Headlines that actually work and get people to click on your post are absolutely essential for successful content marketing. It does not matter how gripping your content is – if you write boring headlines, that content will never get discovered. Fortunately, you can follow these principles that professional copywriters have tried and proven to get tons of clicks on your blogs and other posts.
Amazing Headlines Aren’t an Accident
There’s a science to irresistible blog titles and content headlines. They don’t just happen by accident. In fact, there is psychology underlying the science of effective headlines to explain just why we click or don’t click on headlines. Successful copywriters understand that good headlines often appeal subconsciously to the person’s intellect or emotions. In other words, your headline should offer the reader confirmation of a bias or a surprise contradiction to a bias.
At the very least it should promise valuable solutions, not just help with a problem. Rather than selling someone a new printer, sell them faster copies. Rather than offering someone help with their taxes, promise them peace of mind that comes from entrusting their taxes to the experts. Experts agree that the most clickable headlines contain trigger words in the right mixture of power words, emotional words, commonly used words, and uncommon words. Typically the headlines that actually work and get clicks are questions, lists, or how-to posts.
A great tool we use for analyzing headlines to determine their potency is this free Headline Analyzer tool through CoSchedule.
Principles for Writing Headlines that Actually Work
If you want to write headlines that actually work and bring traffic in, follow these additional principles:
- Consider Your Audience: What do they need? Don’t just put together an assortment of words that will trigger a response. Orient your content around your audience and their needs, and then find those trigger words to connect introduce it to them.
Define Your Topic Honestly: Describe just what value your post has to offer. Never mislead your reader. They may click on your amazing headline, but if it isn’t consistent with your subject matter, they will leave immediately and probably never come back.- Use Suspense and Suspicion: Everyone likes a little of the unknown or a tinge of doubt. Amazing headlines that actually work often play on this suspicion or introduce the possibility of overturning well-known truths. Dramatic tension isn’t just for Hollywood.
- Educate: Always expand the knowledge of your readers; offer them insights they may not already have or be certain of. Irresistible headlines promise quick and easy information that will put the reader ahead.
- Follow What Works: No need to reinvent the wheel. Collect swipe files and lists of successful headlines and imitate them. Many successful headlines follow well-established headline formulas that you can implement.
Follow these best practices for how to write clickable headlines, and draw your traffic in to see what you can offer. Get the audience your content deserves! And don’t forget to share these headline insights by clicking the share button below!
