Headline Hacks

How to Write Joyful Headlines That Comfort Amidst Crisis

Positive headlines and 40 powerful words to bring light to your readers

Who else needs a break from negative yet infectious news? As my mate described to me recently, “it’s like going down a rabbit hole”. He’s right. Once we take a peek at COVID news, we just can’t help but sink deeper.

The news is gloomy at the best of times. So it’s no surprise that the media is thriving right now. They’ve got our full attention. We’re on the edge of our seats every day, biting our nails, sitting in front of our TVs anxiously, horrified but glued to the continual tirade of alarming news. It’s like a nightmare we can’t shake ourselves out of.

What level of restrictions are we on now? How many more people have been infected? When are we going to find toilet paper again?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough. Bottom line: we’ve got to stay home during this time. Now is not the time to be rebellious or stupid. It’s time to focus on keeping our sanity. It’s time for connecting with our colleagues, friends, and family. Now’s the time to take care of our physical, mental, and spiritual health. It’s an opportunity to review, improve, and get out of this with perspective, plans, and action.

Let’s start by controlling what we brainwash ourselves with each day, and to realize as writers that we have an opportunity right now. We have an opportunity to impact the world, to make a difference — one word at a time.

We can do that by creating uplifting news headlines amidst this crisis. It seems like a mammoth task, but someone’s got to do it. You and I can do it.

What I want to share with you today is a collection of news articles that take a refreshing angle on COVID: articles that uplift rather than scare. Articles that inspire rather than stress. Articles that reassure rather than frustrate.

And from these articles we can learn:

1. Qualities of positive headlines
2. Uplifting words
3. Classic headline techniques

Together these will bring joy and comfort to your readers. These will help your writing shine above the rest and be there for your readers when they need it the most.

Let’s dig into these, shall we?

1. Qualities of Positive Headlines

As I dug for positive articles, I noticed common themes among them. I’ve placed them into these themes, although many of them can be grouped into more than one. Many of these themes are qualities we can cultivate in our writing — and highlight in our headlines:

• Spread kindness
• Share generosity
• Celebrate victories
• Give comfort
• Spread joy
• Show determination
• Show love
• Lighten up with humor
• Nurture creativity
• Deepen human connection
• Highlight innovation

Headlines that convey these positive values:

Spread kindness

• Virtual volunteers offer help to strangers amid virus stress
• ‘Meals are ready to go for everyone’: The acts of kindness amid coronavirus pandemic
• Risking her own health to deliver food orders, she hopes to save others — and her home too
• Newspaper deliveryman brings groceries to his older customers on morning route, no extra charge

Share generosity

• New England Patriots Send its Team Jet to Deliver 1.2 Million N95 Masks From China to Boston and NYC Hospitals
• Top New York restaurant reopens to produce meals for medical staff in need
• California launches initiative to place homeless in hotel rooms
• Michigan man uses $900 savings to buy gas for nurses

Celebrate victories

• Tennessee 6-year-old with cystic fibrosis beats COVID-19
• 104 year old man fights coronavirus and recovers in time for birthday
• Trial Drug Successfully Blocks COVID-19 from Entering Cells
• COVID-19: Gujarat Firm Makes Low-Cost Ventilators In 10 Days

Give comfort

• Comfort from a 102-year-old who has lived through a flu pandemic, the Depression and WWII
• Malaysian Queen has been cooking for hospital workers taking care of Covid-19 patients
• Performances canceled, musicians find a way to lift every voice
• Neighbors sing for woman whose husband died from coronavirus
• Priest begins offering drive-thru confession amid coronavirus pandemic

Spread joy

• New Jersey officers serve up Pizza Day to cheer up residents amid coronavirus concerns
• UPS driver spreads joy by singing in uplifting viral video
• Driveway photoshoots of families having fun keep connections alive during COVID-19 isolation
• Couple dances along with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers during Italy quarantine
• The guest list was cut from 60 to 5, but this couple still had a dream wedding

Show determination

• This principal didn’t let a school closure stop her from announcing this year’s valedictorian and salutatorian
• ‘We just love him’: Why this 90-year-old keeps volunteering
• She cycles around Bengaluru offering help to senior citizens
• Irish prime minister returns to practising medicine to help health sector during virus crisis

