Headlines for Dummies

 In content & digital marketing, there is one simple point that is an all-important factor in the efficacy of your CTA, it’s the headline.

Do you know typically, 80% of readers will read your Headline, but only 20% might click on the article?  An important aspect of optimizing your content, is getting people to actually read it. Typically we view content in the following sequence:

• Headline says "Read this"
• Content says "This is helpful to you"
• CTA says "Go here to do this"

The three layers suggest a human being must pass through these journeys before they take action to become a buyer. It's obvious but still necessary to point out, a poor headline could lead to a lower click-through-rate (CTR) and less conversions on your call to action. Assuming your content is good, optimizing your headline is half the battle. 

Email marketing specialists study the subject-line to death, why shouldn't we as copywriters study the headline? 

First Thoughts

 

Here are my thoughts on the headline:

• Intrigue them
• Be original or ambiguous
• Give them something of value they simply can’t pass on clicking on
• Preframe and set up your article in the headline

 

It’s the job of the headline to drive traffic, good content marketers will pay a lot of attention to their headlines in the analysis of their analytics, since it can boost readers and even lead to a solid leads and subsequently sales. From a business perspective, the question you have to ask yourself is this, what sort of headline will work on best, most loyal and most profitable high-yield customer segment? If you don't have a detailed persona for this customer segment, I strongly suggest you make one now. 

With drab attention spans of under 10 seconds (lower on mobile), information overload and an explosion of quality content, often, your headline is your one and only chance to reach a person, educate an audience and establish a connection. 

The caption is the highlighting element, a split decision you are giving your audience to read or not to read, that is the question!

Study the halls of journalist here (for new media still follows patterns). What once worked in print media, will likely be useful here in digital form. Journalists, you know what I'm talking about. 

• Tailor your header to the audience of the customer persona most likely to be on that channel at the time you post it.
• Some of the best headers are educational in structure:

 

Tricks of the Trade

 

1 – Negative – 12 Things Never to do on Social Media

 

• Reverse psychology, please no, not that!
• Audience does not want to make those mistakes, wants to learn

 

2 – Prediction – 4 Digital Marketing Trends that are Changing Everything

 

• Omg, really!
• Audience can’t bear the cognitive dissonance of not knowing the future, they want to stay informed.

 

      3 – Positive – 10 Best Ways to Increase Followers on Twitter

 

• Hmm, I should confirm if I’m doing those!
• Audience wants to confirm they know what they are doing

 

        4 – The Quality List – 14 Tips on Optimizing your Blog for Mobile

 

• 14, jeez, that’s a lot of tips!
• Audience likes multiplicity and views this of possible value

 

        5 – The Time Urgency – How to double your followers in 10 days

 

• Honestly, that’ seven possible!
• Audience appraises it as being of more value since it has a time element and a sense of urgency

 

       6 – Make a Wild Claim – Become an Expert in SEO in just 10 hours

 

• We don't have anyone who does SEO here, maybe I should just take a look.
• Audience is sceptical but intrigued since it’s a topic that they lack fundamentals in.

 

      7 – Use Narrative Suggestion – Discover the Secrets of Content Marketing in 2015

 

• Oh! I want to know how this story finishes…
• Audience feels is captivated by the micro story-telling persuasiveness

 

         

8 - The Tweakers

 

So what do I mean by this? Tweakers are calculated color you put into your headline. Think of them as power words that amplify persuasion and that you integrate that has the most chance of appealing to the most people in your audience, this adds a human element:

 

5 “Significant” Challenges in Optimizing your LinkedIn and How to cover come them

 

• Used a tweaker (Significant)
• Used a negative
• Used a how-to

 

20 “Must Have” # hashtags for Instagram Brands to connect with Millennials

 

• Used a tweaker (Must Have)
• Used trending items (Instagram, Millennials)

 

I hope you get the idea. This is assuming you do research on what power words work in your industry and the personas of your audience. 

 

9 - Test A/B

 

Always keep analytics at hand of your posts, and consider the kind of headline you used, what aspects of it did you highlight, keep tabs on what works the best for you and in your industry and on which channels.

 

10 - Keep Experimenting with Headlines

 

Practice headlines for your company or industry as much as you can.

 

How else can you practice doing headlines:

• Go to your company Instagram and free-associate on the images that have to do with your company, products, brand, motto and unique selling proposition
• Practice creating caption on when you curate content on:
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn company page
• On how you title your Blog posts
• On how you create the subject line for the Emails of your E-Campaigns
• Compare with how your competitors are doing their headlines
• Make a list in Excel with columns for engagement results
• Re-use the most successful types of headlines that work for you

 

Bonus Visuals 

Use action words, more verbs and less nouns

Self referential posts with "I" or "Me" tend to get more likes in social media, you might sometimes want to even use it in a headline, as an experiment. 

And Never forget

Crazy as the above may sound, I wish you good luck!