B2B Web Strategy Blog – eMagine

How to ensure that your email article or blogpost survives the title scan

September 8th, 2009 Posted by: Bill Gadless

Many of us have set up our e-worlds to stream more content past us every day than we could possibly read (and still do our main jobs).  So we pick and choose …more often than not, based solely on the article’s title;  either it grabs us as relevant/compelling, or it doesn’t.  If it does, it merits at least a click and a first-paragraph scan;  if not, it’s headed for that big e-dustbin in the sky.

Over at B2BMarketingSmarts, Susan Fantle advises online content creators that this scenario makes your title as important as… the rest of the piece.  Your title must…

• convey the essence of the article’s content, so that readers can quickly determine its relevance to them;  and
• motivate them to want to read it;  i.e., it needs to be a bit of a grabber, not the newest cure for insomnia.

Susan helpfully illustrates her point by providing some examples in both categories;  first, the not-so-good:

• “Unified Communications and Process Automation Combine to Maximize ROI”
• “Managed data centre operating IT infrastructures successfully using innovative services”
• “Cover Your Assets with Desktop Managed Services”
• “Transforming Data Into Relevance and ROI”
• “How Virtualization Changes IT Costs”
• “Don’t let CRM push you over the edge: how to build your business case”

(Actually, I’m thinking that third one has promise;  if you’re not put off by the tech-y term in the second half, there’s at least a clever pun going on in there…!)
And now the ones Susan sees as worthy of emulation…

• “Enterprise VoIP PBX: What to Know Before You Buy”
• “4 Things Your Anti-Virus Should Do, but Doesn’t”
• “20 Questions for Smart Business Decisions”
• “How to Defend Your Network Against New Hacker Tactics”
• “Top 5 IT Budget Killers: What You Need to Know”

The moral:  don’t rush to think your job’s done when you finish your article body;  take the extra minute or so to craft a headline that will help ensure the rest actually gets read.

Entry Filed under: B2B Web Strategy