3 Highly Effective Headline Writing Techniques for Digital, Blogs, Social Media, and Email

Headlines are the ultimate decider between whether an email gets opened or if the content gets read. Did you know five times as many people will read your headline than the body of an article – it’s true. An ineffective headline that doesn’t grab a reader’s attention right away wastes the content it’s supposed to support. More than half of Internet users spend 15 seconds or less on reading an article online. Your focus on writing a high-value, impactful headline is key.

Your working titles.

If you know you’re going to be putting together a lot of headlines, come up with a list of basic templates for headlines. A magnetic headline is one that’s unique, specific, which conveys a sense of urgency, and which is useful to the reader.

Let’s keep in mind that headlines are not topics. Headlines don’t need to be a literal translation of the theme of an article. For this reason, you should know your topic and what you’re writing first. Then, choose your title. Write down 2-3 working titles and then you have some options.

An accurate headline.

Don’t promise anything you can’t deliver, in your headline. Writing a blog post or crafting social media messaging, be accurate in your headlines. A click-friendly headline doesn’t work if it doesn’t deliver. Respect the reader’s intelligence and set the right expectation.

Develop formulas.

Here’s the fun part. You get to experiment with different formulas for headlines to see what resonates best with your audience.

 Numbered listicles. Use a number in your headline that promises an organized list in your article. For example, ‘7 Best Digital Marketing Companies in Toronto’ or ‘Top 7 Ways to Prepare French Toast’.

 Use alliteration. Consumers like headlines that flow off the tongue naturally. Alliteration is powerful yet subtle enough that it doesn’t necessarily register as a strategy for some. Consider examples like ‘Ways to Write a Blog’, for inspiration.

 ‘Who’ generates up to 22 percent higher click-throughs than ‘why’. Although both are effective in headlines and should be used, this is a statistic worth keeping in mind.

 Trigger words. Words like ‘Free’, ‘New’, ‘Proven’, ‘Easy’, and ‘Secret’ are click-friendly, persuasive words that are simple enough to add into almost any headline without hassle and they’ll help you with your CTR.

 High-value adjectives. Make a list of the most interesting, adaptable adjectives you can. ‘Fun’, ‘Amazing’, ‘Incredible’, ‘Effective’, ‘Absolute’, and ‘Essential’ are all excellent adjectives to include.

 Keyword-driven SEO strategies. Don’t forget to include keywords and SEO strategies into your headline. Using the right keywords can boost your organic traffic in a big way.

 Limit the amount of words. Headlines with 12-14 words get the most clicks on social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Anything more is going to lose clicks and anything less may be seen as low quality by some consumers.

 Use the basic formula of ‘Number’ or ‘Trigger Word’ + ‘Adjective’ + ‘Keyword’ + ‘Promise’. This is how you write and deliver a basic yet effective, persuasive headline.

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