Last Updated on November 9, 2018
2 Million blog posts are published every day, why should someone read yours?
A Blog headline is like the first impression of your article. If the impression is not set right no matter how intriguing your content is nobody will bother to read it. This is how important the Headline is.
According to David Ogilvy, aka the “Father of Advertising”
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.
This is how important the Headline is.
If you want to a successful content writer, you should know how to turn blog title idea into a catchy and clickable Headline that brings delight to the readers.
Why Headline is Super Important?
If you blog’s Headline isn’t interesting enough you are going to lose a ton of traffic to your blog and hours of efforts you had put in to create that piece of content. And who wants that?
Headlines are important because they set the tone for your rest of the content. If your reader cannot resonate with it or find value in the Headline, forget about capturing their mouse click.
8 out of 10 people will read your Headline, but only 2 out of 10 will click through the rest of the Article.
The blog title is the first impression of the content inside, so it should clearly state to the readers what they can expect from the article and what solution this article contains for their current problem.
If the readers don’t find the title interesting how can they expect the content to be amazing?
There is a sea of content out there on the internet each begging for readers attention. Make sure you get the attention first.
Your Headline should promise to give a certain value to the reader or commit to solving a pain point that your readers are experiencing.
Now, this doesn’t mean that you “Over-Promise” and “Under-Deliver” because your readers will know about it and it may be the last time those readers come to your blog. So be very careful and be very honest.
According to another stat shared by CoSchedule and Buffer;
89% of most content on the internet gets less than 100 social shares, 10% gets more than 100 social shares and only 1% of the content will get more than 1000 social shares.
A bad Headline can also ruin your marketing efforts.
Interestingly, there is no fixed rule for writing a Headline. Some prefer writing a Headline before beginning to write the content while some love doing it afterward.
By far you must have understood how vital a Blog’s Headline is for its success. But this not what this blog post is about.
We will show you how you can write a Catchy Blog Headline that attracts your readers and double the traffic on your blog.
Everything will be done without using any fancy blog title generator or catchy headline generator tool.
Keep these factors in mind before drafting the next catchy Headline for your article.
1. Keep the Headline 6-7 words long
Anything above this will be cut short by Google when displaying your page in the search results. Try and keep the blog headline between 50-60 characters or say 6-7 words.
This is the sweet spot to hit.
Whatever it is you’re trying to covey or make a point of, do it within this limit. Or else your blog traffic is going to take a hit.
How? Let me explain!
For example, you choose a blog title something like this,
“5 Best Ways you can Make a Kite at Home without even using a Kite Paper”
it might show up in SERP’s like this,
“5 Best Ways you can Make a Kite at Home without even using a…”
Did you like reading the trimmed Headline. No?
So does the readers.
Even if by doing good SEO you manage to rank your blog on the first page of Google, people will not click-through it to read further as the Headline is not clear-cut and understandable.
Although according to HubSpot, when sharing a blog article on social networking site like Twitter, keep the Headline 8-12 words long whereas on Facebook you can go up to 12-14 words in order to get better results.
2. Use Power Words
Use words like Best, Ultimate, New, Free, Imagine, Because, You and more…
These words add weight and likability to the article. Power Words are designed to put emphasis on a particular thing making it stand out of the crowd.
But make sure if you’re using these power words your content is good enough to be called “Ultimate” or “Best”. Because you know your readers will find out.
Example, ” The Ultimate Guide to Copywriting”, “Best Blog Titles List”, Learn Kung-Fu for Free”.
3. Add Year or Updated
Adding a year to the title makes it easy for the reader as well as Google to trace out which content is the latest.
Google is a search engine that primarily focuses on its user experience by providing relevant, the latest and updated content to a search query.
Remember, Google or any search engine gives first preference to a latest or updated article, and mentioning year or month in some cases gives an upper hand to your content.
And you have a better chance of ranking on Google.
Example, ” 25 Best Website Builders in 2018″, “Complete Guide to Master Social Media Marketing in 2018 [Updated]”
4. Use Numbers and Data Stats
All good bloggers use this trick all the time and it works like a charm. Numbers and Data make your article more specific and legit.
When a reader knows what he can expect of the article and what are the major takeaways, it helps in building trust in your brand name.
