turns out that this was one of the reasons why he and the other professor missed this article. “Na V 1.6″ and “Na V 1.2″ are sodium channels — and every neuroscientist knows what are those. So the keyword “sodium channels” should definitely be included in an article title published in such a general journal as Nature Neuroscience .

3. Avoid “fluff” at the beginning of the title

Beginning of the title is especially salient , especially visible to the reader. And often this is your only chance to convince your potential reader that this paper is relevant to them.

So it’s a mistake to start the title with “fluff”, that is, a phrase that doesn’t carry much content and can be safely omitted. Instead, begin your title with an important keyword .

For example:

  • Aspects of ​immune dysfunction in end-stage renal disease
  • Revisiting the role of xanthophylls in nonphotochemical quenching

Our case-study title Distinct contributions of Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 in action potential initiation and backpropagation does not start with a meaningless phrase that can be simply deleted. However, it also doesn’t start with an important keyword. Let’s see in the next point what would be a better beginning of the title.

4. Use the Context – Emphasis structure

A great title follows the optimal sentence structure : The beginning of the title acts as context for the rest of the title while the end of the title is naturally emphasized (if the reader gets this far).

So a good strategy is to include at the beginning of the title a keyword that will be recognized by all of your target readers and at the end of the title a keyword that is specific to your paper and its contribution.

However, what is a general keyword and what is a specific contribution might depend on your audience .

For example, the title Selective Adsorption to Particular Crystal Faces of ZnO suggests that this article primarily targets researchers interested in adsorption processes: “selective adsorption” is the general process, which is examined in this paper for the particular case of ZnO. However, if the paper targets researchers working on ZnO (zinc oxide), then it would be better to mention “ZnO” at beginning of the title.

Now let’s consider our case study : Distinct contributions of Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 in action potential initiation and backpropagation .

how to make a good title for a news article

Then, what is a specific keyword related to the contribution of this paper? I would say it could be “Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 sodium channels”: although there are some previous studies investigating these two channel types, this paper put all the puzzle pieces together and provided a coherent picture about the interplay of these two channel types in — you guessed it — action potential initiation and backpropagation.

So, let’s improve this title by putting “Action potential initiation and backpropagation” at the beginning and “Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 sodium channels” at the end. Then we can rearrange the rest such that it makes sense — and reveals the main message of the paper:

Action potential initiation and backpropagation is differentially regulated by Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 sodium channels

A much better title, don’t you think?

5. “Context: Details” structure also works

But what to do with papers that have no single take-home message that can be summarized in a sentence?

For explorative papers that cover several problems or aspects of a topic, the “Context: Details” structure is often suitable. Here, you start with the general contextual keyword(s) that grab the attention of the reader, and then supplement relevant details after the colon.

  • UCB revisited: Improved regret bounds for the stochastic multi-armed bandit problem
  • Single Cell Assay for Molecular Diagnostics and Medicine: Monitoring Intracellular Concentrations of Macromolecules by Two-photon Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging

Here are some examples that don’t work very well:

  • Noise statistics identification for Kalman filtering of the electron radiation belt observations: 2. Filtration and smoothing
  • A better oscillation detection method robustly extracts EEG rhythms across brain state changes: The human alpha rhythm as a test case

In these cases, the first part before the colon is too long, it provides much more information than just the context, and therefore the whole title becomes harder to understand and remember.

So for an effective “Context: Details” type of title, make sure that the first part before the colon is short and memorable . Then the second part after the colon can be longer and detailed, and the title will still create a clear image in reader’s mind.

6. Title as a question or catchy title? It depends…

Now you might ask yourself: can’t we write more interesting titles than those that accurately reflect the content of the paper? These can be pretty boring… What about titles formulated as questions? And “catchy” titles?

Well, the general rule is to follow the conventions of your field . If some of the research articles you are reading have catchy titles, then it’s most probably OK for you to do this as well.

For example, questions and catchy titles are quite common in research articles from psychology:

  • How often is p rep close to the true replication probability?
  • Must interesting things be pleasant? A test of competing appraisal structures.

On the other hand, I have rarely seen a question as a title in a research article from neuroscience.

However, in most fields catchy and even funny titles are appreciated in commentary and opinion articles . For example, the “news & views” commentary article introducing our case-study paper Distinct contributions of Na V 1.6 and Na V 1.2 in action potential initiation and backpropagation is entitled Who let the spikes out?

