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20 Aug 09 Writing Copy? Begin with a Headline

This appears ridiculous, isn’t it? Yes, it does, but to the untrained eyes. For the seasoned professional this is yet another way to ideate for a blog-post or an article. A headline not only gives a reader an idea about what to expect from the article or post, but it can also be used to seed the idea for a blog-post or an article in the mind of the writer.

On numerous occasions, we have inklings about the thing we want to write about, but we cannot convert it into a good article because we do not know from where to start and what to write first to convert the idea into an article. In the situation like this, a pre-written powerful headline comes to our rescue. It works as a guiding post for us, which shows us the end of the article. The pre-written headline will tell what you should write to fulfill the promise it made to the readers of your blog or website.

Let’s say, you have to write on a topic related to health and you have some idea about what all should be covered, but you are not sure from where to begin writing. Should you start saying why health is wealth; or should you start by saying the things to do to have a healthy life; or is talking about the detrimental effect of stress on our life what you want to write about?

In the above example, you can see that each topic is different and will require different treatment. Is this why you are confused? Now, look back at the above written topic again, but from a different point of view. From the point of view of a headline. Let’s write the headline first, and see how we fare.

“10 Stress-relieving Tips for a Healthy Life”

Or

“How to lead Stress-free, and Happy Life”

Or

“Health, Wealth and Stress”

You may have noticed, although, each of them deals with the same subject, each of the three headlines needs different treatment. Each of the headlines suggested above tells us what we have to write about. They help us organize our thought in a particular way.  A headline set course for us, and it also tells the reader what kind of article is coming. It is a promise made by you and fulfilled by the article.

A headline sets a goal for us that we must reach by shaping words and sculpting sentences to give it a form of an article.

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