Numbers make the content speak for itself. As it goes, “Numbers never lie”.
Talking about the Data backed Headline, it makes more sense to add some legit data in context to the content written, in the blog headline.
This shows that you have done a deep research to collect facts and figures before hitting the publish button. It will help build your brand authority as an expert.
But you should know what you’re talking about and will this data really help your readers in any way.
And I am assuming that the data you’re presenting is well proven in the past.
Example, “10 Easy Ways to Gain More Twitter Followers”, ” Make this your Daily Habit and your Productivity will Increase by 50%”, “How Following this Simple Trick I got 10,000 shares on my article”.
5. Understand your Audience
This is one of the crucial aspects of writing a creative blog title. You should always know your target audience/readers whom you’re writing for.
If you don’t create a buyer persona or avatar it means you don’t understand your readers, and if you don’t understand your readers, how come you can write for them?
It’s important to understand what your target audience is searching for on the internet. Do the research, and you will find it.
And then create content that your buyer persona will be interested in reading.
Whether it’s a food blog or a fashion blog post title that you’re trying to create, if you know your buyer persona well enough, you will definitely come up with a catchy title for the article.
So this is how it’s done.
6. Create Sense of Urgency
Now, this is something that needs a little more expertise to execute else it might sound like a click-bait every time.
Humans by nature are impulsive and also fearful. If there is something really good and irresistible on the table, say a one-time-deal and with a time limit on it chances are people will hop on it the moment it is available.
And humans fear that it might not be available forever and we will miss the chance.
This is what the concept of a “Sale” or “Limited Period Offer” is based on. It’s Now or Never.
Similar psychology kinda works in the content marketing world.
If you make a content around this psychology, chances are it will sell off well, and people will respond actively if it’s not a trap obviously.
Example, “This is How I made a $100k from a single FB Post. Let me show you how I did it”, “Everyone is making 8 figures in Affiliate Marketing using this Simple Hack. Learn to know more now.”, “You were doing Pushups Wrong. Learn the Right Way to do it now”.
7. Draft 25 Headlines
Okay, so this can be a little overwhelming for you at first. I am with you 100%.
Who writes 25 Headlines for the same article. I get it.
But what if I told you there were 24 other appropriate rather good Headlines for your content and there is 1 really bad Headline. And what if you have chosen the bad version?
You never know which combination of words in the Headline can turn out to be really good and attractive that will make your readers click-through the title and ultimately bringing more traffic to your blog.
Until of course, you have 25 versions of your blog title, you have all the power to choose the best version or even experiment to reach the best option.
Keep A/B Testing your blog Headlines to come up with a successful option.
I know it can be a daunting task at first as you might not have done it in the past.
But here I’m for your rescue. Initially, you can take help of blog title generators and analyzers from HubSpot, Portent or Github.
8. Provide Value/Solution
People may not be paying you directly but they are investing their time to read your content and my friend, Time is Precious.
This goes without saying that your content should deliver an immense amount of value to the readers that you are promising in the blog title. Walk-the-Talk.
Never ever try to fool around your readers, because you know they will find out what your intentions are.
Your Headline should provide the value that the reader will get if she clicks on it. And this can only happen if you understand your audience really well.
Suggest something useful in the title.
But make sure you are providing a solution for their answers rather than trying to prove your point.
Try to incorporate pain-points in the headline and tell how your article will help them solve it. Below are some catchy titles examples.
Example, “Let me Share a Secret as How I Turned Every Visitor on my Site into a Lead”, “10 Effective Ways to Lose Belly Fat in 21 Days”.
9. Use How, Why, What and When
The more you use these words in the Headline the attractive your Headline becomes. Why?
Because you are addressing a problem and proving a solution. How this can get any better!
These words are treated as trigger words as they easily trigger a conversation.
People are always looking for answers. For good answers, that are detailed and consists of every relatable query.
Try to focus on the frequently asked questions and do a little research on the topic.
Asking open-ended or close-ended questions are proven to be more attractive. Keep experimenting with such questions.
Example, “How to Bake a Cake without an Oven?”, “What are Biggest Challenges a New Blogger Faces?”, “Why is Protein essential for strong hair?”, “When can I apply for a Driving License”.
