Headlines are more important now than they've ever been. According to research by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 51 percent of all U.S. online readers identified a compelling headline as the reason why they clicked on a given story.
The quality of the article's source was only responsible for motivating 37 percent of people to click. What that means for you, as a content marketer, is that the strength of your headline is responsible for whether or not the rest of your article gets read. You could have a landmark piece of research written in eloquent, captivating style, but without a strong headline to bring someone in, it won't matter.
These seven headline qualities will help you craft the great titles necessary to attract that initial traffic...
Lots to learn about headline writing from Larry Alton.