Curious about the Headline? Then Just Keep Reading.

These Wall Street Journal headlines show how rousing readers’ curiosity is a great way to keep them reading:

Which Stocks Will Rise? Ask Google.

How to Get More Free Financial Aid

Just How Trustworthy Is Your Tax Preparer?

Think You’re Estate-Tax Exempt? Maybe Not.

Save $500 on Your Cellphone This Year

These headlines are all from the Journal website’s section on Personal Finance & Money – a topic that’s likely to hook most readers’ curiosity.

But whatever your article topic is, questions (“Which Stocks Will Rise?”), techniques (“How to Get …”), and the imperative mood (“Save $500″) make excellent formulas for a headline.

Targeting readers’ curiosity is one of the best ways to generate interest, right from the start, in the full message you want to deliver.

Want seven more techniques for writing headlines? Click here for Write It Well’s one-page interactive PDF.

Our book Professional Writing Skills shows you how to write concisely, use verbs skillfully, and decide whether your writing needs to inform readers or influence them to take action. All these skills are necessary to create effective headlines.

Want some help writing any kind of document? Hire Write It Well to copyedit your documents before you send them out. We’ll help your prose become engaging, well organized, concise, and clear.