10. Optimize for SEO
Before you get this thing wrong, I don’t want you to create a “Robotic Title” for getting your SEO game on-point.
Nobody likes such tiles, neither readers nor Google.
In fact, Google prefers the content that is crafted for humans and not for fooling its algorithm.
You should always write for humans by personalizing the content as much as you can. Google has no problem with this.
But the thing to keep in mind here is that you should never lose focus of your primary keyword. Your content should revolve around it.
Use your Primary Keyword in the blog Headline and whenever possible try to use the keyword within the first 3-4 words and get to the point with as fewer words as possible.
So that Google or any other search engine can easily find out what the post is about.
Example, ” This is Why Digital Marketing is the Future of Marketing”.
11. Avoid Click-Bait
Bluffing readers with some attractive fluff with no intention of providing any value, in order to make them click and increase traffic on the site is known as a Click-Bait.
For the sake of attracting traffic on the blog, people use this malpractice a lot.
Doing such things will not only bring distrust to your blog audience but will also hammer your brand image in the long run.
People will start treating you as a spam. They are not here for the bs.
Don’t excite your readers when you cannot keep up to their excitement.
And most importantly don’t set high expectations in your Headline when you’re going to under-deliver it anyways.
12. Address a Pain-Point
What can be a better blog post idea than a one that addresses a pain-point?
Everyone has got problems and so does your readers. So why not provide the best solution through your words.
Nobody hates a solution. Right?
So next time whenever writing down your next blog headline make sure to include the pain-point in the title.
This will drastically increase the chances of success of your blog.
The more detailed the post the better it will perform. Build your post around the pain-point and provide every possible solution.
Example, “10 Effective Ways to Stop Hair-Fall”.
13. Use Emotional Adjectives
We, Humans, are emotional creatures. Hence we resonate emotions really well and reacts to them instantly (sometimes overdo it).
So why should one use emotional adjectives in the Headline?
Well, because these adjectives connect really well with the readers and form an instant bond. Do you have a problem now?
I bet, you don’t.
Words like Effortless, Free, Incredible, Essential, Absolute, Strange etc blends really well with the human psychic.
When people see these words in the title, it kinda makes them click-through to read the whole story.
Use these words often, but again don’t over do it.
14. Keep a Unique Rationale
Have your unique point-of-view on the topic but do not try to force it to your readers.
Make it clear at the very beginning what to expect from the article. Don’t set False hopes as I am repeatedly saying.
Whatever you are going to post about, be original.
Let your unique style of writing reflect in the Headline as well.
People are bored seeing the same old-fashioned Headlines. They want something new, so give them.
If you’re planning to create a list post you can include words like Reasons, Facts, Lessons, Ideas, Ways, Secrets, Tricks etc.
Example, ” 20 Reasons Why You Should Never Buy Followers on Instagram”, “5 Facts about Internet Marketing”.
15. Go Superlative
Go to extreme limits, in whichever direction you’re going.
Now what I mean to say here is, either go extremely Positive or extremely Negative with your blog Headline. And you will notice better results.
Still not sure what I am talking about?
Here it is if you plan to go Super Positive with your blog title you can use words like Best, Always, Fastest, Easiest, Most, Greatest, Largest, Funniest etc.
For Super Negative blog Headline go for words like Never, Worst, Nothing, No One, By No Means, Avoid etc.
Now the reason why these words are termed Super Positive and Negative is the kind of impact they have on a first-time reader.
And guess what’s surprising, Negative Superlatives perform better than Positive.
So next time remember to include these words in the blog Headline.
Example, ” Easiest Way to Rank Your Article”, “No One Wants to Hire These Type of People. Are you one of these?”
Conclusion:
Before closing this article I would like to share one last secret formula for creating powerful and Catchy Headlines.
It looks like this;
Trigger Word or Number + Adjective + Keyword + Promise
Enter a Trigger Word or a Number, an Adjective describing your Keyword ending with a promise.
Example, “How you can Easily Build a Website in Less Than an Hour”
So, that is it then. I hope these 15 easy tips will help you create a Powerful yet Attractive blog Headline that intrigues the readers to click-through it, and ultimately increasing the site’s traffic.
If you find this article helpful, share it with your friends and family. And if you have any suggestions or thoughts on the same, please leave a comment below and I will reply to all of them.
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