5 tips for broadcasters who need to write web headlines

July 19th, 2011 by   Tags: , , , ,
Filed under: Radio, Web

Writing news for the web is different than writing news for radio. If you are used to writing for radio but haven’t done much of any other type of writing, then you need to know a few things. This is the first in a series on how, as a broadcaster, you can write better web stories.

1. A slug is not a headline

Radio reporters and newscasters slug their stories with a single word or phrase so, at a glance, they know what the story is about. Usually it’s something like “MURDER” or “TAX-SCANDAL”, but may also include other information like the author’s name, the version number of the story and the type of item it is, straight copy, a voicer, a script and clip. So, it might be something like “JONES1 x-Leclerc”. This is not a suitable headline for a web story.

Sometimes the slug may even be more descriptive, “Jones guilty” or “Murder Longueuil”. These are not headlines either. Sometimes you might have written an election update. “Election Update for July 5th” is not a headline.

2. Grab the reader’s attention

A headline needs to grab the readers attention and make them want to click through to the story for the details. Broadcasters, for the most part, are not used to writing headlines but if you’re going to write for the web it’s something you need to learn how to do. And, it’s not all that hard.

You’ve written the story already, so you know what it’s about. Just take the essence of that and put it into seven or ten or twelve words.

After all, you’ve put all that effort into writing the story, if you can’t convince anyone to click through and read it, then you’ve wasted your time.

3. Use the active voice

The same way you’d use the active voice in your story writing, use the active voice in your headlines. You can make them clever, a little cryptic or straightforward. The aim is to make the reader want to read the rest of the story. Take a minute or two to think about it.

“Arrest made in teen’s death” can be something like “Father arrested after teen found stabbed to death”.

“Demonstration by Jones victims” can be “Jones victims demand justice”

4. Do Not Capitalize The First Letter Of Every Word

For the most part, you should capitalize a headline as you would a regular sentence. Capitalize the first letter of the headline and any proper nouns, but that’s about it. Do not end with a period.

5. Check your spelling. Check it again

There’s nothing more embarrassing than a spelling mistake in a story you post on the web. It looks sloppy and makes you and your organization look like a bunch of amateurs.

Well, it looks even worse if there’s a spelling mistake in your headline. It’s only nine or ten or twelve words. Read it. Look away and then come back to it a few seconds later and read it again. Run it through a spell check if you have to, but never, ever, make a spelling mistake in your headline. Never.

A few months ago, I gathered some headline writing tips from various websites for our newsroom. Most came from the first source on this list, but some of the others on the list are informative and educational as well.

Made in 2011
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