Micro content: How to Write Headlines, Page Titles, and Subject Lines
Micro content needs to be pearls of clarity: you get 40-60 characters to explain your macro content. Unless the title or subject makes it absolutely clear what the page or email is about, users will never open it.
The requirements for online headlines are very different from printed headlines because they are used differently. The two main differences in headline use are:
- Online headlines are often displayed out of context: as part of a list of articles, in a search engine hitlist, or in a browser's bookmark menu or other navigation aid
- Even when a headline is displayed together with related content, the difficulty of reading online and the reduced amount of information that can be seen in a glance make it harder for users to learn enough from the surrounding data. Online, a much smaller amount of information will be visible in the window, and even that information is harder and more unpleasant to read, so people often don't do so
Guidelines for Micro content
- Clearly explain what the article is about in terms that relate to the user. Micro content should be an ultra-short abstract of its associated macro content
- Written in plain language: no puns, no "cute" or "clever" headlines.
- No teasers that try to entice people to click to find out what the story is about.
- Skip leading articles like "the" and "a" in email subjects and page titles (but do include them in headlines that are embedded within a page). Lists are often alphabetized; you don't want your content to be listed under "T" in a confused mess with many other pages starting with "the".
- Make the first word an important, information-carrying one. Results in better position in alphabetized lists and facilitates scanning. For example, start with the name of the company, person, or concept discussed in an article.
- Do not make all page titles start with the same word: they will be hard to differentiate when scanning a list. Move common markers toward the end of the line.