In any content, headlines rule. A good headline catches my attention and makes me want to read more.
When we have others create the content, they also supply the headlines. That means it’s up to we savvy web people to point them in the direction of better headline writing.
For WifiPDX, I asked reviewers to Give us the one sentence pitch. Why would you go here? It was a good thought, but there were two problems:
- This was the last field on the review page, despite being the most important
- It let to generic headlines like, “It’s great,” or confusing answers like “I wouldn’t” (go there).
Then there’s the case of BestPlaces CityViews, where visitors leave their comments on places (for example, Portland comments). I labeled the headline field “Title.” This most important part of a comment has been consistently misinterpreted.
That’s right, people think that I am asking their title: President, Principal, Student, Human Resources Director, I’ve seen it all. To be fair, most people get this right. Since I have seen over 15,000 CityViews, this has happened enough that it’s a problem.
The fix could be as simple as calling it a headline. I could also provide a comment preview, so someone has a chance to make changes before committing. There’s probably even a little more guiding to be done.
If the goal is to generate good headlines, we can’t just give them an empty box. We need to help them fill it with good stuff.
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