Back to Basics: 9 Lessons in Writing Tabloid-Worthy Headlines

Consider some of these actual historical examples of tabloid headlines:

• “Headless Body in Topless Bar” (New York Post, April 1983)
• “Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic Are Atrocious” (The Sun, February 8, 2000)
• “OVER £100M! Is this the rail price? Is this just fantasy? Caught up in land buys; No escape from bureaucracy!” (The Armagh Gazette, April 19, 2013)
• “She didn’t see it coming: psychic arrested for $800,000 fraud” (The Guardian, May 12, 2018)

Tabloid headlines excel at three things, in succession:

1. First, grabbing a reader’s attention;
2. Then persuading them to buy a copy of the tabloid;
3. And finally to read that article.

That’s what makes them the perfect model for writing great content headlines. No matter what your niche or topic, and no matter what kind of content you’re creating, your goal as the writer or content marketer is always to grab the attention of the audience you’re targeting, then persuade them to read your article or blog post.

How to write tabloid-worthy headlines

Let’s take a look at what makes tabloid headlines so successful at those tasks, and…