Show love

• Love in the time of coronavirus: New York City couple married on street by friend in window
• Stranger Offers to Pay Out-of-Work Waitress’ $1,100 Rent: ‘Super Grateful’
• Why these chalk messages could be ‘really important’ for getting through the coronavirus pandemic
• This Brooklyn Landlord Just Canceled Rent for Hundreds of Tenants

Lighten up with humor

• Outback roadhouse starts flying beer and pizza to cattle stations in lockdown
• Pole dancing, embroidery and cake decorating — these Queensland blokes do them all
• Global Pandemic That Has Killed Thousands Giving Woman Just The PushShe Needed To Organize Tupperware Cabinet
• Quarantined Umpire Cleans His Entire Home With Tiny Brush
• Coronavirus crisis: Premier Mark McGowan grants Easter Bunny ‘special eggs-emption’ to travel within WA

Nurture creativity

• ‘So much more than a teacher’: This NY first grade teacher has a new take on home-schooling
• Coronavirus: Distilleries are switching from alcohol to hand sanitiser
• Genius website pairs coronavirus hand-washing with your favourite lyrics
• Tirupur’s disinfection tunnel a runaway hit
• Youths in this Dungarpur village form teams to screen visitors, create checklist

Deepen human connections

• 1,000 singers, 18 countries: Communities unite for birthday celebrations ruined by coronavirus lockdown
• Pub Choir’s Couch Choir brings light during coronavirus crisis
• This Neighborhood Has Been Staying Connected During Social Distancing With Creative ‘I Spy’ Game
• Building bonds: A network forms in Baltimore to connect seniors to mental health services during pandemic
• Quarantine Leads Families to the Kitchen to Cook Together

Highlight innovation

• Nigerian citizen designs portable hand-washing stations for his city
• Trial Drug Successfully Blocks COVID-19 from Entering Cells
• Bill Gates funding the construction of factories for 7 different vaccines to fight coronavirus
• A group at MIT figured out how to make an emergency ventilator for $100 using a common hospital item — instead of the usual $30,000

We’ve seen how positive headlines can spread kindness and love. Nurture creativity and comfort. Give us hope through innovation. Next, let’s see how words convey those feelings to our readers.

2. Harness the Power of Positive Words: 40 Words for Your Headlines

Words are powerful, whether negative or positive. Let’s arm ourselves with positive words and look for every opportunity to gift them to the world. These are examples of words that lifted the positive headlines we looked at above. Some words are naturally positive, such as ‘joy’, ‘comfort’, and ‘smiles’. Others become positive depending on the context they’re placed in, such as ‘beats’ and ‘defeats’.

• defeats
• happy
• lift
• save
• welcome
• recovered
• beats
• won
• homecoming
• shines
• love
• super
• dances
• dreams
• grateful
• unite
• smiles
• serenades
• successfully
• together
• humanity
• connected
• unity
• singing
• celebration
• safest
• joy
• uplifting
• light
• kindness
• fun
• help
• extraordinary
• cheer
• comfort
• celebrates
• saviour
• biggest
• rebuilt
• found

So far, we’ve seen how to uplift readers through positive approaches — and the types of words that can bring cheer and hope to our readers. Finally, we’ll run through examples of how the headlines reinforce several classic headline techniques that have been proven to attract readers. These are helpful tips to add to your headline toolbox.

Classic Headline Techniques

Frontload and backload keywords

Word placement is important in headlines. The first three words and last three words have been shown to catch reader attention — I’ve bolded them in the headlines below:

• Sidewalk notes bring smiles to hospital staff during virus
• Kolkata girl offers no-rent flats to ostracized doctors, nurses
• Social distancing has actually been an asset for creating
• Coronavirus outbreak: Let’s spare a thought for the permanently lonely

Use short headlines

Buffer tells us that according to science, the ideal length of a headline is six words since we absorb only the first three words and the last three words of a headline.

Here are three short headlines (note that one is seven words):

• Tirupur’s disinfection tunnel a runaway hit
• Dog helps deliver groceries to quarantined neighbor
• ‘I won! I defeated the coronavirus’

Use long headlines

Backlinko analyzed 912 million blog posts and suggests 14 to 17 words are the way to go, generating 76.7% more social shares than short headlines.

I’ve noticed COVID news headlines tend to be long, rather than short. This allows clarity through specificity. Also, many headlines tell a story and it’s easier to provide more detail with longer headlines.

