Content Writing Tip - Article Titles

People scan email newsletters. They don't read them.

You can help with scanning through:

• Use of a Table of Contents
• Lists
• Bold
  
• Font size
• Links
• Use of white space

Article Titles are a Key for Scanning
For two reasons. Titles are typically:

• in the Table of Contents
• the largest font in the newsletter

So, article titles have a prominent role in helping your subscribers scan through and then eventually read your newsletter.

If you don't help your subscribers SCAN, they won't read ANYTHING.

You can't force your readers to read the whole newsletter by making it less scannable. That isn't an option. They will either scan it, or skip it. So you don't really have a choice.

Here's the Tip

Think of your article titles the way a newspaper editor thinks of the titles on a newspaper front page.

Minimal words for maximum effect. Words that grab attention. You're not looking for a complete sentence and not even a complete thought.

You simply want to get the scanner's (subscriber) attention. They're moving at Mach 3 through your email, so catch them with a word or phrase that will pique their interest.

If you can slow them down with a title, they might actually read some of the bolded words or the links and some lists. Eventually, heck, they might even read the article and click on a link to your site! w00t, the holy grail of email marketing!