[Insert Good Headline Here]

Good headlines are like any other kind of writing -- you have to write thousands of them to get the good ones to come out.

And what do I mean by a "good" headline?

That all comes down to what headlines are for.

Headlines are hooks. They're the first bit of information you toss out to your readers. They're the first bit of information your readers judge to decide if they want to read the rest of the story.

Here are a few rules I follow (mostly unconsciously now) when I write a headline:

1. Be as specific as you can in the space you're allowed
2. Don't use journalism jargon
3. Use wordplay or puns, with two caveats:
       a. Don't force them
       b. Use sparingly
4. Bring your readers into your story
5. Not every headline you write is going to be great.

The most important rule to remember is No. 5. But the others help a lot.

Here are a few examples of what I mean:

1. Be as specific as you can in the space you're allowed

Headlines used to mean economy of words, particularly in newspapers. That real estate has loosened up over time with the advent of the Internet. Still, you don't want to go on forever in a headline (readers are impatient, and going on forever is what the story is for).

Here's a great specific headline (courtesy of the [Boise] Idaho Statesman:

This headline packs a lot of information in only 12 words. We get the who: Drivers. We get there where: Interstate 84. We get the what: Lane closures. And we get the why: Contributed to crash that killed 4.

Combined with the picture, this combination is one that I'll bet a lot of people read (also because it follows one of the oldest journalism rules in the book: If it bleeds, it leads.) The headline puts the reader into the story, and many were probably thinking, "Yeah, I drove I-84 before this accident, and the lane closures sure didn't make a lot of sense."

2. Don't use journalism jargon

I see journalism jargon in mostly newspaper reporters, though all of us are guilty of it from time to time. What do I mean? Things like this:

"Washington Girds for Battle Over Kennedy's Replacement"

Let me ask you a question: When you prepare for something, do you use the word "gird"? Ever use that word when you speak?

I don't. Unless I'm trying to be ironic.

Journalists always have people girding for battle. They always have police throwing a cordon around a crime scene. And it's almost always the Pontiff -- not the Pope -- who comes for a visit.

Better headline, same story:

No journalism speak. And I'll bet this headline got a lot more people riled up than what the Gray Lady presented on the same day.

Note: I'm not endorsing any kind of politics here. Doesn't matter if you don't like the NY Post, or the NY Times. This is about headlines. And truth be told, some of the best headlines I've ever read have been in the likes of The National Enquirer or the Weekly World News.)

3. Use wordplay or puns, with two caveats:
       a. Don't force them
       b. Use sparingly

Writing a headline like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity:

If you have the opportunity to write a headline like this and you don't take it, I probably won't like you as a person.

That being said, if EVERY HEADLINE you write is like this, your readers and your editors are going to be all:

Puns and wordplay help a good headline become a great one, but if you use puns and wordplay in every headline, you're going to dilute the effect. And some of the headlines you come up with will be mediocre puns at best.

So strike light lightning when you can. But don't overdo it.

4. Bring your readers into your story

We've seen a hint of this in an earlier part of the discussion. But let's continue here.

First, there's this:

Here's your typical Who What When Where headline, and it gets the job done. But the words harassed and threatened are pretty commonplace. Harassed how? And threatened to what degree? We have to read the story to find out. And with everyone across the nation either covering this story or using Associated Press copy of this story, a good headline can help one writer's story stand out.

Sometimes digging deeper into the story itself -- or even reading the story that's presented -- offers much better possibilities.

Consider this quote from the LA Times' story itself:

Now imagine the story with this headline:

But with better typography and kerning (I'm not a graphic artist).

By looking into the story, we find a headline that is more specific and draws our readers into the story that generic words like harassed and threatened just don't have the power to do.

One more look at this story in particular. Which headline here is better? And why?

5. Not every headline you write is going to be great.

This is at the same time the hardest and the easiest rule to follow. Hard, because we want everything we touch to be worthy to hang in the Louvre. Easy because if you're like me, you'll end up for years writing, as Dave Barry puts it, "boring stories on municipal government." There are only so many clever headlines you can write about local improvement districts, what diameter of sewer pipe the city should buy, and how well the local bowling league is doing.

And it sounds like most of you have hopes that take you beyond local journalism. But the same rule applies, just on a bigger scale.

Scan any national news outlet and for the most part, you're going to see run-of-the-mill, pedestrian headlines. Oh, a few will stand out. But the vast majority of them are just going to be there, doing the job, but punching out at 5 pm and going home to have a beer.

So don't stress about every headline, because not every headline is destined for greatness.