Ever since I started blogging, I have been spending some time researching and reading about Internet copy-writing techniques. Like every other person should want to, I also wanted to stand out from the crowd – and what a big crowd the Internet is. So what’s all the fuss about headlines? It is because they are the first thing anyone sees or readers before they decide whether to read the entire article or not. The decision of interest in a certain article is made in a split second, in our brain and this is why it is so important to do it the right way. You want to write headlines that attract attention but not mislead the reader – at least not too much.
During all of my research I came to realize that the most successful headlines are the ones that:
1. promise a major benefit
Everyone is always looking for benefits. Whether they are material or intellectual, people want to better themselves and their existence. Writing a title that will let your readers know what kind of benefits they have if the read the article that is under it will give you good click results.
2. offer a solution to a problem
The Internet is like a all-in-one troubleshooting service where you can find solutions to almost every problem. People enjoy being independent, solving their own problems and not needing to pay anyone to do it for them. Some are just lazy and prefer to pay but a simple solution to a big problem is what people value the most.
Headlines that offer that solution are very interesting to a frustrated user that has spent hours trying to solve his problem. A lot of people would agree that problem solving websites tend to get the most traffic in the least period of time especially if they are free.
3. ask a question
Asking a simple question or your readers opinion can go a long way into building good a community around your blog or website. By allowing your blog to be a two-way communication conduit between yourself and individual users will help you build a stable following – even if they don’t subscribe to your mailing list or your RSS feed.
The kind of article titles will make your readers feel important and some might even take the next step by contributing with a guest post. A lot of good can come from discussions in comments and a lot of people draw inspiration from them.
4. quote a testimonial
There is nothing better to offer potential customer (or reader) than a quote from a previous satisfied customer. Although nobody can guarantee you that the testimonials that you read on thousands of sales sites are true, they still carry a lot of weight in the business world.
Be careful not to add any additional hype to your testimonial because although it can be a gold mine, untruthful and hard-to-believe testimonials can hurt your business and more importantly – your credibility.
5. call out a targeted crowd or profession
Starting a headline with a profession on which your customers or readers are based on will grab their attention because they will feel called out.
Headlines such a:
“Bloggers! Learn From Other People’s Copywriting Mistakes!”
“Freelancers! Check Out Our New Project Management System!”
“Single working moms! How To Find The Right Babysitter?”
let your readers know which user group you are basing your article on.
I like this one especially because it looks to me like it might improve the “Average Time Spent On Site”. It will clearly state that this article is mainly for bloggers (and anyone else who is interested of course) and if people are not interested in blogging, will not click.
6. announce some news
People using the Internet for a specific profession like blogging for example like to stay well informed. A lot of people have written popular posts based on some piece of news they have came across faster than other people and wrote about it.
A recent example would be the release of WordPress 2.9 “Carmen”. You saw hundreds of blogs writing about it, the news, features and fixes. But the ones that profited most are the ones that where first to publish their posts. This works in very much the same way in most professions that deal with any kind of information.
The great thing about writing a fresh piece of news is that most readers won’t bother to write about the news themselves but will rather just re-tweet your own post spread the news. This will help you get a lot of exposure, maybe even more than with a regular non-news post.
Conclusion
A combination of a few of these techniques will spark the flare of interest in your readers. Make sure you stay as original as you can and don’t make EVERY post a spotlight grabber as it will look cheap and kinda hyperactive.
I hope this article helps you attract many more clicks in your future copywriting endeavours. As always, I would love to read about your results in the comments. If anyone has any other good advice, feel free to share!
Lauren Stewart (1)
Peter J (1)
Seth (1)
@Ileane
says
Hi Gordon,
I think you are using one strategy with the headline for this post, which is to use a numbered list of important things. I love these lists especially the short ones, like 5 or 6. Even when the list has 100 things, if is it something we care about we’ll take a look and at least scan through.
Targeting a crowd or profession is something I often do in my tweets. These are all good.
Thanks.
Ileane´s last blog ..Top 5 Blog Topics
@McKnightikus
says
Yes I love the list method as well. Either the bullets or the numbered list, it’s very effective and easy for the reader to navigate. Thank you for stopping by Ileanie, I like your new Gravatar
Hope you had a great New Year celebration!
@AgentDeepak
says
Good headlines Idea. I would try them out in future. Thanks.
Agent Deepak´s last blog ..The WIIFM Principle of Blogging
@McKnightikus
says
Great! Stop by after you have written an article with one of the headline types I mentioned and drop a comment along with that article in the ComLuv field so I can check it out
@bloggerden
says
I really like your social networking icons at the bottom of your posts, very unique and classy. I really enjoyed all of the posts on your blog so far, keep up the awesome content! I’ll be back to check it out from time to time
@McKnightikus
says
I am glad you enjoy my blog. As soon as I have some free time, I will finish up some things I wanted to implement for a long time now. That also includes a nice mailing list / newsletter that will probably go out once a month for now. I will be stopping by Blogger Den as I see it is “Like Digg just for bloggers” – nice idea there!
It’s hard for bloggers to get noticed on Digg and other similar services because we get swamped by all the other headline news.
goof points specially the first one. Promising a major benefits. because most people are looking for benefits.
Really good ideas here. I am always stressing the importance of the title of blog posts and I often spend up to 15 minutes trying to think of a good one. People get drawn in by headlines and I often see the most unlikely of people reading my bog just because of a good headline!
@McKnightikus
says
I know exactly what you are saying because I find myself finishing an blog post and not publishing it for a day or two because I am not satisfied with the title. That period often gives me good ideas for titles and sometimes no matter how much you try you can’t think up a title that will grab attention. But that’s alright, you shouldn’t stress out for every single title, some of them are effective, some are less effective.
Thanks for stopping by Niall, I recently been to your SimplyZesty blog and you really have a nice thing going there. I will be stopping by more frequently since I saw some articles which interest me but didn’t have time to read over the holidays.
I like your methods especially the 1 & 2 as I can relate to it. Mine is a tech blog offering solutions, tips and sometimes the latest tech news. Thanks to your golden ideas.
@McKnightikus
says
Those kind of sites are great, popular and above all useful. Life would be so much harder if you couldn’t just Google a problem and find a solution or advice on the Internet.
My Knowledge Reactor website is just about that, free education for everyone that want’s to acquire it. Good luck with your blog and thanks for sharing your opinion!
@coopchad
says
Good or great headlines can be the difference between someone reading your post, and someone clicking away immediately. They are also very important for SEO. The majority of the search engine traffic I get is the result of queries matching words in post titles.
You outline the types of headlines beautifully, and people should pay attention to what you suggest.
Stumbled.
Chad @ Tech201´s last blog ..Be Your Family’s Tech Support Hero With LogMeIn
@McKnightikus
says
Thanks a lot of stopping by and commenting on a post other than the latest one, that hasn’t happened to me on this blog very much. Maybe people think if a post is old that the information has less quality or is invalid in some way
I’m glad to help and share what I have learned myself from various sources. Do you use Stumble a lot?
@coopchad
says
It’s a good post. I try to pay close attention to writing good headlines. It’s an important thing people need to be aware of.
I used SU rarely for a while, but now I’m trying to use a lot more since reading the post on your traffic spike. That was all the convincing I needed that it is a worthwhile service to spend time with.
I also used to stumble my own posts and didn’t realize it as such a bad thing. So I created a new account for a fresh start.
Chad @ Tech201´s last blog ..Be Your Family’s Tech Support Hero With LogMeIn
Copywriting is also a skill that takes years of practice to become very effective in advertising what you are selling and `”,