How to Write Headlines that Grab Attention
The sad truth is that so many people struggle to write attention-grabbing headlines. This is a real problem because unless your headline is catchy enough, most readers will never interact with the body of your content.
For some context, it’s estimated that eight out of ten people never read past the headline.
The good news is you can follow various headline formats to create exciting headlines for different content types. They include but are not limited to listicles or numbered headlines, how-to headlines, statistics, and emotion-based headlines.
In this article, you’ll find five headline-writing tips that will help you create catchy headlines that pique the interest of your audience.
1. Focus on keywords
Keywords play a significant role in writing headlines. This is especially the case with blog content.
When users search for something, they expect the ranking content to be relevant to what they searched for. This is known as search intent. Search engines like Google also understand this, so they ensure all the search results are relevant to what the user searched for.
How do they do that? One of the things the algorithms look at is the headlines. Does the headline align with the search intent? Keywords help in determining this.
By including your target keywords in the headlines (and in the correct context), you help search engines understand what your blog content is about. This increases the chances that your content will be among the search results when users search for relevant queries.
That’s the SEO benefit of including keywords in your headlines. There’s more.
As mentioned above, users always have a certain expectation after making a search. One of the best ways to meet this expectation is to ensure your headline contains the keyword they searched for. This proves to them that your content is relevant, and they’ll find what they are looking for inside.
Now, of course, context is important. The keyword must be used in the correct context. Otherwise, users will ignore your content. I’ll explain how.
If the keyword used is “email marketing software,” chances are the user is expecting to see a product roundup of some sort. So if you create a headline with the keyword but your headline doesn’t imply you’re reviewing any products, it’s unlikely the user will read your content.
Once again, it goes back to search intent and making sure your headline aligns with the intentions behind each search query.
2. Keep them concise
Whether curating content or sharing new ideas on your blog page, you should avoid confusing headlines. You want to write headlines long enough to captivate your readers but short enough to reveal the purpose of your content.
Because Google and social media platforms are likely to truncate content titles if they’re too long, you have limited space to write headlines that get attention. Keep your blog titles between 60-70 characters long for optimal performance.
Here’s a concise headline example from Brides:
Notice that this headline is straightforward enough and written in plain language. Also, the title tag is displayed fully on Google because it’s within the recommended character length. That means the reader can see everything before clicking.
Crafting your headline from the central idea of your piece of content is advisable. Since the goal is to help readers know what they’ll get from your blog post, there’s no need to add anything that derails from that purpose.
This is also a great place to leverage the efficiency of generative AI platforms. Tools like Ask Writer, for instance, can help you come up with different headlines based on your prompts. You can ask these tools to create effective headlines using different headline formulas like the curiosity gap, before and after bridge, and the objection and credibility formulas.
For the best results, specify the number of characters you want. You can also include your content outline in the prompt to give the AI tools more context. You should be able to get dozens of headline ideas to work with.
3. Add specific numbers
Numbers have a significant impact on the quality of your headlines. Including a number in your headlines gives readers a quantifiable promise they can expect from reading your content. This can increase engagement and make more readers move past your headline and venture into your content.
What numbers can you include in your article?
You can add different types of numbers depending on the type of content you’re producing. For example, you can insert the number of tips in your list posts or include relevant statistics for data-driven content.
Like Brides in our previous example, “70” is a big promise that the reader will have enough information about choosing their dream wedding dress. So they’ll be more likely to click on this blog post.
When adding numbers to your headline, always use numerals because they grab people’s attention better than spelled-out words. Besides, they occupy less space. Of course, write a quality article that lives up to your promise, too.
4. Make them eye-catching
Next, you must use descriptive words to write compelling headlines for your blog posts or other content. Instead of saying, “How to style your bedroom,” you could say, “5 ways to make your bedroom look amazing.” There’s an obvious difference between the two, right?
Now see how Shopify follows this strategy below:
They could have easily said “21 ways to increase traffic”, but notice how adding an adjective suggests that these are not random ideas—-they have been proven to work. This transforms the entire headline and makes it more likely to get clicked.
This doesn’t just work with blog posts. It’s also essential for other types of content, including landing pages.
Voila Norbert uses this technique in the headline of their email finder landing page. The inclusion of the words “most accurate” make the headline more engaging to the readers. This can prompt them to explore the page further and see what makes the tool special.
Emotional headline styles include powerful words that will make your intended audience want to read the entire piece of your content. Your choice of power words will depend on how you want your audience to feel.
You may want to get readers excited or curious about your post, so it’s advisable to work with positive emotions unless you’re writing about something that demands a negative headline.
Source
The above headline from Lemon Zest and Basil is a good example of one that provokes curiosity. You can use a question format, too, like Style Craze in the example below—also an example of what a negative headline looks like:
When using emotions, you need to ensure that your headline flows naturally. The power words should not be forced. One way to achieve this is by starting with a generic headline and including various emotional words to see which reads best.
Also, use tools like CoSchedule’s headline analyzer studio to optimize your headline with power words. Other headline analyzers you can use are MonsterInsights, Content Row, or AIOSEO.
5. Measure the performance of headlines
Finally, you must monitor and measure the performance of your headlines to determine which ones perform best. Unlike bad headlines, a good headline will make people engage with your content, contributing to higher conversion rates.
Therefore, one way to determine the performance of your headlines is to track the time on page and user behavior. If users are spending more time on your content, it means the headline was engaging enough for them.
To further investigate this, you must use tools like heat maps to monitor user behavior. This will show how users scroll through your content and the elements they click on or engage with.
You can also run A/B tests on headlines using tools like Hotjar and Mouseflow. This is an incredibly powerful way to determine the best headline formats for your target audience.
In Closing
An engaging headline will help you attract visitors to your website, so it should never be an afterthought. Business owners, writers, marketers, and content producers need to maximize the power of headlines fully.
Writing a good headline takes as much intentionality as writing an in-depth post on your website. To write killer headlines, you should focus on keywords, keep the headline concise, add specific numbers, and draw attention with your word choices. You also need to use powerful words that provoke emotions. Finally, measure the performance of your headline, so you can continually improve.
Now, it’s time to use these tips and improve the conversion of your headlines.
Bogdan Sandu, a seasoned designer with 15 years of diverse experience, has been designing websites since 2008.
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
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