They always say that you only have a couple of seconds to make a good impression and capture people’s attention when they’re searching for information online. There are many words and catch phrases that tend to catch people’s eye and makes something click in their brain to make them want to click on your website listing in the search engines. Today I’m going to talk about how to capture your audience’s attention by writing descriptive headlines (Article titles) that grab your audience’s attention and won’t let go.
You could have some of the best content in the world, but if you have a boring headline title, chances are very little people will click on it to read your content. Did you know that your headline makes up for 80% of your content? Statistics show that 8 out of 10 people will read your headline but unfortunately only 2 out of those 10 will actually be intrigued enough to click on it to read more. That’s some pretty scary statistics wouldn’t you say?
Hopefully, I’ll be able to help you guys raise these numbers and set a new record by sharing some vital secrets that I’ve learned over the years about writing compelling headlines. Within this post, I’m going to uncover why it’s so important to write descriptive headlines that will increase your overall CTR(click through ratio) along with 4 ways to write killer headlines that attract people like a magnet.
Let’s get started OK?
3 Questions You Should Ask Before Writing Your Headline
- Does your headline trigger any emotions about the topic at hand? In order to write a compelling headline, you need to pour some strong emotions into it.
- Does your headline offer the reader value and does it describe what your blog post is about? Before people click on your website in the SERPS you need to give them a reason to do so and provide them with value by offering some insights into what your blog post is about.
- Does your headline answer people’s questions that they’re typing into the SERPS? Many times people type questions in Google looking for answers. Your headline should target questions that people are likely asking within whatever niche your blog/website is geared towards. This is also known as targeting keywords and this plays a vital role in SEO and getting your website ranked high in the search engines.
Why Are Headlines So Important?
To be honest with everyone here today, I feel that coming up with an interesting and captivating headline is one of the most important parts of the content creation process. This could very well determine whether people click on your listing in the SERPS or not. This is where you introduce your article and do your absolute best in convincing them to click on it to read the whole thing.
You could be at the top of the first page of Google for lots of keywords, but let’s face it if your headline stinks and it doesn’t catch people’s eye and grab their attention then you might as well be on page 30.
Probably one of the best analogies that I can think of would be when you go fishing and put bait on your fishing pole. The sole reason for doing this is to get the fish’s attention and get them to take the bait right? Well if you think about it, there’s not much of a difference when you apply this to writing headlines.
When you write catchy headlines the whole idea is to grab people’s attention and get them to click on your article to read more about the topic at hand. Do you get my point here?
4 Ways To Write Killer Headlines That Attract More Visitors
1.Use curiosity headlines- Probably one of the most effective ways to get more clicks to your website is by using curiosity headlines. This has been a proven fact to not only increase your overall CTR(Click through ratio) but also increase conversions (As long as you’re providing value and delivering on your promise)
Here are a few examples of curiosity headlines that you could incorporate into your next article
“3 ways to write blog posts in under an hour that really work”
“5 reasons why your content sucks and how to fix it”
“4 things your doctor doesn’t want you to know finally revealed”
2. How To Headlines- This is another popular type of headline that really seems to draw people’s attention and get them to click on your posts. Showing people how to do something is probably one of the most searched for things on the internet in 2016 and this continues to go up year after year. If you can show people how to do something and provide them with a how to guide this will draw people in like a magnet.
Here are a few examples of how to headlines:
“How to fix your dryer in under an hour with these 5 easy steps”
“How to double your revenue with these 3 helpful tips”
“How to get 10X more traffic without spending a dime”
3. Question headlines- These type of headlines pose a question that must be answered by your content. Millions of people are typing questions into Google looking for answers on a daily basis. By using question headlines you’ll be able to target people who are asking questions and provide them with the answer that they’re looking for within your content.
Here are a few question headlines that you could use for a couple niches…….
“Is it really possible to make money online in 2016“?
“Does my small business need a website”?
“Is Apple Better Than Samsung”?
