How to Write a News Headline
To get people to read your news story, you have to draw them in with a catchy headline. Here's how to make yours stand out.
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Instructions
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Keep it about 50 characters long, or less if you can. A headline should be short and sweet. Also, if you are writing for a wire or syndicated Internet news service, you will want newspapers or other outlets to be able to fit your headline in their publications.
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Don't repeat words. It looks like you are an amateur writer.
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Use simple language. No one wants to have to keep a thesaurus handy when reading news.
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Make the headline reflect what the article is about, or focus on the most interesting part of the article. For instance, if your article is based on an interview with someone, make the headline reflect their most interesting quote.
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Use present tense. For instance: "Police shoot dead suspected robber" not "Police shot dead suspected robber."
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Use word associations and puns if you can. This draws readers in and makes them curious about actually reading your article, rather than skimming headlines.
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Tips & Warnings
If you're stuck on finding catchy puns or words, think about literary references. For instance, if you're writing about a movie about rabbits doing well, you could write something like "Name of Movie hops to head of box office."
