The purpose of a headline is to get people to start reading. That’s it. Your headline (or subject line in email) is crucial.

I recently read a good post on Michel Fortin’s blog about headlines and his 3 X 3 Rule:

The best headlines are those that start a story, make a shocking statement, tease a bit, offer a benefit or prepare the reader for what’s to come.

That is, your headline should cater to:

1. The three greatest human goals: to make or save time, effort or money
2. The three greatest human desires: lust, greed or comfort
3. The three greatest human teasers: curiosity, scarcity or controversy

How simple and clear is that? When you think about it, in a marketing perspective, you are trying to save people time, effort or money. So you appeal to their lust, greed or comfort…

Oh, that’s interesting because I just recognize that I usually only appeal to their comfort – something

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Do you warm up before writing? Well, you wouldn’t start off your work-out without it, would you? There’s an interesting post over on Michael Stelzner’s Writing White Papers Blog that’s got people commenting on how they start their writing tasks.

Michael asks readers, "Do you immediately start writing with great quality and consistently? Or (if you are like me), do you need a little warm-up before those fingers start producing exceptional content?"

I like to play a few rounds of Majong Master while the coffee is brewing; this gets the hand-eye-fingers going on the keyboard and fires up the pattern recognition parts of the brain.

Then I try to avoid opening up email so as not to use fresh energy and brain power on mundane tasks. Once I have a good start on whatever piece I’m writing that day, then I’ll go see what those pesky clients want…(If you are a client, I’m just kidding! I love hearing from you!)

What are your writing rituals? Do you just dive in, or warm up with exercises first?

I don’t care if I repeat myself. The Hubby finds it annoying, but when it comes to rules for writing, you can never hear them enough. Let’s face it, we all forget rules when we are writing.

Here are some guidelines from the CopyDiva blog, worth repeating:

The best way to improve readability in marketing, blogs, articles, even white papers:

1. Use the active voice: Write your sentences in the active voice instead of the passive voice. Active engages readers, passive drags down readability.

2. Use simpler language: Perfect example — instead of “utilize,” a 3-syllable word, try “use.” Opt for shorter simpler words wherever you can. Don’t try to impress with your large vocabulary.

3. Vary sentence length: Write the way people talk. Most people speak in phrases that vary in length, especially good public speakers. Write a mix of sentence lengths to keep the tempo lively.

4. Use the language of your audience: Writing for people who have specific technical knowledge? Use terms they understand, but sparingly. Too much jargon bores even the most technically-adept person.

Got that? Of course, this does require that you re-read and edit your stuff before you publish/submit/save. You do know that, don’t you? Of course you do…

This is article is worth reading, if you struggle whenever you sit down to the computer screen to write:

Five Positive Thoughts That Will Turbocharge Your Writing (and How to Channel Them)
by Daphne Gray-Grant  (From MarketingProfs.com, November 14, 2006)

1. Writing is simply talking on paper

2. Writing can be done quickly, in little bits of time

3. Writing is easy to change

4. Writing always gets better and easier with practice

5. Your writing "voice" is unique

I find the thought of writing 2000 words makes it harder for me to get started, so I tell myself, I’m writing 200-300 words, or, I’m writing just the introductory paragraph. That usually gets me going, and gets me to set onto paper the main concept. Once the main concept is stated, then it becomes clearer what  supporting evidence must follow in the next paragraphs.

What about you? What sort of positive thoughts get you started when you have a writing task?

You know the old joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. How do you become a better writer? Write, write and write some more. How do you get readers to come to your blog? Write more.

Now here is scientific proof from Darwin’s Theory of Evolution that writing more and posting more to your blog will get better just because of the increase in quantity. I may be exaggerating a little, but I’m serious. I knew my undergraduate degree in biology would come in handy one day, and I also recently read this in a book. So bear with me as I explain:

  Excerpt from the book 111/2 Weird Ideas that Work, by Professor Robert I. Sutton of Stanford: "Research by Dean Keith Simonton shows that the success of individual geniuses like Mozart, Shakespeare, Picasso, Einstein annd Darwin himself, is best understood from an evolutionary perspective, where excellence results from "a range of differences." These famous creators generated a wider range of ideas and completed more products than their contemporaries. They didn’t succeed at a higher rate than others. They simply did more. So they had both more successes and more failures.

"The great artist Vermeer created fewer than 50 paintings in his lifetime, all in a similar style. He achieved a singular excellence that, despite the stunning beauty of his art, adds something less than Picasso’s astonishing range and history-changing influence."

This makes sense, doesn’t it? You don’t have to be a biologist to understand the concept that more is better, based on the fact that the more you produce, the better are the chances that you will produce something excellent.

You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket. So, in the words of Andy Wibbels, "Shut up and write!"