Also the titles of review articles might be less formal. Which brings us to the next point…

Titles of review articles

Titles of review articles tend to be more general and broad than titles of original research articles. This, of course, reflects the broader scope and content of review articles. For example:

  • Carbohydrate inhibitors of cholera toxin
  • Neural circuits underlying thirst and fluid homeostasis

These titles don’t consist of a full sentence — because there is rarely a main take-home message in a review article. However, what is helpful here is to follow the Context-Emphasis structure introduced in point 4.

Titles of review articles often include the word “review” in the title, for example:

  • Gap junctions in developing neocortex: a review
  • A systematic review of COVID-19 epidemiology based on current evidence

And as we said in the previous point, titles of review articles may be less formal and more catchy even in fields where such titles are not used for original research articles:

  • Spooky sodium balance
  • Remembering the past to imagine the future: the prospective brain

How to find the perfect title for your article

Now you have learned all the rules for good titles, but one question remains: How to proceed? How to come up with a great title for your article?

how to make a good title for a news article

Then I recommend the following procedure :

  • First, generate 10 possible titles . These 10 titles don’t have to be unique: some of them might only differ in one or two words or in the word order.
  • Next, select the best title . You can do this together with your co-authors. Or each co-author picks one or two favorites and then you discuss and select the final title together.

With this procedure it’s much easier to find the most suitable title for your paper than if you would create just one title and then try to improve it.

So that was quite some theory about how to write a great title. Now if you want to practice this new knowledge, here is a little exercise for you.

What is good and what is not optimal about these titles? How would you improve them?

  • Analysis of processes leading to localized electron enhancements in the outer radiation belt
  • Wild-type and cancer-related p53 proteins are preferentially degraded by MDM2 as dimers rather than tetramers
  • A New Murine Model to Define the Critical Pathologic and Therapeutic Mediators of Polymyositis

If you are currently writing a manuscript and would like to get feedback and suggestions for your title: please, feel free to post it as a comment . Alternatively, you can also ask for feedback in our Facebook group Academic writing — peer feedback .

Do you need to revise & polish your manuscript or thesis but don’t know where to begin? Is your text a mess and you don't know how to improve it?

Click here for an efficient step-by-step revision of your scientific texts. You will be guided through each step with concrete tips for execution.

3 thoughts on “ 6 tips for writing a great title for your research article ”

Dear Martina,

Thank you very much for another portion of valuable information! It’s really helpful!

I’d be very greatful if you could comment on a title for a review article I’m writting now. Which of the two title you think is better:

Novel approaches to epigenetic therapies Novel approaches to epigenetic therapies: from drug combinations to epigenetic editing

Thank you for your suggestion, Kind regards, Aleksandra

Dear Aleksandra,

I am happy to hear that you found the article helpful!

Concerning your question: I prefer the second, longer title. It gives the reader a much better idea of what your review article is about. “Novel approaches to epigenetic therapies” alone is rather unspecific…

All the best, Martina

That was my choice as well! Thank you for ensuring me about it!

All the best, Aleksandra

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Caitlin Clark — a 'tsunami of impact and influence' — breaks the NCAA scoring record

Jason Fuller

how to make a good title for a news article

Caitlin Clark shoots the ball against the Purdue Boilermakers in January in West Lafayette, Indiana. Andy Lyons/Getty Images hide caption

Caitlin Clark shoots the ball against the Purdue Boilermakers in January in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Iowa's Caitlin Clark has captured the NCAA's women's all-time points record, surpassing 3,527 points on Thursday against the Michigan Wolverines.

The Hawkeyes guard overtook previous record holder Kelsey Plum in 13 fewer career games, while taking fewer shots. Her deep 3-point shot, showmanship and competitive intensity have sold out arenas, where seats go for hundreds of dollars, and broken TV viewership records.

Her feat is a transcendent moment for the game and the fulfillment of both Clark's promise and Title IX's. Her ascendance is emblematic of a surge in women's hoops, in popularity and quality of play, and in financial and media interest.

Ahead of the class

The college senior has outpaced the modern elite hooper since grade school.

"I never heard of her until after I was hired," says Kristin Meyer, who was Clark's head coach at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Meyer first saw Clark, who is now 22, play as an eighth grader. "Right away ... you just saw that she saw the game at a different level," Meyer says. "She was taking shots that high school and college women wouldn't take."

The difficulty rested in finding new ways to challenge Clark.

Caitlin Clark's scoring record reveals legacies of Lynette Woodard and Pearl Moore

Caitlin Clark's scoring record reveals legacies of Lynette Woodard and Pearl Moore

"We had to bring in different high school guys who were a little bit stronger, a little bit taller, and who could guard her more," Meyer says. "I just remember her just being so excited to get to go against the guys and challenge them. She'd score a basket, talk a little trash or they'd get a stop and they talk a little trash, all in fun."

