How To Write Attention-Grabbing Headlines To Attract New Readers
Are you facing difficulty in writing an excellent title for your copy?
You spend days crafting the perfect blog post. You generate topics that you’re sure your readers will love. You spend a lot of time researching, collecting facts and figures.
You do all this to ensure your post gets lot of social media attention.
But, it seems like when you are writing your headline, you just don’t know how to make it better and more actionable.
Please don’t feel disappointed. It’s quite natural.
Don’t feel like you’re the only one who is facing a tough time coming up with attention-grabbing headlines. Even the best copywriters throw away dozens of titles before they come up with a winner.
But don’t worry. With the tips I am going to disclose, you will be able to craft an excellent headline for your upcoming blog post.
Before proceeding first let us look at why headlines are very important for your copy.
Why Are Headlines Important?
Headlines act as the first point of contact for your user. It’s by reading the headline only, the user decides whether the content would help him or not.
It grabs the attention of the curious user surfing the internet and converts him to your reader.
Even if you would have written the best content. What’s the point of it, if the user didn’t even read it. All your writing and marketing efforts will be wasted.
The way you write your headline shapes your content. It sets the expectation for your reader. They would get an idea of how the content could be helpful to them.
It helps in increasing your reach. The chances of your content going viral are high.
One of the most successful marketer David Ogilvy said:
On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.
That’s how important element the headline is for a copy.
Remember, every element of compelling copy has just one purpose i.e to get the next sentence read. And then the sentence after that, and so on, all the way down to your call to action.
So it’s obvious that if people stop at the headline, the rest copy will be of no use.
By now you must be fully aware of why headlines are important. Now let’s dive deep into steps for writing a great headline.
9 Effective Tips To Write Attention-Grabbing Headlines
1. Write at least 10 headlines
Headlines are probably the most important part of your blog post. So some of the experts say that one should follow the 50/50 rule. This means one should devote 50% of total time in writing headlines.
You need to sit down and brainstorm to get the headline juices flowing.
You might not be able to write eye-catching headlines in the first few attempts.
So keep writing headlines until and unless you are satisfied and the headline resonates with content you want to write.
2. Use headline generators for inspiration
While taking the time to come up with your own headline is the best option.
But when you are just starting or have got stuck in the writer’s block, you could use some of the free headline generators tools.
You may use Portent, SEOPressor, and HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator. There are many other title generators you can refer to anyone.
Don’t use these headlines directly. Some of the headlines which you will get will not be useful. But you will definitely get a lot of ideas.
This will inspire you and might also be able to give awesome headlines for your blog post.
3. Take Ideas From Your Competitors
I know it becomes really difficult to come up with good headlines upfront.
You are unsure whether your headlines are worth it or not. You are confused about whether you will attract more clicks or not.
To overcome all these problems and to understand the psychology of readers you should observe the titles of your competitors and bigger brands.
Read the headlines of the viral posts. Take inspiration from them and craft your own headline using them.
4. Analyze your headline
After you have written at least 10 headlines for your blog post. I will recommend you to analyze the headlines through the headline analyzer.
This will help you in identifying which headline is best suited for your blog.
These analyzers follow some algorithms and give you a score based on the headlines.
I will highly recommend you to use the Co-Schedule Headline Analyzer.
There are many other headline analyzer but I have found this analyzer most appropriate.
This gives you score as well as tell you the no of characters and the words used.
I would recommend you to use headlines that have high scores and low no of characters and words. This will provide the right balance for your headlines.
5. Include powerful and emotional keywords
Have you ever wondered why some websites produce viral post after viral post?
And other falls flat and doesn’t attract any reader.
The answer is simple.
These websites have smart marketers. Marketers who know how to play with human psychology and attract people to their posts by constantly using powerful and emotional words.
They know that majority of the human takes decisions based on emotions. They use power words to trigger the emotional response and get us to click on ads, share blog posts, and buy from sales pages.
So if you want to attract people to your copy you should include these power words.
6. Include SEO keywords
Millions of blog posts are being published daily. Some succeed some don’t.
Your blog post is like a pin in the ocean, very rare to get find.
You might have written excellent content and given a lot of value to your readers. But what’s the point if it’s not appearing in top search results and people are not reading it.
All your efforts will be wasted.
For your post to get read, you must add SEO friendly keywords in your headlines.
How else will you rank high in the results and get clicks by searchers?
Secondly, keyword research also helps you in understanding what is going into the mind of your target audience.
