79 Great Headlines That Changed the Publishing Landscape Forever

Karol K.

newspapersIf you’re a blogger, a marketer, a business owner, a publisher, or have anything to do with written word, then I’m sure you’ve struggled before to come up with a great eye-grabbing headline.

There are many approaches to come up with such a thing, but there are two main paths you can follow: you can either pretend that you’re a great headline creator, or you can borrow a headline that has already proven to be effective. I like the latter far better.

Hence this list of 79 great headlines that changed the publishing landscape forever. Let’s start with my favorite type of headlines:

Outrageous Headlines

  • Man’s Head Explodes in Barber’s Chair
  • Double Your Appointments In 30 Days Or I’ll Pay You $500 Cash!
  • Pig-nosed Man Roasted Alive in Fire-walk Tragedy!
  • Now! The Miracle Gas-Saver That Europe Couldn’t Hide!
  • 18 Things You Never Knew About Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf!
  • It’s Ugly But It’s Beautiful
  • Skiing Squirrel Dies Trying to Break 196 m.p.h. Speed Record!
  • Half of U.S. Hookers are Space Aliens – and They Don’t Have Sex Organs!
  • Is Your Cat From Mars?
  • How To Rob Banks. It’s Fun, It’s Easy to Learn, You Don’t Need Much Capital, and You Can Now Do It in the Comfort and Safety of Your Own Home
  • Damn!
  • Supreme Court Judges are Naked Under Robes!
  • Nazi UFOs to Attack U.S.
  • Announcing The Chocolate Pie Diet

List-style Headlines

  • The 22 Best Relationship Tips Ever
  • 50 Idiot-Proof Ways To Make Money On The Internet!
  • 1,495 New Ways To Heal Yourself Now!
  • 10 Ways To Lose Extra Weight And Keep It Off!
  • 24 Techniques For Closing The Sale
  • His Secret Sexual Hot Spots – 9 Sizzling Places Men Love You To Touch
  • 9 Secret Ways To Save Big Money On Taxes!
  • Toxic People: 10 Ways To Handle People Who Make Your Life Miserable
  • 30 Days To A Low Fat Life!
  • 43 Tips For Smooth, Sexy Skin
  • 12 Proven Steps To Making Money On The Internet
  • 20 Top Running Tips

Secrets Revealed

  • Guys Spill: White Lies They Tell Women All the Time
  • Your Sexual Health: Crucial New Facts Your Gyno Forgot to Mention
  • A Shocking Thing 68% of Chicks Do in Bed
  • Best-Kept Secret In MLM Revealed!
  • What Credit Card Companies Don’t Tell You
  • The Three Little-Known Secrets To Bring Out Your Natural Beauty
  • The Secrets Of Successful Advertising By Mail
  • Tricks Of The Trade So Powerful They Can Change Your Life!
  • From One Woman to Another… Here’s One Fact of Life Your Mother Probably Never Told You!
  • Revealed… A 20-Year Old Secret To Lowering Your Insurance Premiums
  • Speed-Picking Secrets of the Pro’s. Don’t Spend Another Second Playing Guitar Until You’ve Read This!
  • The Most Powerful Wealth Secret In History

Challenging Readers

  • It’s Time to Break Up With Your Boss
  • Give Me One Evening And I’ll Give You a Push-Button Memory
  • When it Comes to Sex, You’ve Been Kept in the Dark for Too Long…
  • The Best Business Books Of 1998. How Many of Them Have You Read? Now You Can Read Them All – in Just 15 Minutes Each. Here’s How…
  • Are You Tired Of Living Paycheck To Paycheck?
  • My Chickens Eat Better Than You Do

Arousing Curiosity

  • Who Else Wants A Screen Star Figure?
  • Suppose This Happened To Your Car
  • Can We Talk? How To Make $20,000 An Hour Without A Gun!
  • They Laughed When I Sat Down At The Piano, But When I Started To Play!
  • They Laughed When I Sat Down at The Piano. They Stopped When I Picked It Up
  • Breakfast Of Champions
  • Would You Like To Save 45% On Your Next Vacation?
  • Announcing: The Weight Loss/Management Scientific Breakthrough Of The Century!
  • Why Do Chinese Women Have Such An Impossibly Low Rate Of Breast Cancer?
  • This is your window of opportunity. Open it
  • Unlike Any Steak You’ve Ever Tasted
  • Suppose This Happened On Your Wedding Day!
  • To People Who Want To Write – But Can’t Get Started
  • I’ve Got A Million-Dollar Idea – Now What?
  • You Get Two Magazines For the Price of One!

Personal Approach

  • Do You Make These Mistakes In English?
  • What Four-Letter Word Do You Use When You Have To Write A Check For Your High Healthcare Premium?
  • Had A Hunch Vending Was Lucrative? You’re Right!
  • You Honestly Tried To Quit… But Just Couldn’t! Don’t Worry. You’re Not Alone
  • Before We Tell The World, We Want To Tell You!
  • Thinking About Starting Your Own Business…?
  • Are You Ever Tongue-Tied At A Party?
  • Pros Want It, Newcomers Need It, You Can Test It – Free For 30 Days!

How-to Headlines

  • How To Win Friends And Influence People
  • How To Make Enormous Amounts Of Money Packaging & Marketing Information
  • How To Remove Carpet Stains In 10 Minutes
  • How To Grow A Business
  • How To Manage Stress, Reduce Anxiety & Stay Cool Under Pressure
  • How You Can Make $87,000 A Year As A Successful Magazine Writer!
  • How To Accomplish Anything You Want In Life
  • How To Make Maximum Money In Minimum Time!
  • How To Build A Multimillion-Dollar Business Without Spending Even A Penny On Advertising

Providing Social Proof

  • Always-Fresh Donuts – The Favorite Of Police Officers, Cabbies And All-Night Truckers
  • Why have over 200,000 people ordered Acu-Stop 2000?
  • The Place Where Truckers Come To Get Washed For The Long Haul

To learn more on writing headlines don’t forget to read these two posts at Copyblogger: 10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work and 7 More Sure-Fire Headline Templates That Work. And since we’re talking copywriting you might want to check this post too: The Modern Rules of Benefit-Driven Copy.

Feel free to shoot me a comment if you like to add more headlines to this list. I’d be happy to update this post with your input!

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