With anything we write one of the goals is to get people’s attention, headlines are intended to do this in a newspaper. By avoiding what we call editorializing, that’s sharing one’s opinion beyond being objective and credible, writers and editors find catchy ways to get readers’ attention to read stories, even if it’s only the first few sentences of the story, or the lead. Scan the newspaper and see what, by headline alone, catches your attention. By the same token, when writing headlines for your blog posts try to make them catch, you have to think that with the millions of pieces of information available on the Web, if you get your content in front of a potential reader the title or headline is where conversion takes place. Granted, this takes some practice but will ultimately be one major way to get a good strong following from more distant readers (people who may not know you and simply come across or stumble onto your blog).

I was looking at Engadget the other day and this headline just jumped off the page at me,

What a headline, he got the gist of the story across, threw his twist on the story to get my attention and it worked. Compare this with “My thoughts for today” and unless I know you I probably won’t click on your blog to read about your thoughts.

My Two Cents: Although I think that user-generated content is what makes the Web great, I also think we can do a better job overall. Not only will writing more thought-provoking, catchier headlines cast a better light on us the writers, but it could also potentially drive traffic to our site.

ESPN

Are you kidding me, Wojciechowski makes it seem like Kirk Radomski is doing something wrong by being willing to testify about the HGH/Steroids issues and what he knows about them. Although an opinion piece, this was a disappointing issue and, in my opinion, falls well below the standard of typical ESPN reporting.

Granted, my opinion is that players using HGH or any performance enhancing substance are dirty–I don’t care if “everyone is doing it,” that argument didn’t work for my parents and I’m sure it didn’t work for yours or the athlete’s! But Wojciechowski hit below the belt calling Radomski a “career jockstrap picker-upper,”A guy who retrieved sweaty sani socks off the clubhouse floor.”

This is the kind of attitude that keeps whistleblowers from coming forward, let’s ridicule them, make them look like they’ve done something wrong. I don’t care if the MLB corporate culture says what happens here stays here. If it’s unfair or illegal, as far as I see it you are an accomplice if you keep your mouth shut!

My Two Cents: This is poor reporting for any journalist. It’s not like he’s attacking Radomski’s credibility alone, Wojciechowski is making personal attacks on Radomski and that’s unprofessional!

Well, as a PR person myself, this happens to us from time to time, only it is actually condoned and, as a matter of fact, I am thrilled when the NY Times uses one of my news releases in it’s publication.

This all leads me to my political post today. My good friend, mentor & former classmate & colleague, Russ Page has done a bit of political posting and his post for today is great! So great, in fact, that I will republish his post right here on my blog–with quotation marks, of course.

“Sending the Wrong Message
This is the very message I am ashamed of and this is a great example of the exact “morons” I refer to in my post. The post isn’t about Bush and neither is that discussion, yet time and time again, that’s how people think the problems will get fixed. Blame it on Bush. The point is we have a problem in Iraq and a lot of people, including Hillary Clinton, supported going into Iraq. Stop falling for political PR rhetoric by changing the discussion to something that won’t fix the issue and start addressing the problem. The pundits I speak about know that contoversy is an almost sure win for press coverage, and the “it’s all Bush’s fault” message is so prevalent that no one ever stops to think about how to fix these issues.

The “Bush is an Idiot” Message is Hurting this Country
Bush may be an Idiot. Don’t miss the point here. There are so many people who focus so much on how they can’t stand President Bush that they only make the matter worse. Yes, I am saying that the Bush haters are contributing greatly to the problem. They spend so much time focusing on what they don’t want that they leave no time to focus on what they do want, which is a different president and to bring the troops home from Iraq. I want the troops to come home. A lot of people do. The mind is a powerful thing, and we create our reality everyday by the things we focus upon and think about.

More on My Hillary Post
I talked about how Hillary’s followers were acting like morons because she blatanly glosses over a question about how she could say she wouldn’t have invaded Iraq if she were president in 2002, yet she voted for it to happen. What was her response? The same as this “brain off” digger I talked about above. . . “It’s all George Bush.” It’s no mistake that people talk this way when political PR people spread this message far and wide and the media run with it. It’s just too bad we have so many people in this country not willing to focus on how to fix the problem instead of just pointing fingers. Bunch of sheepwalkers.”

Content courtesy of Russ Page, www.russpage.net

We need media who don’t just try or hope to move the masses through rhetoric and persuasion, but rather, we need media who are driven to move and will–within bounds–do all that is necessary to shift opinions or stand up to bureaucracy in pursuit of what is truly right! Those are my two cents, good night, and good luck.

Read the survey results here

My Two Cents: It’s always nice to know how to get more media coverage; what’s better is when the person telling you that is the journalist!

Here is a site that is making some serious claims against some top-tier national and international news services.

Click here to see the brief video clip.

What do you think? Are we being told what to think or what to think about?