And when you speak the language of the audience you attract more readers, more links, more retweets, and yes… more relevant search traffic.
7. Write your Headline First
Want to know the biggest mistake bloggers make?
They write the headlines after writing their blog posts.
Without the headline, your content is like a person without goals.
He is doing everything to become successful. But is not able to reach his destination.
It is because his goal is unclear. The same is the case for your blog post.
Headlines give you direction on what type of content you must write. It informs the reader what to expect from the blog.
It’s just like you are making a promise to the reader. Its job is to communicate the benefit you’ll deliver to the reader in exchange for their valuable time.
Writing the headline first will give you a clear path on what to write in the content. It provides you a solid foundation.
It ultimately helps you to keep content crisp and well-structured.
8. Try different types of headline
Try out different types of headline. Don’t just confine yourself with one or two.
This will help you in writing better headlines for your blog posts and learn the use of each type.
Experiment by yourself.
Do some chops and changes in your headlines.
This way you will learn the art of headline writing plus you will also be able to appeal to a larger audience.
9. Create a headline swipe file
Imagine a copywriter staring at a computer screen (or out of the window).
He is flexing his mental muscles to create a killer headline out of thin air that will help him earn millions of dollars in Sales.
Well, maybe not.
A more likely scenario is the copywriter looking for inspiration in his collection of winning sales letters and viral posts.
He might also be consulting books that consist of nothing more than collections of headlines proven to work.
These compilations are called swipe files.
Their worth is in gold when it comes to crafting great headlines.
Why?
Because great headlines are constructed at a certain time.
It has been proven to work.
It has made businesses millions.
So it will be in your favour if you use it for yourself.
You can change the contexts and use it over and over.
This also inspires you when you are stuck.
Anytime a promotion earns big bucks, you can bet copywriters and direct marketers will be studying (and saving) that headline for future reference.
They know it’s value.
Especially when you are starting, you should refer them.
Only once you gain a true understanding of what’s working, you can take a completely original approach.
Even then it’s rare to come up with a headline that is 100% unique.
11 Headline Formulas That Is Proven To Work
Everyone wants to write magnetic headlines. They want their headlines to attract more clicks.
Writing the headlines can be a hectic and time-consuming work. Here are 11 formulas that have been tested over time and will make your work easier:
1. The How to Headline – This is the most widely used type of headline. People are attracted to content that helps them to do something.
Formula #1: How To [Do Something] In [Time]
Example: How To Write A Blockbuster Blog Post In 45 Minutes [From Neilpatel]
Formula #2: How To [Method] To [Achieve Desired Outcome]
Example: How To Write The Best About Us Page: The Beginners Guide
Formula #3: How To [Result your Customer Want] Without [Fear of your Audience]
2. The List Headline – List Based Headlines are next to How To post based on popularity. It helps to organize information and also establishes authority in the area of expertise.
Formula #1: [Number] [Method] To [Desired Outcome]
Example: 5 Effective Copywriting Exercises To Enhance Your Skill
Formula #2: Top 10 [Blank]
Example: Top 10 Online Courses For Learning Digital Marketing
3. The Ultimate/Complete To [Blank]
Example: The Ultimate Guide To Copywriting
4. [Number] Mistakes People Make [Specific Action]
Example: 13 Mistakes Every Copywriter Should Avoid
5. [Famous Person] [Method, Advice, Tips] For [Achieving The Desired Outcome]
Example: Joe Sugarman 31 Psychological Triggers For Attracting Buyers
6. [Number] Best Alternatives of [Blank] For [Specific Action]
Example: 10 Best Alternatives Of Kajabi For Hosting Online Courses
7. The Secret Of [Blank]
Example: The Secret Of Successful Podcasting
8. [Product] Review – [Best Benefit Of Product]
9. If You Don’t [Specific Action] Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later.
Example: If You Don’t Start Exercising Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later
10. See How Easily You Can [Desirable Result]
Example: See How Easily You Can Increase Your Traffic With Social Media
11. If You [Do Something], You Can [Get Desired Result]
Example: If You Quit Smoking, You Can Save 33% On Life Insurance
Conclusion
Now that you have gone through the post, its time to put in efforts and write excellent headlines for next copy.
Only reading about the tips and formulas won’t help, you must practice.
Just Remember, Practice makes nearly Perfect.
So, put your head down and start implementing your learnings.
What’s your process for writing a great headline? Do you have any tips and tricks that I didn’t mention in this post?