When Clark left high school, Meyer thought she'd score 20 to 25 points a game her freshman year at Iowa.

Meyer was slightly off. Clark averaged 26.6 points per game her freshman season, while shooting just over 40% from 3-point range. The next season, Clark's sophomore campaign, her average crept up to 27 points per game. Her junior year stats didn't move much — proof she's human — but her 3-point shooting did rub up against 39%.

Fast forward to today: Clark's exceeding her own metrics, averaging more than 32 points, seven rebounds and almost eight assists per game.

Clark's career average from the 3-point range may indeed be just over 38%, but her average distance during the 2022-2023 season was 25 feet, 11 inches — about 4 feet farther out than the men's and women's 3-point line. Three-point shots made 25 feet and out have been affectionately dubbed "logo 3s ." While the shot may not be from the literal half-court logo, the 3-point shot flirts with it.

Game recognizes game

To witness greatness is to have known excellence, then see it effortlessly exceeded. That's the reality for the college basketball greats observing Clark's journey.

how to make a good title for a news article

Jackie Stiles, right, in 2001. Andy Lyons/Getty Images hide caption

Jackie Stiles, right, in 2001.

Jackie Stiles is one of those watching. The Hall of Fame guard from Missouri State held the all-time points record from 2001 to 2017.

"To see somebody so dominant in their craft — it just brings even non-sports fans to follow her and be inspired by her," Stiles says.

Those fans are waiting in ever-longer lines for autographs, selfies and pictures with the stars of women's hoops. ("I would never turn down an autograph," Stiles recalls.)

While Stiles didn't play in the social media era, fandom then was as relentless as it is today. "It got to the point where I could hardly warm up for games, because the fans were coming out onto the court," she says.

Stiles sees in Clark a role model for young fans. "You have little girls watching Caitlin Clark on TV, wanting to be like her. ... From a young age, they have somebody to idolize," Stiles says. "I told my second grade teacher I was going to play professional basketball when I grew up, but the WNBA didn't exist."

Why there's a basketball fan frenzy over Iowa's Caitlin Clark

Why there's a basketball fan frenzy over Iowa's Caitlin Clark

Clark has talent and practice to thank for her ascendance, but there's an element of right place, right time, too.

"No one has been able to capture the kind of magic or lightning in a bottle like Caitlin Clark has done," says Mary Jo Kane, professor emeritus and founding director at the University of Minnesota Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport. "A lot of that is timing — she is riding the crest of all of the advancements that have been made 50 years plus in the wake of Title IX."

Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination within educational settings, passed in 1972. Since then, young women have increasingly had access to greater coaching, competition and facilities.

"We have gone from young girls hoping that there is a team to young girls hoping that they make the team," Kane said. "For the first time ever in our history, young girls today grow up with a sense of entitlement to sports."

how to make a good title for a news article

Young fans hold signs for Caitlin Clark prior to the game against the Northwestern Wildcats on Jan. 31, in Evanston, Ill. Michael Reaves/Getty Images hide caption

The "Caitlin Clark effect"

Clark's sway is similar to Stephen Curry's among young players.

Consider the frequent comparisons to the Golden State Warriors guard: Both Curry and Clark have illimitable range, and that's helped redefine what makes a good shot. And while they are remarkable shooters, they aren't ball hogs. They're both selfless passers who champion basketball's emphasis on sharing the ball.

"We're going to see over the next five to 10 years so many more players who are pushing those boundaries like Caitlin has," Meyer says. "You're going to see the logo 3s become so much more popular. You're going to see the step backs and the off the dribble and in different things that people are trying to emulate."

Clark is an "unprecedented tsunami of impact and influence," says Kane.

"Just in terms of her athletic excellence alone, she is off the charts," Kane says. "Then we can also talk about her as a marketing phenom and the kind of economic impact that she has."

Take University of Iowa Athletics, whose total revenue from fiscal year 2023 was almost $16 million more than in 2022. Behind that boost are ticket sales from men's football and women's basketball. Women's hoops almost doubled in ticket revenue.

Thus far, every Iowa Hawkeyes road game has been a sellout. Schools such as Northwestern University have set attendance records just from hosting Clark and her team.

Clark is also her own sales juggernaut. With Name, Image and Likeness being the law of the land, athletes like Clark — not just university and athletic apparel brands — get a piece of the pie. (NIL is the NCAA policy, adopted in 2021, that allows college athletes to make money off their name, image and likeness.)

Clark's NIL value is in the millions, with sponsorships including State Farm, H&R Block, Goldman Sachs and, of course, Nike and Gatorade.

