Here are the Top 4 Rules for writing blog headlines:

1. Be clear (not cute or obscure)

Generally, we’re talking about a noun, in this case “headlines.” An example of a far weaker headline would be “Top 4 Ingredients in My Secret Sauce.”

2. Use a question

Every headline can’t employ every rhetorical device, but a viable option in this case might have been “Want to Write Better Headlines?”

3. Numbers create interest

Tried and true attention-getter. Works in email subject lines, direct mail and good old television advertising, as in “99 44/100% Pure” for Ivory Soap.

4. Keep it brief - 50 characters or less including spaces

Work your headline down to it’s shortest possible length. For some great headline writing, check out the New York Daily News or this from todays New York Post:

Pray Ball

Yanks Honor VA Tech Victims

As the power of Web 2.0 percolates through the ranks of business, more and more people are interested in installing a CMS.

Content management systems allow users to update their websites in plain English - no coding or programming whatsoever. But open-source CMS prgrams like Joomla and Drupal are notoriously complicated.

WordPress offers an alternative. For our client Mike Jaquish, it was the perfect solution.

Mike’s a serious blogger - he’s been at it for a couple of years, understands blogging and has a dedicated readership. So choosing WP was a easy choice.

The hard part was making two blogs and a handful of html pages all look like one seamless site.

Thanks to Mike for his vision and trust. Kudo’s to contibuting artist George Gumpert for his ingenious php and html work.