The Power of the First-Person Perspective

A lot has been said about “clickbait” content from sites like Upworthy, whose headlines tug on (some say exploit) emotions and curiosity to lure readers to their content. While I don’t feel as strongly about these headlines as many do, one type of headline that particularly grates on me is the faux first-person headline. For example: A News Team Follows Potential Models For One Week. My Face Is Now Stuck In Disgust Mode. I’ve Tried To … [Read more...]

Best Practices for Email Newsletter Content Planning

Everyone loves to prognosticate about the future of email, including whether or not anyone still reads it or if we’ll soon be able to check it via our refrigerators. For better or for worse, email remains a ubiquitous form of communication today. According to a July 2012 report by the McKinsey Global Institute, we spend 13 hours per week dealing with email. Thirteen hours! That’s a whole season of “House of Cards,” you know. Not surprisingly, … [Read more...]

Introducing Your Content: Page Titles and Headings

Last week, Georgy talked about the importance of headlines for introducing stories and enticing readers. But how do these lessons learned for headlines in news and featured content translate to other forms of content — such as admissions and academic webpages? Page titles and headings also play an important role for all content on our websites. Readers rely on page titles and headings to navigate websites and understand what is relevant and … [Read more...]

We Blog About Headlines. What Comes Next Will Amaze You

My first job out of college was working for the Boston Globe’s website, which afforded me the opportunity to write a lot of headlines. Perhaps the best (or worst) headline I ever wrote, after a Boston Celtics victory, was “Pierce nets 40 as Celtics pierce Nets.” Clever, eh? “Clever” could be an apt description for many headlines you read. The goal of the headline is to tell you what a story is about, establish its tone, and entice you to read … [Read more...]

Content Gets Wings at HighEdWeb 2013

Last week, the HighEdWeb annual conference landed in Buffalo, New York — known for its friendly spirit, Niagara Falls and, of course, buffalo wings. But, as much as we loved that spicy sauce, it was the wings given to higher ed content that was most satisfying. The common theme linking our favorite sessions from the conference is the importance of looking at familiar issues from fresh perspectives. From new ways of considering how we build and … [Read more...]