When Stiles entered the WNBA as the fourth pick in 2001, her salary was $55,000.

"She won't have to work a day in her life after her basketball career ends if she's halfway smart with her money," Stiles says. "I would not have to be working right now if I got to be compensated like that — it's pretty amazing to see."

Clark sparks joy

Cleveland hosts the women's Final Four this year, and Iowa is a favorite. But it won't be easy. Competition will come from Dawn Staley's South Carolina Lady Gamecocks and Tara VanDerveer's Stanford Cardinals, to name two.

Whatever happens, Clark's gravitational pull on basketball will only intensify, as thousands feed off her joy for the game, joy of competition and joy for the upward trajectory of women's basketball.

Joy serves as that extra lift in the legs of this lethal long-range bomber who has quickly joined the game's greatest shooters.

That joy was on display on Feb. 3, when Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes visited the Maryland Terrapins in another sold-out venue.

The game was electric by all standards — both in-person and for fans watching at home. It attracted almost 1.6 million viewers on Fox Sports, a network record for women's basketball.

After the game, NPR's Scott Detrow asked Clark about how she handles the pressure.

"Whenever I step on the court, I just want to have a lot of fun," she said. "I've been able to find a lot of joy and calmness in that."

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Pressure grows on Johnson to make move on Ukraine aid as Russian invasion nears 2-year mark

'now is not a good time to give the russians a hand,' senate gop aide tells fox news digital.

Aid to Ukraine needs to be tied to a 'logical outcome': retired general

Aid to Ukraine needs to be tied to a 'logical outcome': retired general

Air Force Brig. Gen. Rob Spalding (ret.) discusses the growing concerns about Russia's nuclear capability and Sen. Lindsey Graham's push for Russia to be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is facing growing pressure from both sides of the aisle to deliver some kind of plan for Ukraine as the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion approaches on Feb. 24.

The topic has become a lightning rod within the GOP, with a growing contingent of populist Republican lawmakers voicing skepticism about the U.S.’s involvement in the conflict. Some have gone as far as threatening Johnson’s leadership role if he held a vote on Ukraine aid.

But mainstream Republicans and Democrats still argue that it’s in the country’s best interest to help Kyiv remain independent of Russian President Vladimir Putin and that helping defeat the authoritarian leader is critical to avoiding a wider, more intense conflict.

That pressure took on a new significance over the weekend when Russia announced it had captured the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka after Ukrainian forces, low on ammo and personnel, retreated. It was the first significant gain by Russia in months.

RUSSIA WARNS UK THAT TROOP DEPLOYMENT IN UKRAINE WOULD BE 'DECLARATION OF WAR'

mike johnson

Speaker Mike Johnson is facing mounting pressure to act on Ukraine aid. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

And on Friday, the Russian government announced the death of top Putin critic Alexey Navalny in a penal colony in the Arctic Circle.

"Ukrainians are literally running out of ammo and fleeing cities while Putin kills off his main rival in the gulag. Now is not a good time to give the Russians a hand," a Senate GOP aide told Fox News Digital.

On the Democrat side, White House communications director Ben LaBolt criticized the House GOP for being in recess during the situation, declaring in a statement on Tuesday, "House Republicans are on Day 5 of an early, undeserved vacation while their inaction does escalating damage to our national security."

ZELENSKYY EXTENDS TRUMP AN OFFER TO VISIT UKRAINE’S FRONT LINES: 'IF MR TRUMP WILL COME, I AM READY'

On Friday, a small group of bipartisan House members introduced a supplemental security package giving roughly $66 billion in military-only aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, while also taking steps to mitigate the U.S. border crisis, like reinstating the Trump administration’s "Remain in Mexico" policy for a year.

House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul, R-Texas, warned the same day that Johnson likely will have little choice on whether to hold a vote on some kind of foreign aid.

"He’s either going to have to do it — put it on the floor himself — or it’s going to be by virtue of a discharge petition, which is a complete evisceration of his power because it basically says we’re going to do this without the speaker being in charge," McCaul said at a Christian Science Monitor panel event.

Michael McCaul

Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul said Johnson may be forced to act on Ukraine. (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Johnson has rejected two efforts by the Senate to pass its own supplemental security proposals, which both included about $60 billion for Ukraine. He said this month that passing Ukraine aid remains a focus of his, but he has not shared public plans to do so.

"There is significant pressure on Johnson to act. That is part of the reason why Republicans that oppose Ukraine aid were so keen to see the Senate fail to pass [their plans]," Doug Klain, policy analyst at Razom for Ukraine, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. "They know the urgency, and members of Congress, including Johnson, they've been getting classified briefings telling them just how critical U.S. aid is to the war effort and what the stakes are for Ukraine."

