We have always been taught not to judge a book by its cover. But if looks are deceiving, what are the actual factors worth considering when it comes to selecting the next written masterpiece that you enjoy so much you’ll take it to bed with you?
You are looking for real substance, an interesting topic that incites and a fresh perspective on all the things that have been done, said and written before. You can determine whether or not a book, or any other content piece for that matter, has what it takes to make it on your shortest “to read” list by simply examining the title.
A great headline is the promise that a content piece won’t make you yawn repeatedly hours before your bedtime. Yes, first impressions matter a great deal, and the best titles reflect the ideal balance between form and (structure, ideal length) and function.
Can Your Content Headlines Really Influence Your Readers’ Mindset?
A good headline gives you a clue to what the author has in store for you. Moreover, according to an article published by The New Yorker, headlines frame the overall reading experience, enabling you, as a reader, to understand what kind of content piece of content you are getting ready to analyze. At the same time, they set the tone and general approach for the topics that are being brought to your attention.
You can say or write the same thing in countless different ways. One approach might make your readers bounce off your page thinking that you’re truly boring and unremarkable, while another one may convince them to subscribe to your newsletter and read your content religiously, before taking the first sip of their morning coffee. Exceptional headline enables you to shift away from the first method and make all the right steps towards the latter one.
Should you strive for perfection when it comes to writing headlines? You’d better, especially if you want to stay relevant in your niche. According to an interesting statistic cited by Copyblogger, 8 out of 10 people only read the headline copy. How can you put a spell on the other 2 out of 10 individuals who are actually willing to scan, skim and/or digest the rest of your information, in order to make them respond to your calls to action? You can start by writing better headlines.
Headlines Point towards the Shortest Path to Your Reader’s Heart and Mind
What does a great headline actually do, aside from consolidating your position as a successful copywriter? It gives you the power to seduce your readers.
For instance-“A Beauty Ritual That Can Prevent Premature Aging?” and “5 Ways to Look 10 Years Younger in 10 Weeks” basically offer the same kind of food for thought: some insight into the beauty sector, allowing you to maintain your youthful appearance for a longer period of time. If you were to stumble across these two headline versions, you would probably ignore article the represented by the first title and read the second one, while taking notes and learning certain fragments by heart. In this case, readers automatically correlate these numbers with certainties. After reading the second title, you would probably say to yourself: “Sure, I can do that for ten weeks to look ten years younger!” This is the type of reaction that you should expect from your readers after deciphering the code of writing killer headlines.
What Kind of Alchemy Could Help You Turn Your Headlines into Solid Gold?
Now that you have found out everything you need to know about the function of a good headline, what should you remember about its form? According to Copyblogger, there are certain foolproof patterns that you can apply to mould your ideas into fine pieces of gold, which basically work in any context.
- Direct headlines (These headlines introduce the selling proposition without any attempts at unnecessary cleverness)
- Indirect headlines (These headlines often rely on double meanings and other aces up the copywriter’s sleeve to create an aura of mystery and raise the readers’ curiosity and interest)
- News headlines. (If they’re fresh and catchy, they’ll want to hear the whole story from you first)
- “How to” headlines. (Nothing channels your proud do-it-yourselfer quite like a succinct “how to” headline)
- Question headlines (Curiosity may have killed the cat, but in this case a catchy, on-point question headline may just convince your readers to ignore this potentially dangerous precedent and read your body copy, searching for answers)
- Command headlines (Yes, your readers appreciate precise instructions and love being told what to do!)
- “Reasons Why” headlines (We all need a few extra reasons to give a new product or service a try, don’t we?)
- Testimonial headlines (We’ll say this much: nobody wants to be the first to pay a fee to try a new product or a service)
How Do You Get People to Care about Your Headlines?
There’s one thing that you should never forget about your readers: they have the power to label your content at a first glance. They can take your masterpiece from “fabulous and on-point” to “redundant, annoying or plain boring” in 1.5 seconds, before you’ll know what hit you. So how can you convince your audience that your headlines are awesome and your body copy is even better? According to Moz, the recipe for success is simple: you just have to make your headline (and implicitly, the ideas and emotions that it brings to life) resonate with your readers on a higher level.
To Optimize or Not to Optimize Your Headlines?
Here’s one more headline-related question that may be on your mind: should you write for people or for machines? Could you do it for both categories? In a world driven by emerging SEO trends, should you leave your headlines unpolished or should you actually optimize them for search engines? According to Search Engine Land, headlines should be descriptive and succinct, reflecting the core of what people actually want to read online and offline. At the same time, it should contain valuable information presented in a concise, exciting manner and not just a mere string of keywords in an attempt to help its source rank higher in search engine results.
The Best Tools to Rely on When Your Pen Is Not Your Sharpest Weapon
Now that you know how to write and optimize your headlines like a pro, allow us to ask you a delicate question: who’s your provider of daily inspiration? Let’s face it: every once in a while, we all get hit by a serious case of writer’s block. You may be able to identify the “who”, “what”, “when”, “where” and “why” of your content piece, but what if you can’t actually summarize all these crucial elements to come up with a high-impact headline? Not to worry, these days a few new cool tools can become your handy little helpers. Portent’s Content Idea Generator and Hubspot’s Blog Topic Generator are only two of the excellent headline tools that can help you find and develop relevant blog topics that could interest your targeted audience.
Let Your Killer Copywriting Skills Shape the Results Returned by Headline Tools
Both alternatives are useful and easy to use: you just have to enter your subject and let the tools do their magic. When using Portent’s Content Idea Generator it is advisable to use the singular version of your keywords and avoid capitalizing them. Here’s one last recommendation that you should keep in mind: don’t trust these aids blindly and don’t forget that you are writing for actual human beings, not for machines. In order to obtain stellar, grammatically correct headlines, you should always double-check the end results provided by your headline tools of choice.
These helpers, correlated with a deeper understanding of the needs and demands of your readers and of the topic that you’re getting ready to expand on will bring you closer to mastering the technique of writing magnetic headlines, which is based on a combination of art, science and blood, sweat and tears.