Writing a successful headline is more important than ever in today’s web savvy world of prolific sharing and social media.
David Oglivy is often described as “The Father of Advertising” and shared this wisdom about headlines:
On the 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.
If your headline is compelling it might make even a mediocre post go
viral. If your headline is mediocre it might turn an awesome post you
wrote into a waste of time. When your headline promises a compelling benefit for your readers it will get clicked and shared like crazy.
Here are 10 mind blowing methods for helping your headline plenty of clicks, tweets, shares and success:
1. Be All About the Benefit
Your readers are constantly tuned into
WIFM (
What’s
In it
For
Me) so if your headline is not playing on this channel your readers will switch the station.
2. Model Magazines
Spend a few minutes checking out the magazine rack at your local bookstore. A few compelling headlines is often the difference between a magazine
that sells and one that ends up in the recycling bin without ever
having been opened.
3. Write an Ultimate Headline
See what magazines catch your eye, try and figure out why, and apply similar strategies to your own headlines.
Writing a headline that promises an “Ultimate Guide” with a prolific post to match is a winning combination almost every time.
4. Headlines: A Formulaic Approach
A formula for headline success I have discovered is the
Topic: Buzz formula.
The Topic: Buzz style tells the reader what the post is about and
makes a grand promise about what the body of the article will deliver. Of course the Topic: Buzz method is just one of several sure fire headline formulas that can convert to clicks.
5. “How To” It Up
Writing how to headlines is a smart tactic. When you are telling
your readers how they can discover interesting new knowledge the value
is inherent.
6. Evoke Curiosity
Curiosity cam make your post compelling. Promise secrets for success in your headline and it will speak volumes.
7. Make the Most of Metaphors
Practice writing kick ass headlines that pack more punch than Bruce Lee. With the right metaphors in your headlines your posts will soar to success like rocket into space.
8. Write Several Headlines Before Choosing One
If you make a habit of writing five headlines you will have five times the chances for writing a headline that succeeds. Even though you can ultimately choose only one headline for your post
the other headlines you wrote often work great for re-tweeting the same
content on Twitter and making it seem fresh every time.
9. Split Test Your Headline
If you use the core keywords in your URL then you can be flexible
with the ultimate choice for your headline once you have tested a few
variations.
If you use Aweber
Email Marketing you
can split test your headline as the subject line of the email you send
to your subscribers to tell them about your new post.
Once you get the results determining the winning subject line you
will know which headline is best so you can edit and set this as the
permanent headline for your post.
10. Write Next Level List Posts
List posts always work. The value in a well written list post is hard to resist when the topic is compelling to the reader. To make your list post even more irresistible go to Google and do a
quick search for your topic. Make sure that your headline promises a
larger list than any other post on the first page and you’ve got a
recipe for a winning post.
Less is More
From an SEO perspective the maximum length of a title tag to be
displayed is between 60-70 characters. If your title tag is over 70
characters, your title will be cut off around 70 characters on the
search results page. So keep your headlines short and sweet.
What is your favorite headline style?
What is your favorite headline style, or your favorite tip from the list above. Let me know in the comments below!
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