As marketers and content creators, our main focus is on the story, but the headline/title tends to be an afterthought. This month’s Marketing Minute is going to focus on headline examples that will hopefully improve email open rates, and drive more traffic to your website. Here are some key things to keep in mind when creating your story title:

Short and On-point – Your readers are not forced to look at your content. The goal should be to provide just enough information in your headline to stimulate an open click or link click to your website. The industry standard for headlines and titles is in the six to eight word range.

Attention-Grabbing – One creative director says regarding headlines, “If it causes you to get threatened with a lawsuit, it was a good headline.” Seriously though, the headline needs to have enough sizzle to make readers curious, and to explore further. Think of some attention-grabbing words like; launch, fastest, unlimited, free, expanded, expiring…

Audience Relevancy – The same can be said for your stories, motivating content needs a motivating headline. The title needs to be something that is totally in the reader’s wheelhouse. If you have a story about building new fiber routes, the title shouldn’t be about the grant or how you’re doing it, but something like, ” GiG Internet Coming to XXX Subdivision”

The next time you are sitting down to write that great story or blogpost, think about the title at the same time you are thinking about your story, and you may get surprised by increased engagement activity.