The editor of the Lincolnshire Echo argues that an eye-catching headline will draw your readers like a magnet.

Crooner George Michael may have been unlucky to bump into an undercover policeman in his local public loo.

But his biggest misfortune that night was to find The Sun’s page one splash subs on sparkling form. Zip Me Up Before You Go Go! Their front page screamed. And Wham!… Michael’s minor indiscretion went down in showbiz (and newspaper) history.

Those same splash subs once heralded a Tory election victory with a front page which shouted: It’s The Sun Wot Won It!

Certainly for the best-read newspapers and magazines, it’s their headlines wot make their stories so compelling.

If a good photograph is worth a thousand words, then what price a great headline?

A clever or witty heading may be the best way of persuading a browser that your article is a must-read piece. Most editors recognise this. Many even go so far as to build their biggest story displays around an eye-catching headline.

The quality of a publication’s headlines is also often a good indicator of its true worth.

Many council publications are staffed by earnest amateurs. Which is why they carry headlines like: Luke Walmsley case will be the focus of an Independent Review.

This, of course, will mean little to most readers. Most readers, that is, who don’t know that Luke was a 14-year-old schoolboy, stabbed to death outside his classroom by a fellow pupil.

Surely people might be more inclined to read on if the headline asked: What can schools learn from Luke’s murder?

Questions are often a good way of tempting us into an article.

Newspaper lawyers will wince at a headline which reads: Has council leader got his hand in the till?

But a simple question can be a good way of catching a reader’s eye.

A story about a library book lending figures could be billed: Is this Britain’s best read? An article about a new cycle path might carry the headline: Why spend £500,000 on bikes?

Which just shows that good headlines don’t necessarily have to have readers rolling in the aisles. A punchy, dynamic one-liner will have as much impact as the wittiest, side-splitting pun.

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