What is a Good Headline?
You might be a terrific copywriter, but if you can’t write great headlines, no one is ever going to know. Why? Because it is a headline that stands out that leads to content being read. Boring headlines that blend are almost always skimmed over, whereas great headlines get the reader’s attention, and they stop to find out more by reading the content.
Make them “Attention Grabbers”
Think about this for a minute. Which of these are you more likely to read?
“Man jumps from 20 story building.” Or
“Man launches himself from a 20 story building and survives through ingenuity.”
The second one right? That’s because the first headline is boring and mundane. There’s nothing that makes you want to read further, whereas the second heading grabs your attention – he launches himself – what does that mean? And ingenuity – what does he do to survive – you want to know.
This isn’t news – those who have been writing sales copy have long known the power of a heading and that making their heading work for them was tied directly to the success of the sales copy. This applies to all writing. Give it a good heading and the readers will appear.
One technique to making a good headline is to use keywords in the heading that are relevant to what the content will be about. That will help your writing place better in the search engines and that means readers interested in your specific topic will have a much easier time finding what you have written.
You can be an amazing copywriter but if your writing is not placing well in the search engines, no one is going to be able to find you and so your writing will not get read. That’s surely not what you want to happen. So not only should you tweak that headline with your keyword, make sure you have about a 2% keyword density throughout your content to help you place well in the search engines.
While our example used an overly long headline, it is best if you can keep your headline on the shorter side. That’s because shorter headlines are easier to read and easier to grasp, especially online where readers are spending most of their time skimming and spot reading. Try to target 5-10 words in your headlines.
Be Honest!
Also, be honest in grabbing the attention of your readers. A headline like “Make $15,000 in 10 days with affiliate marketing” is not honest – be sure that you do not promise something that will pretty much not be true
Here are some tips for you in creating your headlines:
- Using numbers and dates (like a calendar year) is something many successful writers utilize.
- Examples:
“Top 10 Ways to Work at Home and Earn extra” or
“The Best 3 Autoresponders in 2019”
2. Add some unusual adjectives if you like to grab attention. Examples:
“Some Weird Tips to Select Hot Keywords” or
Here are Some “Tried and True” Methods that have Worked Very Well for Past Copywriters”
3. Use HowTos. This may seem simple, but they really work.
How to [?]
Examples:
“How to create your first Blog Site?” or
“How to Use WordPress to Create your Blog”
4. How to Be [Desirable Quality]?
Examples:
5. How to [?] Without [Objectionable Action] It is called cognitive dissonance by showing you how to do one thing without doing the other.
Examples:
6. How to [?] and [?] A spinoff of Carnegies How to Win Friends and Influence People
Examples:
7. How to [Do Something] Like a Boss?.
This uses the idea that the reader wants to be the boss, the one in charge.
Examples:
“How to backup your blog site like a boss?”
8. How to [Do Something] in 5 Minutes
This is a simple promise that is quick and easy and encites curiosity.
Examples
“How to write a blog post in 15 minutes?”
9. Use Lists.
Lists are widely used and popular because they are simple, easy to read and get right to the point.
Examples:
“3 Ways to use Calls to Action”
what is a good headline961733Great97
headlines that get attention326189Great90
how to create a good title1282245Great93