Wow! Whatever I had, you don't want. Not because it's so miserable, but it's just miserable enough and hangs around long enough to ruin your week. I've been sick for days - a nasty little virus that's finally run its course.

Getting back to work after being out for several days has its challenges, chief among them is sifting through the mountain of email, voicemail, and letter messages you received while out. We all basically receive the same things - stuff we don't want (mostly SPAM that made it through the filter), things we expect and will look at later (bills, notices, etc.), things we expect and need to act on soon, and things requiring immediate attention. Determining which pile things fit in is generally easy - voicemail and snail mail are easiest to sort through quickly. Email offers a unique challenge.

You can sort email quickly by names and addresses you're familiar with. And some titles make things obvious. But you still end up with a tidy collection of messages that give you no clue as to whether or not you want to read them, act, or delete them all in one fell swoop.

Where am I going with this?

Titles and headlines are critical to increasing readership. Be it a sales letter, brochure, white paper, blog post, web link, etc., the handful of words you use to lead a body of copy or earn a click is critical to gaining reader interest and attention.

We should all be students of titles and headlines. Start looking at titles and headlines carefully. Notice which ones grab your attention and equally notice which ones turn you off. And take care in writing future titles...the wrong one can leave wonderful copy unread...a great one can make you a lot of money.

What titles and headlines work best at gaining your attention?