Nothing is more important than writing a powerful headline. When it comes to getting your reader onto the page, then driving them all the way to the call to action at the bottom where you will get your reader to do what you need them to do, nothing is more important.
Between the headline and the call to action is all the copy in the middle, and sure, everything must work in tandem for you to maximize the conversions that will make your writing worthwhile. But it all starts with the headline.
If you can’t get your reader on the page, you’ve no hope of leading them to the bottom. That means they’re never going to like you on Facebook, re-tweet your content, subscribe to your feed, opt-in to your list, or buy your book.
Social media moves fast, and you have scant time to capture attention. You must reach out and grab your reader by their eyeballs without flinching.
That’s where most writers mess up.
A lot of writers realize that their headline is the hook, yet they miss the point entirely. Your headline is a promise, and if you don’t deliver on that promise, then you’ve accomplished nothing. The ideal headline is clever, intelligent, mysterious, incendiary, provocative, or all the above. But no matter what, it must make a promise.
Whatever promise you make in the headline must absolutely be kept by your copy.
Make sure your headline uses a BIG font with bold type. Make your headline clear – think FRONT PAGE of the newspaper — so as soon as your reader lands on the page, they are drawn right to the headline so they can accept its promise and are compelled to keep reading.
Always Keep These Three Headline Hacks in Mind
- Remember, when it comes to social media, you’re selling the click, not the copy. Curiosity is BIG, and you should capitalize on it when possible. You must sell the click, but you must also justify it once your reader lands on the page.
- Take the time to re-craft your headline. The headline you’re using on your page might be different from the one you’re using in social media. Each headline has a different purpose: one to get the reader on the page and the other to keep them there.
- Know your audience. Never let them down with a misleading headline. Keep your promise, not only with what you teased, but with the relationship you’ve built day by day. Going for fast social media success while neglecting your regular readers is the wrong thing to do.
The art of writing a great headline can’t be learned in a day. I’ve written thousands and still practice every day. Because of the ready, fire, aim mentality of social media, mastering this skill has never been more important. With all the attention being begged for online, the master of the headline can always command more than his share.
About the author: Sean Platt helps good writers make a great living. Download his free report, “24 Easy Ways to Turn Readers into Buyers.”
The Discussion
Leave a Comment Read Again?← Previous Comments
Curiousity is attracted by good headlines. But what about the content? We may have attracting headlines but may have a bad content.May we let our readers down ?
For the sake of this post, the author must remain on topic. The article was about headlines only.
Yes, it is JUST as important (if not more) to have a great article. Without this, they will back out of the site and will not visit in the future. It is critical to have a great article with lots of value.
Under-promise and over-deliver!
Practicing and/or rewriting the headline is what I have been trying to do, I also get my wife to give me her opinions on my headlines. I thought getting the blog article written would be the hard part but getting a good title seems to be just as hard for me.
The last point is most important. There is nothing I hate more than not getting what I am expecting.
Verry nice post, I think i will come back one day!
Verry nice post,I also get my wife to give me her opinions on my headlines.
wow i like to read in this articles, thank you
nice information, i must try this tips thanks….
It is an interesting point, to use different headlines for your blog and for the social media. I have never thought about this possibility. I think I will give it a try, and I will use special headlines when I post to my facebook page. Thanks for this interesting idea!
I am really impressed because i have kept in mind that even search engines do cares on the Headlines of the topic we are discussing on .Nice post .
Some times its a pain
in the ass to read what blog owners wrote but
this website is really user genial!
Healines matter, got it. another tip id ad, is to create sub headlines to ease the reader into paragraph frames.
If someone’s ask me I will say that headline is everything it is something which can make you or break you. Only a catchy headline have the ability to go viral on every platform and a week headline stands alone and get buried very soon no matter how much the news is interesting
Hmmm. Thanks for post.
The three headline hacks outlined above are valuable, and you’re right, you’re selling the click. I wanted to add something though. What I usually do where applicable, which is most cases, I try to include a number. Things like “5 reasons you should……” or “My top 10……” etc. I guess people like reading lists!
I have a good website and everything but adsense gets banned every time. can you tell me what to do about this. please i get 3000 visitors daily. is it bad?
Actually, I use the perfect heading for every blog that I write. It is important, if you want to be indexed and ranked high in the search engines. Try to write unique topics, to get high page rank.
Great Article!
Titles are super important! I like your idea of changing the social media title from the blog title. One to gain a click the other to remain on the page. Never thought of it this way, before. Awesome.
Thanks for the info – keep it up!
Just started my own blog to drive traffic to my retail site.
Looking forward to trying some of your tips out.
Could not agree more strongly, Titles alone sometimes get me a #1 rank on certain subjects..
← Previous Comments
Comments on this entry are closed.