Writing headlines that capture attention and persuade readers to take action is a crucial skill for web content writers. But how do you balance the need to convey urgency and value without sounding spammy or dishonest? In this article, you'll learn some tips and techniques to craft headlines that work, without compromising your credibility or integrity.
Making your headlines more compelling can be done by using numbers and benefits that demonstrate what readers can gain or avoid by reading your content. Numbers add specificity and trustworthiness, while benefits appeal to the reader's emotions and needs. For example, let's compare two headlines: “How to Save Money on Groceries” and “How to Slash Your Grocery Bill by 50% in 30 Days”. The second headline is more precise, more urgent, and more valuable than the first one. It tells the reader precisely how much they can save, how long it will take, and what they need to do.
Your figures need to add value without overpromising on what you can deliver. One of the examples in the next section uses figures "How to Make $10,000 in One Hour with This Simple Trick" – but it's clearly an unrealistic promise. Your audience aren't stupid, they'll see through you. Finally, ensure that you have tangible evidence for the numbers and benefits in the body of your content. If your headline promises to help readers "Slash Grocery Bills by 50% in 30 days" – your content needs to show them how that's achievable.
In order to avoid sounding spammy, you should avoid hype and exaggeration in your headlines. While it is important to create curiosity and interest, you don't want to make false promises or mislead your readers. Headlines such as “How to Make $10,000 in One Hour with This Simple Trick” or “The Secret Cure for Cancer that Doctors Don't Want You to Know” are not only spammy, but also unethical and potentially harmful. They can give readers false expectations and cause distrust, which can damage your reputation and authority.
Remember, you're creating content for a purpose, and it's important to keep that larger purpose in mind. You may be boosting your authority, building up your credentials as an expert, or leading a dedicated community of readers. When you fall into the trap of exaggerating a headline beyond the results a reader could reasonably expect, you risk putting that larger purpose in jeopardy. In an age where anyone can throw up a website and claim expertise they never actually earned, your trustworthy reputation is worth far more than the short term success that hyped up headline might lend you.
It's okay to bait the reader as long as you're delivering on your promise. If the reader could judge your title as clickbait -- even if they do click on it or share it with or without reading -- consider how that will reflect on your brand. You've got to think about brand authority, transparency, and trust. You can lose some of that with a headline that reads like clickbait. If your headline is a question, answer it early in the article and then give details. This can reduce the clickbaity feel, but may also help you appear in search engine results pages (SERPs) with the right answer, or in the people also asked (PAA) section.
One thing I've found helpful when writing headlines is reading the article and highlighting the information that hooked me personally. This might be an unexpected statistic or a little-known detail about an issue that adds extra context. Examples like: 'The Conservative Politician Who Created the UK's Human Rights Laws' or 'How a Conversation About Football Saved This Man's Life' present two seemingly opposed concepts that encourage readers to click on the article to find out how they go together.
A third tip to write headlines that convey urgency and value is to use power words and modifiers that trigger emotional responses and action. Power words are words that evoke strong feelings, such as fear, curiosity, excitement, anger, or joy; while modifiers are words that amplify or qualify the power words, like amazing, proven, shocking, or easy. For instance, take a look at these two headlines: 'How to Write Better Emails' and 'How to Write Amazing Emails that Get Opened, Read, and Replied'. The latter headline uses power words (amazing, get, read, replied) and modifiers (that, opened) to make the headline more attractive and persuasive. It also implies a benefit (getting more responses) and a problem (emails being ignored).
Consider the following ideas for adding more power to your headline: 1. Speak to your audience. - Attention, all aspiring freelance writers! 2. Promise a benefit (not a feature). - Bring in one new client per week by doing this! 3. Ask an intriguing question. - What is the #1 way to land corporate clients? 4. Create a "how to" headline. - How to turn an article into an e-book. 5. Give reasons. - Four reasons why you should hire an editor. 6. Use I or me in your headline. - How I discovered to make a real living from home. 7. Use a quote or testimonial. - "Your service helped me to increase my business by 25%!" 8. Focus on the positive. - Increase your efficiency and spend more time on yourself!
If you want to write headlines that convey urgency and value, you should test and tweak them until you find the ones that perform best. Utilizing tools such as headline analyzers, split testing, or feedback from your audience can help you measure and improve your headlines. This way, you can optimize them for SEO, readability, click-through rates, and conversions. For instance, you can experiment with different variations of your headline, such as "How to Write Headlines that Convey Urgency and Value," "How to Write Urgent and Valuable Headlines," or "How to Write Headlines that Make Readers Take Action." Through testing and tweaking your headlines, you can determine which ones are more likely to appeal to your target audience and reach your objectives.
The article is extremely well written. I would personally steer clear of click bait headlines and focus on value. Again, grammar is of great importance and it's always a good idea to insert keywords without too many pronouns before and after. A specific goal and a specific audience in mind would make the headline relevant. Also, I always adhere to the 1+2+3 rule - 1 verb, 2 keywords and 3 adjectives. You can add a number or a "Here's How/Why/What" - but work that around the main verb and keywords rather than the other way around.
1. The title/headline is too long. This is surprising since the examples for testing and tweaking are shorter. 2. Some of the content gets buried in a long paragraph. I would have used bullet points to highlight them and break up the paragraph. 3. How about linking to articles (preferably written by a person and not a machine) that shows how to A/B test? I will add that, as a writer, I am not a fan of using AI to create content.
Headline length is also a key consideration. A concise headline makes it effortless for the reader to understand the value they'll receive by reading the content. For example, "10 Ways to Improve Productivity Right Now" has a benefit, a figure which shows how much info the reader will receive, and a time-related sense of urgency. All in 7 words. You could say the same thing like this, "Discover the 10 Best Ways to Become a More Productive Person, Starting Right Now." The headline includes the same information but in 14 words. The shorter headline makes it far easier for the audience to understand why they should read your content.