• A Minnesota trooper pulled over a doctor for speeding. Then he gave her his N95 medical masks
• ‘So much more than a teacher’: This NY first grade teacher has a new take on home-schooling
• Lone Canadian Sailing the Globe, May Be Literally the Safest Human on Earth
• Newspaper deliveryman brings groceries to his older customers on morning route, no extra charge

Headline length may seem contradictory and confusing. For a deeper discussion about whether to write long or short headlines, read Long or Short: Which Headlines Are Better?

Tell a story

You’ll notice many articles tell a story. Even before paper was invented, this was the way humans passed important messages down through generations. In research conducted in 2018, researchers at McMaster University found that our brains relate to and focus on the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist of each story (The art of storytelling: Researchers explore why we relate to characters).

We’re wired to tune into stories, whether they’re true or not — whether they’re through words, gestures or drawings.

• Neighbors sing for woman whose husband died from coronavirus
• ‘We just love him’: Why this 90-year-old keeps volunteering
• Irish prime minister returns to practising medicine to help health sector during virus crisis
• Dance instructor, 89, still teaching during pandemic: ‘You have to get creative’

Use highly rated sensorial words

Our senses help us create richness in life. They help us connect, learn, navigate, and so much more. When used in your headlines, sensory words can help you initiate a bond with your readers.

But researcher Barbara Juhasz discovered that not all words evoke the same sensory experience. She created an index she called the Sensory Experience Rating (SER) scale to rank the strength of the sensory experience evoked by nearly 3,000 mono-syllabic words, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Using highly-rated words in our headlines can strengthen the power of our headlines. Here are three examples of headlines and highly rated sensorial words — the word ranking (out of 5) has been included:

• Love in the time of coronavirus: New York City couple married on street by friend in window (Love: 4.82)
• Sidewalk notes bring smiles to hospital staff during virus (Smile: 4.36)
• Cheers greet Vadodara’s first COVID survivor’s homecoming (Home: 4.00)

To learn more about sensorial words and headlines, visit The 194 Highest-Rated Sensorial Words for Gorgeous Headlines.

Focus on your reader’s needs

Use the WIIFM approach. WIIFM stands for “What’s In It For Me.” It’s what every reader thinks. They’re busy. Make it quick and easy for them to figure out if you’re giving them something relevant and useful.

Ask yourself if your title tells your reader how this content will help them get better at something, solve a problem, deal with fear, keep their jobs or find a new one, help them avoid anxiety, or work better at home.

If you have trouble, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a great way to understand what’s important to us: you’ll see it’s more than tangible needs.

• Physiological needs: food, shelter, clothing
• Safety: health, employment, personal security
• Love and belonging: friendship, family, sense of connection
• Esteem: recognition, freedom, respect
• Self-actualization: desire to fill their potential

How can your headline fulfill one or more of these needs? How can you connect more deeply to your customers during this unsettling time? Here’s how four uplifting COVID headlines do it, and the need they connect with for readers:

• Food and shelter: Sacramento food trucks help families at domestic violence shelter
• Actualization: Amidst coronavirus outbreak, they chose to ride out the crisis in Italy than head home
• Safety: Medical services free of charge for coronavirus patients in Iran
• Love and belonging: Quarantine Leads Families to the Kitchen to Cook Together

Show credibility

Opinion on its own is weak. Experience and reputation strengthen credibility. Experts are generally thought of as reliable and credible. Research provides objectivity and reliability. Statistics also help as our brains use statistics to make objective decisions.

• First potential COVID-19 vaccine to be peer-reviewed shows promise by creating coronavirus antibodies in mice
• Coronavirus could trigger biggest fall in carbon emissions since World War II
• Landmark study concludes marine life can be rebuilt by 2050
• University of Pittsburgh scientists believe they’ve found potential coronavirus vaccine
• Music Takes 13 Minutes to ‘Release Sadness’ and 9 to Make You Happy, Says New Study

Highlight the extraordinary

Daily life tends to get boring… our ears perk up when we read something out of the norm. Typically we’re attracted to negative news. Yet research such as this scientific research about happiness by Steptoe and Marmot, two of the world’s leading experts on the psychobiology of health and disease, finds that positivity leads to more happiness and better health.

