It is a fact that fewer people read your blog post content as compared to the people who read the headline of your blog. If you don’t have a lot of traffic coming in, the headlines of your blog posts might be the reason. The people who visit your blog will move ahead to read the content only and only if they find the headline interesting and useful. This means that you need to work on your headlines and brainstorm the most impressive headlines for getting more people to read your blog posts.
A good headline creates a positive impact on the click-through rates and it also helps in establishing the subject of the article. An effective title can have a huge impact on the way in which the audience perceives the article and your blog.
So what goes into making a great headline?
The headline of your blog or article is based on who you are writing for. The content you create should help your audience in accomplishing these two things:
- Your content should do justice to the headline mentioned
- It should be of value to your audience and they should be able to relate to it
When you think about the greatest headlines, you will notice that they are the creative ones! For instance have a look at this title – ‘5 Great Traits Of Successful People’ and then have a look at this one – ‘Do You Have Any Of This 5 Great Traits Of Highly Successful People?’ Which one is more interesting? The second one right? So you need to be extremely creative and you need to think differently when it comes to giving a headline to your article or blog post.
Keep in mind that the best headlines are the ones that capture and address the pain points of your target audience. Your audience should perceive your headline as a topic that will make life easier for them. Your headline has to be compelling to make a difference!
Here are some great headline types that you can utilize:
#1 The ‘Best’ Headlines
These headlines are extremely powerful when it comes to SEO. These headlines directly communicate with the common web searches performed by your audience. For instance if you want to invest money, wouldn’t you be interested in a headline that says – ‘The Best Ways To Invest Money’, of course you will be! When you use the word ‘best’ it signifies that you are presenting content that is not the usual but the best that will help the audience. For instance – Secure Your WordPress Website With 7 Best WordPress Security Plugins.
#2 The ‘Make My Life Easier’ Headline
These types of headlines come next in line to the headlines having the word ‘best’ in them. At times your audience wants to know about the easier way of doing something instead of knowing the best way of doing it. These headlines make an impact on the people who are looking for simple and less-time consuming solution to something. For instance – 10 Easy Ways To Speed Up Your WordPress In 2019. This article talks about not just the best but easy ways that the customers can use for increasing the speed of their WordPress website or blog and that’s what makes it more appealing to the audience.
#3 The ‘Fast’ Headlines
The fast headlines also work great when it comes to catching the attention of the people. At times apart from the best and the easiest, people are also looking for the ‘fast’ ways to do something or to achieve something. The positive side of the ‘fast’ headlines is that it promises to get the task done quickly. For instance – How To Quickly Index Your WordPress Website In Google.
#4 The ‘Why’ Headline
Most of us have a desire to do better in life and to improvise on every aspect. We wish to be more successful, more productive and to achieve more in a short span of time. And while having all these emotions, we also want to be good at what we do. The ‘Why you should do something’ headlines create a huge impact on such audience.
Instead of telling people how they should do something, you can show them why they should do it. Articles with these headlines provide reasons and motivation to the people to adopt a new idea or to change some existing ones. For instance : Why Should You Register Multiple Domain Name Extensions?, Why Affiliate Marketers Get Only Clicks But No Conversions?.
The ‘why’ factor in these headlines makes people think about how they can improvise. When people come across an article with this headline they know that the article presents them with reasons why there is a failure and solutions that can be implemented.
#5 The ‘Backed By Science’ Headlines
Irrespective of how wise a quote or a saying is, we as humans will accept it or trust it if it is coming from an authoritative source. Not just that, but humans tend to be fascinated with the ultimate truths that get them into action. If your headline talks about some research or science, people for whom source of information is an important aspect would definitely go for it. So what you have to do is incorporate some research, study or science when it comes to introducing or explaining about your products or services.
#6 The ‘My Experience Taught Me Well’ Headlines
Experience is considered to be one of the best teachers. However, you don’t need to have our own experience all the time, if you are smart enough, you will learn from other people’s experiences as well. These types of titles connect with the problems faced by your target audience and promise to deliver solutions and informative insights about how they can deal with these problems.
#7 The ‘List’ Headlines
For some reason the ‘list’ posts are extremely appealing. Posts having some list in the headline can connect with a wider audience. Posts with such headlines have the capacity to get a lot of headlines as compared to the other articles. These headlines are commonly used by many blogs. For instance – The Ultimate List Of Blogging Platforms, A Checklist Of 8 Best Resources To Learn WordPress From Start.
#8 The ‘Don’t Make Mistakes’ Headlines
These headlines are some of the most compelling ones that are appealing to your audience’s desire to be accepted. We as humans want to be perfect and we don’t want to make any mistakes when it comes to the task we are executing. The headlines that talk about some common mistakes made connect with the emotions of being perfect and most of your readers are likely to go ahead and read the complete article with such a headline. For instance – 15 Content Marketing Mistakes That People Make, Mistakes To Avoid While Building An Online Store.
#9 The ‘Everything You Need To Know’ Headlines
This type of headline again addresses the desire to be perfect. When we are doing something, it’s a general feeling that we want to know everything about it so that there are no mistakes and we don’t lose out on anything. If you think from the reader’s point of view this headline will connect with the feeling of the reader that he/she doesn’t want to leave anything undone. When you start a headline with ‘Everything You Need To Know’ it tells the readers that this article or guide encompasses all the essential aspects that the reader need to know about that particular topic. For instance – Everything You Need To Know About Email Hosting.
#10 The Competition Headlines
These are the headlines that use the term ‘vs’, they compare some important elements to determine the best and to give a meaningful conclusion. This is one of the most powerful headline options. If you are operating in a highly competitive market, these types of headlines can provide you with a competitive edge. As you feature a comparison, people are always interested to know which product or service fares better. In your competitive headline, you can compare products, services, companies, features, anything! For instance – WordPress vs Wix : Why WordPress Is Better?, Shopify vs WooCommerce Find The Best One For You.
Bonus Headline Tip
#11 Headlines Having Numbers In Them
Headlines that start with some number are favorable when it comes to search engine optimization and they are appealing to the audience as well. When you see headlines like ‘Top 10 ways to do something’ or ’10 Things To Avoid’, you would want to click on the article. Headlines having a number in the beginning look precise and portray that there are a specific number of points or solutions that can be implemented. For instance – 10 New Ways To Get Impressive Results From Your Blog Posts, 10 Best WordPress Security Tips Without The Use Of Plugins.
Over To You…
You need to decide which of these headline types will work best for you on the basis of the audience of your blog. You can keep using all the types of headlines mentioned above to know which ones get you the maximum clicks. The main motive behind creating a catchy headline is to get the reader interested so that he/she wants to read the article further. If you have been using the standard and boring headlines, start experimenting with the ones mentioned in this article soon!