ZELENSKYY TO FACE 'RECKONING' WHEN WAR WITH RUSSIA ENDS, EXPERT SAYS

Fox News Digital reached out to a Johnson spokesperson to ask if the speaker would put the House bill up for a vote but did not hear back.

Meanwhile, a senior House GOP aide warned Fox News Digital that plan may already be "dead in the water." That aide noted that Republican hard-liners are pushing for nothing less than H.R.2, the House GOP border bill that Democrats panned as a "nonstarter."

"They really want this to be a Republican bill, and getting a … really stripped-down version of H.R.2 for Ukraine funding is not necessarily what they want," the House aide said.

how to make a good title for a news article

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine has appealed to Congress multiple times for more aid. (Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images)

GOP lawmakers opposed to Ukraine aid have raised questions about corruption within Kyiv’s government and have argued that the U.S. has too many issues of its own to be involved in a conflict with Russia.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP  

Indeed, moving a Ukraine aid bill would come at a personal risk to Johnson. Conservatives in his conference, like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, have publicly floated threats to boot him from the speakership if it came to the floor. 

But at least one GOP lawmaker suggested to Fox News Digital that those threats could hold less weight than they appear.

"Some conservatives caught hell back home for not [voting to vacate ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy], so now they are trying to curb all that heat by getting tough on [Johnson] before their primary," that lawmaker said.

Elizabeth Elkind is a reporter for Fox News Digital focused on Congress as well as the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and politics. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to [email protected]

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  • International

Judge orders Trump and companies to pay nearly $355 million in civil fraud trial

By Lauren del Valle , Kara Scannell , Jeremy Herb , Dan Berman and Elise Hammond , CNN

Key takeaways from the civil fraud trial ruling against Donald Trump

From CNN's Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell

 Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, February 16, in Palm Beach, Florida.

Judge Arthur Engoron hit Donald Trump with his biggest punishment to date on Friday, in a ruling that fined the former president $355 million for fraudulently inflating the values of his properties.

Engoron found Trump liable for fraud, conspiracy and issuing false financial statements and false business records, and he barred him from serving as director of a company in New York for three years. But while he stopped short of dissolving the Trump Organization altogether, Engoron issued a blistering  93-page opinion  that painted the former president as unremorseful and highly likely to commit fraud again.

Here are key takeaways from the decision:

  • The biggest fines yet against Trump: Engoron found that the defendants’ fraud saved them about $168 million in interest, fining Trump and his companies that amount. He also ruled that Trump and his companies were liable for $126 million in ill-gotten profits from the sale of the Old Post Office in Washington, DC, and that Trump and his companies were liable for $60 million in profits from the sale of Ferry Point in the Bronx. Engoron also wrote that Trump would be required for interest on those payments.
  • The judge gets the last word: Trump repeatedly attacked Engoron and the case throughout the 11-week trial on social media, outside the courtroom – and even to the judge’s face while he testified. On Friday, Engoron got the last word, painting Trump as a “pathological” fraudster who would not stop unless forced. The judge acknowledged that the sins Trump committed — which his lawyers frequently argued had no victim because banks were repaid and often eager to do business with Trump’s company — were not as serious as some crimes. But he faulted Trump and his co-defendants for a complete lack of contrition.
  • No corporate death penalty: The judge banned Trump from serving as an officer or director of a New York corporation for three years, but did not issue the so-called corporate death penalty. Engoron pulled back from a decision he issued a summary judgment in September dissolving Trump’s business certificates in finding that Trump and his co-defendants were liable for persistent and repeated fraud. But, the independent monitor installed last fall will stay in place for at least three years and an independent director of compliance should be put in place at the Trump Org. at the company’s expense, the ruling said.
  • Judge says Cohen told the truth: Engoron recapped Michael Cohen’s theatrical trial testimony, acknowledging the credibility issues with Trump’s former lawyer and fixer. But ultimately, Engoron said, he believed Cohen.
  • Trump’s adult sons banned for 2 years: Trump’s eldest sons – who’ve essentially run the Trump Organization since 2017 – are barred from serving as executives in New York for two years, according to Engoron’s order. The Trumps will have to navigate the two-year penalty as they sort out the future of the family-run real estate company.

Get up to speed on the ruling and more takeaways .

Trump will likely be forced to turn over full judgment amount of $355 million to move ahead with appeal

From Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell

Former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants will likely need to come up with the full judgment of $355 million  ordered by Judge Arthur Engoron Friday, with potentially more in interest, in order to move forward with an appeal, sources familiar with the matter have confirmed to CNN.

