In this post, you will learn how to write an eye-catching headline that will attract clicks without being clickbait. I assure you that writing a title using this very simple yet super effective technique will bring in many more clicks on your post. If you’ve written a headline in the past that worked very well, consider using the same formula to write headlines for future articles. For example, take a quick look at your competitors for the previous 46 points (scroll headlines with that information in mind) and then think about how to write headlines that outweigh them.
Another good headline writing exercise is to search Google for other articles on the subject and see what other titles you’re competing against. If you are writing articles for a high traffic blog, you may want to write different titles for different channels.
Another thing you can do to improve your headline writing skills is to split test headlines when you email your list in a new blog post. Either way, split test headlines will help you better understand your audience and allow you to write better headlines in the future. Another tip for improving your headline writing skills is to practice writing different subheadings in your article. In addition to making your article more engaging, rewriting subtitles is a great way to practice writing headlines.
In this article, I will also show you examples of different copywriting techniques that you can use to write headlines to make them more engaging. Let’s take a look at nine powerful and reproducible ways to write a great headline this year with plenty of examples. Luckily, data and analytics combined with these 73 tips will help you write standout headlines that will grab your readers’ attention in no time.
Let’s take a look at how to write effective headlines and some examples of headlines you can use for your blog. Believe it or not, learning how to write effective headlines to grab attention and generate traffic is one of the real secrets to creating a successful blog. Numbers are a very effective element for writing headlines that grab attention and generate clicks. One thing that almost all headline writing guides agree on is that numbers work, and dark, large numbers work best.
While there is no exact science on how to write a headline, there are helpful headline writing tips to help you create brilliant headlines. Give this post a read on techniques for capturing headline ideas (e.g. write many different headline ideas and write them at the beginning of the workflow). This is a strategy I’ve been using since I started writing titles for articles and presentations. If you want to follow the traditional strategy, write informative titles and keywords that match your target audience’s expectations and are understandable even out of context.
Avoid words that appear almost exclusively in headlines (“5 Headline Ideas You Can Consider to Power Up Your Stories”). Start with a topic, write in an active voice, and your headline will convey more information in fewer words. If you’re writing a list, it’s usually best to structure the heading with a number at the beginning.
If your article clearly has some key points, adding a number to the title can help make them more digestible. However, there is a fine line between too much and too little information, so be sure to provide enough information to generate interest, but not so much that the reader feels completely informed just by reading the title. This is the effect we need to replicate with our headlines: provide enough information to generate interest, but with enough mystery to pique people’s curiosity and encourage them to click. Using curiosity spaces in your headlines is another easy way to engage your readers because it encourages them to admire.
Seth Godin is perhaps the only exception that doesn’t have to work, but usually the reader should figure out what they’re getting from reading your article by scanning the title into the Twitter feed. An intentionally vague title doesn’t encourage you to follow the link to find the solution in the post, it’s just frustrating. Often writing a headline after writing an article makes you overestimate what readers will get from the article. If you don’t want to read an article based on a title you wrote, delete it and write more until you get a winner.
Test variations on the main theme to see if the title gets more clicks, likes, comments, and shares. Less formal but still effective, you can manually check which of your titles are getting the most traffic and find similarities in your best (or worst) results. On each of these platforms, simply try one title as version A and another as version B and you’ll quickly see which title resonates. Another way to learn how to write an effective title is to look at what your competitors are doing.
Whether you’re in a newspaper, news website, or blog, a great headline (or “hh”) will draw more and more attention to your copy. To maximize the effectiveness of blogging or content marketing, you really need to write amazing headlines that people will be compelled to click on. In the world of direct response copywriting, you will see simple headlines and headlines that scream and scream. Even if I’m not a fan of their titles, Upworthy and Buzzfeed make huge promises in their titles that their content will make you experience extreme emotional reactions, for example.
The more you apply the criteria outlined in Part 1, the more relevant your title will be to the reader. After you’ve done your research and written an SEO-optimized headline, read through it to make sure it reads well, makes sense, and grabs attention. Headings are no place for obscurity; a simple and clear title makes you understand better than something overly creative.