An article I came across recently resonated with me, and I believe is a good headline based on what we learnt in class was “Nature-Deficit Disorder: What It Is, and How to Overcome It”. I believe this is a great headline because it follows the Four U’s formula for a clickable ad which is unique, useful, urgent, and ultra-specific. This headline resonates with me specifically because I was drawn into an intriguing new word I had never heard of before Nature Deficit Disorder. The phrase “Nature Deficit Disorder” is a made-up word used to hook the reader and encourage them to explore the content at hand. It is made to intrigue the reader to learn more about what this means and if it is a real thing. It resonated with me directly because I am from British Columbia where the culture is very nature-rich. My time in Windsor is solely for school and not being in nature is one of the huge sacrifices of being here. This causes me to get homesick a lot. Not feeling as grounded because of the lack of nature in this city is something I deal with every day so this heavily resonated with me because it highlighted a problem I deal with, and is something I am curious to learn more about.
The headline structure is impressive as it incorporates a unique word that catches the attention of the intended audience. This unique and clever wordage will make people want to learn more about it. As mentioned in W6 – C – How to Create Winning Headlines in 9 Simple Steps (W25)- slide 20, they have incorporated a stacked benefit approach. After they hook the reader while scanning, they then offer two useful sets of information/ questions to draw the reader to want to learn more. “What is it” and “How to overcome it”, addresses both informative information on what this is, as well as a solution to overcome this. As stated in many of the slides and in-class discussions, we learned that providing people with content on “how to”, is one of the most clicked-on and successful elements/ strategies you can have when crafting a good headline. I believe that this headline would successfully resonate and attract the intended audience cleverly and strategically due to these reasons. This is good because it needs to allude to something we don’t already know but that we resonate with. Believing that there is information that will benefit you will increase click rates and encourage people to read your content and stay engaged with what is on the page.
Another reason this headline follows good practice is its length. People in today’s society don’t want to read, they want to scan. Creating a headline that encourages the person to not only click but to read an article is an art form and is not as easy as it may seem. This article is only a few words and was able to have a memorable impact on me (desired audience), which means they did a successful job standing out in the digital landscape. Being able to catch attention and draw people in will make your headline stand out amongst the competition, reflecting on its overall ability to perform well in search engines.
I don’t read many articles, so the power of this article heading to draw me in to read means that it is a well-thought-out and clever headline that incorporates all the elements of a great headline.
They have incorporated curiosity, question-asking, superlatives (the made-up word that emphasizes its importance), offering tips and resources, and “how to” explanations elements into the headline making this a very good and effective headline.
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