Those sources explained that this is the typical procedure required by the law, though some of the details, including the total amount to be frozen, could change. 

Trump and his lawyers said Friday they intend to appeal the decision.

That money will be held in an account pending the appellate process, which could take years to litigate.

The 9% interest Judge Engoron ordered Trump and his company to pay on the nearly $355 million judgment will continue to accrue until it’s paid per the order. 

Typically, the state requires a notice of appeal within 30 days of the judgment.

Fact check: Trump’s baseless claim that Biden and the Justice Department are behind his civil case

From CNN's Daniel Dale

In his remarks Friday evening, President Donald Trump claimed,  as he has before , that President Joe Biden was a hidden hand behind the civil fraud case in New York.

“All comes out of the DOJ, it all comes out of Biden,” Trump said. “It’s a witch hunt against his political opponent, the likes of which our country has never seen.” 

Facts First:  There is no basis for Trump’s claim that Biden or the Justice Department is behind the civil case. The case was brought by New York state Attorney General Letitia James – after an investigation  she began in 2019 , roughly two years before Biden became president. As Trump has repeatedly noted, James, a Democrat,  campaigned  in 2018 on a pledge to pursue Trump. Also, federal agencies do not have jurisdiction over state cases like this.

James filed the lawsuit that led to this trial  in September 2022  – about two months before Trump  launched his 2024 campaign .

Trump: We will appeal New York civil fraud ruling

From CNN staff

Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media on Friday.

In remarks from Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump slammed Judge Arthur Engoron, New York Attorney General Letitia James and vowed to appeal Friday's ruling that orders he and his companies pay nearly $355 million.

“It’s a very sad day for, in my opinion, the county," the former president said speaking from Palm Beach, Florida.

"We’ll appeal, we’ll be successful, I think,” Trump said

More on the ruling: The ruling in  the New York civil fraud case also says Trump will be  barred  from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in the state for three years, among other restrictions.

Earlier Friday, Trump called the ruling a sham on Truth Social.

CNN's Kate Sullivan contributed reporting to this post.

New York attorney general: The court ruled in favor of "every hard-working American who plays by the rules"

From CNN’s Samantha Beech

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks to the media on Friday, February 16.

Attorney General Letitia James celebrated today's civil fraud ruling in remarks from New York, saying the court ruled "in favor of every hard-working American who plays by the rules."

“Today justice has been served, today we proved that no one is above the law. No matter how rich, powerful, or politically connected you are, everyone must play by the same rules," the attorney general said.

James added, “Donald Trump may have authored the ‘Art of the Deal,’ but he perfected the art of the steal.”

"And so after 11 weeks of trial, we showed the staggering extent of his fraud, and exactly how Donald Trump and the other defendants deceived banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions for their own personal gain," she continued. "We proved just how much Donald Trump, his family and his company unjustly benefited from his fraud."

James said, “I want to be clear, white collar financial fraud is not a victimless crime. When the powerful break the law, and take more than their fair share, there are fewer resources available for working people, small businesses and families.”

The attorney general thanked those in her office who helped work on the case.

“The scale and the scope of Donald Trump’s fraud is staggering, and so to is his ego, and his belief that the rules do not apply to him. Today, we are holding Donald Trump accountable,” James said.

James did not take questions from reporters and departed the room directly after her remarks, which largely reflected the written statement issued by her office earlier Friday. 

Judge: Common excuse that "everybody does it" is all the more reason to be vigilant in enforcing rules

From CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Laura Dolan and Nicki Brown

Judge Arthur Engoron presides over closing arguments in January.

The New York judge criticized one of the defenses put up by Donald Trump’s lawyers in the civil fraud case, writing in his ruling that claiming “everybody does it” is no reason to get away with fraud.

In fact, Judge Arthur Engoron argued it’s all the reason to be more vigilant in actually enforcing the rules. 

“Here, despite the false financial statements, it is undisputed that defendants have made all required payments on time; the next group of lenders to receive bogus statements might not be so lucky. New York means business in combating business fraud," the judge said.

Known for his colorful writing, the judge also quoted an "ancient maxim" before saying the frauds at issue in this case "shock the conscience."

"As an ancient maxim has it, de minimis non curat lex, the law is not concerned with trifles. Neither is this Court," Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in his ruling. "But that is not what we have here." "The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience," the judge wrote.

Remember: Trump’s attorneys argued during the trial that the attorney general’s claims against Trump had no victims — the banks were paid back and were eager to do business with Trump.

