Erections and Good Headlines

I was skimming over the home page of MSNBC last week trying to digest the top news stories of the day ... when I was suddenly stopped dead in my virtual tracks by the following headline:

"Man with 10-Year Erection May Not Get His Cash"

Sorry, but that was just too intriguing to pass up. So I clicked the link and read about this poor fellow who had a failed penile implant that refused to ... um, let's say, relax. If interested (and I know you are), you can read the whole story here.

Why am I sharing this with you?

Because it's a good lesson in what it takes to stand out in a sea of competing news stories. You may not land a story on MSNBC, but there are a growing number of options these days for posting your own news stories and press releases online. In fact, Internet press releases have become standard operating practices for most businesses -- including bands, solo artists and record labels.

A well-placed online press release carries a lot of benefits. First, it gets listed in the news database of whatever service you post it on. Plus, your press release page can show up in search results on Google and various news feeds across the Internet.

All of these little glimpses of your musical activities across the Web add to your credibility and increase the odds that someone will stumble across your news item.

The thing is, your press release headline is usually the only thing surfers see before they click to the full release. And, your headline often becomes the title of the web page the release appears on.

So, to be effective, your press release headline must accomplish two things:

• Be intriguing enough to inspire people to click on it for more details
  
  
• Be filled with key words that will help it come up in targeted search results

Therefore, don't make a reference to erections in your headline if the release itself doesn't cover erections. But do find an interesting angle for your music news story and find a way to describe it in as few words as possible.

Examples ...

Lame headline: "Local Chicago Band Releases New CD Called 'Red, White & Blues'"

Good headline: "New CD Reveals the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Chicago Politics"

That second headline might not be as eye-catching as the "10-Year Erection" one, but you have to admit it's better than the lame version.

What can you do to make your music news story (and headline) stand out?

-Bob

P.S. For more music PR advice, check out:

Killer Music Press Kits - Deluxe Edition
www.bob-baker.com/buzz/presskits.html

Do-It-Yourself Internet Music PR
www.bob-baker.com/buzz/diy-internet-pr.html

Online Music PR Hot List 2006
www.bob-baker.com/buzz/music_pr.htm