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Why are clear communications important?

Adding headings
By Tash Hughes of Word Constructions

Most of us take headings on articles and blog posts for granted, but they are an important part of the writing process. Let’s face it, busy people will use a heading or title to decide whether or not to read the article so the lack of heading would be a real problem.

A heading also makes the article look complete – a book, article, news story or whatever without a heading just wouldn’t have the same impact, or be as easily discussed with others.

So we’ve established that a heading is crucial, but how do we get a suitable heading for our writing?

Choosing headings

Marketing people will tell you the heading needs to grab attention, and it does. However, be careful to use headings that are meaningful as well as attention grabbing.

Here are some tips for creating a heading for your next written work:

• Make it relevant to the article itself – a misleading heading may grab attention but will annoy people
   
• Keep it as short as possible – headings introduce rather than tell the story and there often isn’t enough space for a long heading
   
• Follow general writing rules – that is, use good spelling and appropriate grammar. Note a heading does not have to be a complete sentence so some grammar rules don’t apply to headings
   
• Be specific so people know you are covering what they want to read about. For example, I could call this article ‘writing tips’ or ‘labelling’ but those terms are quite broad and don’t fully describe the specific aspect of writing I am writing about\
   
• Check for double or hidden meanings as they are easy to create in short text. For instance, ‘women super low’ could easily be interpreted as saying women are feeling bad when it was actually about women have low superannuation balances.
   
• Try for originality and interest – these are more attention grabbing than using certain words that hundreds of other people are using

What comes first?

This is almost as hard to answer as the chicken and the egg question! 

Sometimes a great heading comes to mind and you can write an article to match it; sometimes you have something to write and add a heading once it is complete. Neither way is wrong or right, it just depends on what works for you and at any given time. 

In other words, don’t let the lack of a heading stop you from writing!  

If you do create the heading and then write the article, be sure to go back and check that the article does match the heading.

What about sub-headings?

Unless you have a very short article, sub-headings are a useful tool in writing informative articles. Using sub-headings: 

• Makes it easier for a reader to skim and decide the article is relevant to them

• Makes it easier to find specific information within your article

• Adds visual interest to the article so it has more appeal

• Helps the flow between different aspects of your topic

• Makes long documents less intimidating

During the planning and writing process, sub-headings can also help you decide what to include and in what order. I often write the sub-headings for long documents and go back to add the information as the sub-headings remind me of what I wanted to include.

It is a little detail, but the names of your files can have an impact so it is usually worth putting some thought into the names when you create new files.

Clear communication is critical to the success of any business, but it is often left to care for itself in many businesses. Tash Hughes is a professional and skilled writer who makes technical and otherwise boring information accessible for everyone a business needs to communicate with. Next time you need webcopy, articles, newsletters, reports or any other business document, visit www.wordconstructions.com.au to see how Tash and her team can help your business succeed.