But the attorney general argued, and the judge agreed, that the fraudulent loans Trump received at lower rates had an impact on the marketplace. Plus, the law used to bring the claims against Trump does not require there to be victims of fraud in a traditional sense. 

Does Trump have to pay the nearly $355 million judgment immediately? What we know

From CNN's Fredreka Schouten

Legal experts say former President Donald Trump is likely to use a bond, secured with his assets as collateral, as the first step in satisfying the judgment in the New York civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

On Friday, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and his companies to pay nearly $355 million, which Trump has vowed to appeal.

Under a so-called appeal bond, Trump would put up a percentage of the judgment and a third-party company that is the guarantor “is on the hook for the full amount,” said Joshua Naftalis, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in New York.

“It’s not just the president: Anybody faced with this size of a judgment would probably go the appeal-bond route, because to put up that kind of money is enormous,” Naftalis said. “That could be his entire cash position.”

What Trump has available: It’s difficult to determine the full assets available to Trump, because his business is a privately held concern and does not regularly file reports with regulators. In a deposition taken last year as part of the case brought by James, the former president said his company had more than $400 million in available cash.

Adam Leitman Bailey, a real estate attorney in New York, said Trump likely would have to put up 10% of the judgment in cash, plus an additional fee. 

In January, a jury in a civil defamation case  ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million  to former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, on top of the $5 million verdict she had already won against him last year.

2-year ban on Trump’s adult sons leaves Trump Org leadership in question

From CNN’s Lauren del Valle

Eric Trump, left, and Donald Trump Jr. wait for their father to speak at the White House in 2020.

Donald Trump’s eldest sons — who’ve essentially run the Trump Organization since 2017 — are barred from serving as executives in New York for two years, according to Judge Arthur Engoron's order.

The Trumps will have to navigate the two-year penalty as they sort out the future of the family-run real estate company that also hasn’t filled the chief financial officer or controller positions vacated by former Trump Org. execs Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney.  

During closing arguments last month, Engoron questioned whether the attorney general presented any evidence that Trump’s eldest sons knew that there was fraud going on at the company — but ultimately found them liable for issuing false financial statements, falsifying business records, and conspiracy claims. 

The judge knocked Eric Trump’s credibility in his ruling, pointing out inconsistent testimony he gave at trial.  He “begrudgingly” conceded at trial that he actually knew about his father’s statements as early as 2013 “upon being confronted with copious documentary evidence conclusively demonstrating otherwise,” the judge wrote. 

Engoron also said Eric Trump unconvincingly tried to distance himself from some appraisals of Trump Org properties that offered a much lower valuation than reported on Donald Trump’s financial statements. 

More on the ruling: Eric and Donald Trump Jr. were both ordered to pay more than $4 million in disgorgement, or “ill-gotten” profits, they personally received from the 2022 sale of Trump’s hotel at the Old Post Office building in Washington DC. 

Ivanka Trump gets to keep her profits on the building sale because she was dismissed as a defendant in the case by an appeals court ahead of trial. But that didn’t stop Engoron from weighing in on her trial testimony, calling it “suspect.” 

Trump has been ordered to pay $438 million this year in fraud and defamation cases

From CNN's Jeremy Herb

President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference held at Mar-a-Lago on February 8, in Palm Beach, Florida.

Judge Arthur Engoron hit Donald Trump with his biggest punishment to date Friday, in a ruling that fined the former president nearly $355 million for fraudulently inflating the values of his properties.

The dollar amount dwarfed the verdict against Trump issued last month in the defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll — an $83 million judgment — hitting home just how much the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case threatens Trump’s business empire.

Engoron found Trump liable for fraud, conspiracy, issuing false financial statements, and falsifying business records, barring him from serving as director of a company in New York for three years.

While the judge pulled back from trying to dissolve the Trump Organization altogether, Engoron issued a blistering 93-page opinion that painted the former president as unremorseful and highly likely to commit fraud again.

"This Court finds that defendants are likely to continue their fraudulent ways unless the Court grants significant injunctive relief,” Engoron wrote. 

The judge also ruled that Trump will have to pay millions in interest on the judgement amount.

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    #1. Use Numbers This is the key ingredient in writing catchy titles for articles: use numbers! Numbers produce order out of chaos (God made the world in 7 days). They also promise something people can read quickly, as in a list post : [#] Reasons _____ Is The Best _____ [#] Ways To _____ With Your Next _____ The Best [#] Formats For _____

  9. How to Write Headlines: A Step-by-Step Guide

    3) Flag the Reader in Your Headlines. Author/copywriter Dan Kennedy once introduced the " flagging technique ," and it's a powerful way to write headlines for both copy and blog posts. You already know one of the basic techniques, which involves addressing the readers as " you .". I use "you" in a lot of my headlines.

