Web Headings That Work

On the Web, you live or die by your headings (or headlines as they are called in newspapers and magazines). A good one makes it easier for readers to find your article, and much more likely that they will read what you have written. A bad heading ensures that few, if any, readers will find your text at all, and that those who do will be unlikely to read further.

People don’t begin to read your Web article by accident. First they have to find it. Potential readers will usually come to your article either from a crowded Webpage—where your article is just one of several clickable elements—or worse still, from a page full of search engine results. In either case, all the reader sees is the heading and the first sentence or ...

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