Did you like that headline? Did it get your attention and make you want to read this article?
It obviously did or you wouldn’t be reading this… and that’s the point – headlines of articles, blog posts, online ads, Facebook posts and so forth need to be attention grabbing and compelling.
Headlines Must Be Compelling
Your headline must be so good that people will think they’re missing out on something if they don’t click on it. You only get 2.6 seconds to get someone’s attention, so that 2.6 seconds is the web page loading and your headline. In fact, the headline appears in search results, so a good headline there (your page’s title) needs to be good (compelling) in order to even get people to your website.
A good or bad headline is the difference between getting thousands of clicks and getting dozens of clicks.
How to Write Great Page Headlines
Here are some ways to help you come up with compelling headlines that will get you more clicks to your website with social media, sales pages and e-newsletter opt-in pages:
- Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. What appeals to them and what’s important to them? Craft your headline to appeal to that audience.
- The purpose of a headline is to get them to click to read it. Don’t say too much or try to cram in too much.
- Be specific. Use specific numbers, places, names, brands, celebrity names or whatever. Being vague won’t reel people in.
- Look at headlines that you’ve clicked on for examples of what to do. The pros copy (“swipe”) good headlines from each other all the time.
Some of the best headlines to use are “Top 10” type lists. They take care of what people are looking/searching for since people know they’re going to get a good amount of answers instead of just one possible solution. You’ll get lots of traffic with these kinds of headlines. Some people say that odd numbers work, so go with “Top 11” or 13 or 7 or something like that sometimes.
Split Test Headlines
Even consider split testing headlines and trying different ones to see which headlines get the best results. This little tweaking and testing can mean big revenue for your small business.
I wrote a little bit about this in my last post:
How to Write Content for Your Business Blog (tonyherman.com)
Check it out!