  10. How to Write Catchy Headlines and Blog Titles Your ...

    1) Start with a working title. Before you get into the nitty-gritty of coming up with a perfect title, start with a rough draft: your working title. What is that, exactly? A lot of people confuse working titles with topics. Let's clear that up: Topics are very general and could yield several different blog posts.

  11. How to Write a Catchy Headline in 1 Minute and 7 Seconds

    Plug in your topic or focus keyword into the little text box, hit a button, and bam - out pops a catchy headline in less time than one minute and seven seconds. At the very least, it could trigger ideas. Overall, a catchy headline should speak directly to the part of the brain that subconsciously cares. However, a catchy headline is nothing ...

  12. 5 Easy Tricks to Help You Write Catchy Headlines

    This is what it takes to write a good headline. If you need some help concocting catchier headlines, here are a few simple tricks: Use emotional objectives to describe your reader's problem. 1. Use numbers to give concrete takeaways. There's a reason why so many copywriters use numbers in their headlines. It works.

  13. How to Craft Article Titles That Catch Your Audience's Attention

    What Should Effective Article Titles Achieve? Write Awesome Article Titles Every Time CoSchedule's Headline Analyzer Studio Why Are Article Titles So Important? While there are many more reasons to focus your attention on improving the work you put into your headlines, these are a handful of the most important reasons. Back to the Top

  14. How to Write an Effective News Article

    "Panel chooses 3 essay winners" Byline The byline is the name of the writer—your name, in this case. Lead (sometimes written "lede") The lead is the first sentence or paragraph, written to provide a preview of the entire article. It summarizes the story and includes many of the basic facts.

  15. News Headline Writing

    2. On the other hand, titles are mainly used in feature magazines. Titles for articles don't necessarily need to give the entire information immediately similar to a headline. Feature stories and other creative writing pieces commonly use titles. 3. Titles in journalism, meanwhile, can mean differently.

  16. Headlines

    Today a reader is just as likely to come across an article by reading a list of search engine results as by scanning a newspaper page. Headlines should be clear and specific, telling the reader what the story is about, and be interesting enough to draw them into reading the article. 5-10 words at the most. should be accurate and specific.

  17. How to Write Great Article Titles [Tips & 7 Popular Headlines in 2024 ]

    Contents show Why Do Article Titles Matter? Well, when you do it right, an article title can help increase your organic traffic and boost your on-page SEO (search engine optimization). As the first thing your potential reader will see in the search engine results, a catchy title can pull them in to read the rest of your content.

  18. How to Write a Headline: 5 Tips for Writing a Good Hed

    How to Write a Headline: 5 Tips for Writing a Good Hed. Written by MasterClass. Last updated: Jun 7, 2021 • 4 min read. Finding the best headline for a story can be challenging. Great headlines can bring in waves of reader attention and subscribers, which are vital for any publication. Finding the best headline for a story can be challenging.

  19. How To Write an Article Title? Quick Tips and How-To Guide

    1. Know When To Develop Your Title First things first: if you're not done with your writing yet, don't worry about a title. As your research paper, book chapters, or short story come to life within your mind, and on the page (or on your computer), ideas for titles will likely come and go.

  20. Catchy headlines for feature articles

    "A one word title is more likely to JUMP! off the page." Her own book title is a good example of this approach: POP! Stand Out in Any Crowd. Make your title jump off the page in a single word. Onomatopoeia. Buzz, crash, whirrr, splash. Onomatopoeia — Greek for name-making — is a word that imitates the sound it represents.

  21. Title Generator

    01. Type your topic or a couple of keywords into the Title Generator search bar. 02. Click 'Get Your Title' Select the orange button to the right of the input field to populate your initial list of titles. 03. Refine your results Zero in on your target by choosing a "subject" from the drop-down menu. 04. Expand your options

  22. Key Tips for Writing Good Article Titles

    Prediction Titles. 5 Key Tips for Writing Article Good Titles. Keep it short and to the point. Highlight the value of your article. Announce Exciting and Relevant News. Questions in the Headline. Appeal to Your Reader's Hunger for Knowledge. To Wrap Up. The title is one of the most powerful tools you have as a writer.

  23. 6 tips for writing a great title for your research article

    1. Headline the main result, not the main effort If your paper has a clear main finding that can be summarized in a sentence, put it in the title. Such a title is much more interesting (and informative) than a title describing your approach. Prof. Kevin Plaxco gives the following examples in his commentary article The art of writing science:

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