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"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

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Great Headlines Are Overrated

June 15, 2011 by Jack Steiner

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Hi everybody, headline goes here please
Hi everybody, headline goes here please (Photo credit: reinvented)

The blogosphere has an overabundance of advice on how to become a better blogger and even more superfluity on how to make money. A recent study by the Fouker Institute found that there are 987,032 posts that say that it is very important and or critical for bloggers to use great headlines.  Let’s repeat that, 987,032 posts state that great headlines are a key element in the success of your blog.

That is among the greatest lies and or exaggerations ever uttered.  It is almost as egregious as referring to LeBron James as a basketball superstar. LeBron is an all-star and among the finest players in the game, but he is not a superstar. And the fact is that great headlines are overrated.

I could provide you with a list of reasons why they are overrated and or 1000 words- but in this case I am going to rely upon one word: Retention.

More specifically we are talking about reader retention. A great headline might bring some eyeballs over to the blog but it isn’t going to be the thing to make them stay Great headlines aren’t going to create great content or build community. And without retention a great headline is just an exercise in creativity.

If you like you can equate this to the business world. Retail store XYZ does a fantastic job of generating foot traffic. Lots of people wander in and look around but almost no one buys their products/services and once they are gone they never return. I  can’t speak for you, but at TheJackB I want to build a community that is invested, engaged and welcoming. I’ll take fewer readers with higher engagement over many readers and no engagement.

Great headlines are nice, but without great content they are just fluff and consequently overrated.

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