4. Number Headlines- These kind of headlines are extremely powerful and they usually need to provoke some kind of emotion to get people to take action. These type of headlines are best to use when doing list posts that focus on a specific number of ways to do something. This could be anything really and listed below I’ve given you a few good examples of what I’m talking about.
“10 ways to make your website load faster”
“5 easy ways to make your website mobile friendly”
“7 simple SEO tips that will get your website listed on page 1”
If you take a look at the headline of this article you’ll see that I’m using a numbers headline. What made you click on my headline to read more? Did I provoke some kind of emotion in you and make you want to read more? After some hefty research, I learned that our brains are attracted to numbers like glue. Due to their organization and their way of presenting things in logical order.
I was also able to find out that the number 7 is one of the best numbers to use in your headlines to attract people’s attention the most and get them to take action.
How Much Time Should You Spend Thinking Of An Awesome Headline?
Any smart marketer will tell you that you should spend close to 80% of your time on your headline alone. This is the most important part of the content creation process and this is how you’re going to get people interested in the topic at hand and get them to click over for more details.
This also plays a huge role in how much traffic you get to your website so this is definitely not something you want to skip over and not pay much attention to. For me personally, I find myself spending upwards of an hour or more trying to think of an awesome headline that will get people excited and want to take action.
There is no specified amount of time that you’re required to spend working on this but you should spend a good amount of time on this if you want to achieve maximum results and drive lots of traffic to your article.
How Can You Write Killer Headlines And Attract Visitors Like A Magnet?
When I first started here I had no idea how to write anything and was a complete newbie to the whole online marketing business. Just like everything in life they say that practice makes perfect and that holds especially true with writing killer headlines for your website.
Here are a few tips on how to write the perfect headline
- Dig deep and do your homework on how copywriting and online business works
- Come up with a list of 10 headlines that are catchy and demands people’s attention
- Pick the ones that you think are the best and use them in your content
- Take a copywriting course
- Practice, Practice, Practice!
If you follow this post and take these 4 ways that I’ve laid out for you today and apply them to your own content creation process, you’ll be on your way to driving more traffic to your site and find that more people will begin taking action than ever before.
I really hope that this post has helped you guys out today and hopefully, I’ve been able to educate you on why headlines should be the main focus of content creation and a few ways to perfect this craft. If there was anything that you didn’t quite understand, or if I’ve failed to mention anything that you feel is important please let me know about it in the comments below.
I will get back to you A.S.A.P
~Scott~
Val
Thanks for your advice. Sometimes I spend too much time writing but have not thought of an attractive headline and then wonder why people don’t notice.
It’s great to practice but even greater to practice with the right steps.
Scott Newkirk
You are most welcome Val!
I think we are all guilty of not spending as much time as we should on the headline. As marketers, we tend to overlook the fact that the headline is one of the most important things when writing content. If you have a boring headline that doesn’t speak to your audience then people won’t even bother clicking on your article to read more. It does take some practice to be able to perfect this and I hope that these tips that I’ve shared with you will help you out when coming up with your next headline for your article.
I want to thank you for stopping by Val and chiming in on the topic of conversation today. It’s much appreciated!
Cheers
~Scott~
John
Wow! Just when you think you know it all, you run into something that reminds you that there is just so much to learn out there. I have been an online marketer for almost 3 years man and I can definitely use this for my blogs. I never even thought about how much time I spent on choosing my headline, but I guess I need to be a little more aware of everything I do. Thanks for these tips man and I look forward to learning more from you!
Scott Newkirk
My thoughts exactly John!
I feel the same way when I’m searching the web and come across an article that just blows my mind. I have also been here 3 years and I still feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface as to how much there really is to learn about affiliate marketing and online business. I spend a good 15-20 minutes coming up with an interesting and thought proking headline for each one of my reviews/posts. Let’s face it, if you have a boring headline nobody will click on your listing in the SERPS to read the full article.
You should definitely be more aware of these key elements because they will determine how many clicks and engagement you get on your posts. Thank you so much for stopping by John and sharing your thoughts on this topic of discussion. It’s much appreciated!
To your continued success online
~Scott~