You’ve spent hours researching, writing and perfecting your latest blog post and it’s finally time to publish it. But how can you make sure that you grab people’s attention before they scroll right past your carefully crafted article?
Writing a strong, punchy headline is key to getting eyes on your content. You need to get people interested before they’ve even read the first line, increasing the chances that they will decide to click and read more.
To ensure that happens, here are five easy ways to ensure your next headline stops readers in their tracks:
Make it Punchy
When scrolling through search results, your headline needs to be the one that stands out above all others by sparking curiosity and making the reader want to find out more.
Grab attention by using bold, exciting adjectives. “5 Mind-Blowing Facts about Giant Pandas” is much more compelling than simply “5 Facts about Giant Pandas”. Don’t let your headline get lost amongst thousands of others that are exactly the same – make it memorable.
Be Specific
Your readers want to know exactly what they’re going to be investing their time in if they open up your article. A vague headline such as “Ten Social Media Tips” isn’t going to provide enough information to make them want to learn more. What kind of tips are you providing? Which platform are you talking about?
A much better approach is to drop in a few key details to make it clear what type of information you’re giving out. A format such as “7 Ways to Organically Increase Your Instagram Reach” will tell your reader everything they need to know about the contents of your article before they’ve even opened it up. This is going to be hugely helpful to viewers and will encourage more clicks on your headline. It will also help your article to show up in search engines when someone searches for specific keywords.
Use Figures
The use of a quantitative figure adds value to your headline by hinting at how much information will be gained from reading on. Studies have actually shown that when it comes to headlines, the inclusion of numbers tends to boost engagement on that post. Not only that, but odd numbers are particularly effective because they appear more obscure and intriguing to the reader.
Something worth noting is that when including numbers in your headline, make sure to use digits (9) instead of writing them out as words (nine). The use of digits specifically has been shown to provide even more of a boost.
Convey a Sense of Urgency
Create a sense of urgency that makes readers want to click your article immediately. Try something like “Three TikTok Trends Happening Right Now!” or “The Instagram Algorithm Updated Again – Here’s What’s Just Changed!”. This will suggest to readers that they should take a look at your latest piece now… before it’s too late!
Provide Something Useful
People love gaining free information, and if your article or blog post can provide that, then great! But you need to make sure that you can prove your piece is valuable from your headline alone. If you can mention something like “Quick Tips for…”, “Lessons I Learnt from…” or “A Beginner’s Guide to…” in your headline, readers will feel compelled to click and find out more. Who doesn’t want free advice?
As a final bonus tip, make sure to keep your headline a reasonable length. Short and punchy is better than long and complicated. Keep in mind how your headline might display in search engines, too. You don’t want valuable information getting cut off it’s too long. According to BetterMarketing, as close to six words as possible is ideal.
Now that you’ve learnt how to write a killer headline, it’s time to put it into practice! Try out these techniques and see what works best for your content. Good luck!
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