• Florida Restaurant-Goer Leaves $10K Tip One Day Before Owner Forced to Lay Off 90% of Employees
• Ballarat engineer builds world-first ventilator for COVID-19 patients in five days
• Stranger Offers to Pay Out-of-Work Waitress’ $1,100 Rent: ‘Super Grateful’

Use proven templates

Templates are a quick and easy way to write headlines. We all need a prompt now and then, don’t we? Well, you can easily create your own templates from analyzing headlines as shown below. Test them out to see if they hold, as we’ve done below — then store them in your headline hacks collection.

Headline: Social distancing has actually been an asset for creating Template: <something> has actually been <a surprising outcome> Test: Homeschooling my 7-year-old has actually been fun.

Headline: Why these chalk messages could be ‘really important’ for getting through the coronavirus pandemic Template: Why <something> could be ‘<expert opinion>’ for <doing something> Test: Why two minutes of meditation every day could be the way to keep your relationships strong

Headline: Got a 3D printer? You could help supply hospitals with essential PPE Template: <question> <benefit> Test: Got a pillar? You could keep rockclimbing at home to keep your sanity

Make a statement

A firm statement may arouse curiosity. Assert authority. It may answer a question. Surprise. Or simply give information. You need to fully understand what your reader’s desires, fears, and challenges are when writing headlines statements.

For instance, the headlines below are fascinating to all of us because it gives us surprising insight into how the environment has improved without masses of people around. It reassures us that the medical staff we need to help us are being looked after. It gives us hope that we may be close to getting a vaccine that can end all of this. And it reinforces our need for human connection during this time.

• Venice canals run clear as coronavirus lockdown leaves city free of tourists
• Top New York restaurant reopens to produce meals for medical staff in need
• University of Pittsburgh scientists believe they’ve found potential coronavirus vaccine
• Quarantine Leads Families to the Kitchen to Cook Together
• Lone Canadian Sailing the Globe, May Be Literally the Safest Human on Earth

Challenge

Challenges give us something to aim for, make us curious about whether we can take them on, and drive us to give them a go.

• Got a 3D printer? You could help supply hospitals with essential PPE
• Come up with an Apollo 13 fix’: Government challenges Supercar engineers to create ventilator
• Coronavirus outbreak: Let’s spare a thought for the permanently lonely

Play with power words

Power words can help you catch your reader’s attention. They can be simple, sensorial, call a reader to action, or unusual. I’ve highlighted the power words in bold for you.

Gujarat: 44-year-old brain-dead worker turns saviour for three persons

Mass. hospitals getting massive machine that can sterilize 80K N95 masks in a day

South Africa comes with Blockchain application CoviID, will reward you for isolating

Irish Researchers Have Developed Hospital Robot That Uses UV Light to Kill Viruses, Bacteria, and Germs (‘Kill’ is used here in a positive context)

Focus on your main message

Our brains are designed to save energy. Make it easy for your reader’s brain. When it comes to headlines, you help your readers by giving them the gist of the article so they can either read more if that’s what they feel like doing now, save it for later, or take your message and never return.

Here’s where it’s crucial to understand your reader and make sure your headline is clear so they know it will be relevant and useful. Be careful not to deceive — instead, learn how to write genuine, enticing headlines without clickbaiting.

• Coronavirus self-isolation sees spike in backyard campouts to keep communities connected
• Meet the home hobbyists making scrubs for doctors and nurses fighting COVID-19
• Nigerian citizen designs portable hand-washing stations for his city
• 30 years after Chernobyl disaster, wildlife is flourishing in radioactive wasteland

Summary

As writers, we can neutralize the negativity of the media. We can do that by writing our headlines with positivity — and combine that with uplifting content. A recap of what we’ve discovered today from analyzing positive headlines:

• The qualities of positive headlines: kindness, generosity, love, humor, creativity, connection, innovation
• 40 uplifting words: such as ‘happy’, ‘celebrate’, ‘comfort’, ‘joy’, ‘saves’, and ‘dreams’.
• Classic headline techniques: frontload and backload keywords, use short and long headlines, sensorial and power words, challenge, tell a story, make a statement, show credibility, use proven templates, highlight the extraordinary, focus on your reader.

You see words are powerful, yet context and purpose matter. When we immerse ourselves in positive qualities, we’ll naturally use uplifting words in the right context, with purpose. Combine these with proven classic headline techniques and you’ll truly harness the power of positive headlines.

Your joyful headlines, your uplifting writing — your determination to show kindness and love— all this will bring comfort to your reader amidst this crisis.

You are the brightest star in the dark sky.

Your readers are looking to you for guidance.

Now is the time to write.