Writing Headlines That Get People To Read

[vangogh]

Headlines can do several things. They get people to read further. They let people know they're in the right place. They put people in the right frame of mind. They get people to read your ad or click on a search result. A good headline is one part in the process of persuasion. A bad headline is a quick good bye.

I found this article at GrokDotCom, 3 steps for writing (and testing) great headlines. The post defines the 3 steps as

Step 1. Scent
Step 2. Angle of Approach
Step 3. Wordsmithing

There's advice for each step and then lists of links for further reading.

From experience as a reader I can tell you headlines are extremely important. I'm subscribed to a few hundred blogs and there's no way I can read every post on every blog. I use my feedreader to scan headlines and those that interest me I click into the post. If a headline doesn't grab me in about a second I'll likely never read the content of the post.

As a writer I can also tell you how a better headline leads to more traffic. There are ways to get your readers to click and ways to get more search traffic all from a headline.

You might want to bookmark the post above. I've read many of the posts it links to over the years and I know they offer solid advice to improve your headlines.

Do you have any of your own tips on writing good headlines? Any questions for how you can improve the ones you write?

[cbscreative]

The importance of headlines should never be underestimated. When I am writing a page or designing a web site, I rarely have the headings before the content. It's not unusual to spend about as much time creating the headings as the content. I basically consider the body copy to be about the half way mark. Sometimes it even takes longer to create good headlines, but it is definitely worth the effort.

Amen to this thread and the blog post.

[vangogh]

I'll usually start with a headline, but almost always I go back and rewrite it after I finish writing the content. Writing some first helps me get started on the main content, but still it's important to go back and spend some time crafting your headline/title.

[Paul Elliott]

The importance of headlines should never be underestimated.

Headlines important?

I have seen a one-word change in a headline improve conversion by 10-fold!

You bet!

Paul

[vangogh]

I have seen a one-word change in a headline improve conversion by 10-fold!

Which is why I'm always so surprised that many people here don't seem to be as interested in copywriting as some of the other sections on the forum. This section more than most of the others is including in most everything any business does.

[KristineS]

I have to fight my desire for quirky headlines almost every day. I still give in more often than not when it comes to my personal blogs. I try to do better when it comes to the professional stuff. A headline that let's people know exactly what the subject of the post will be is so much more effective. I know this, and yet part of me still yearns to be quirky.

[vangogh]

It's probably fine to be quirky on your personal blog, but even then you know it's less effective. I know when I'm reading the headlines in my feed reader, quirky just makes me move on to the next headline in most cases. With time limited, if I can't figure out what your post is about from reading the headline I'm not going to open it.

[Dan Furman]

The most important thing to remember about headlines is they have one main job - to get someone to start reading the copy. That's prettymuch it.

Now that can be done a few ways, depending on what brought the reader there. For a landing page, I like a headline that grabs some attention by addressing what the person came there for. For a blog, I like a more quirky / interesting headline. Whatever will get the person to read my first sentence.

People sometimes mistake this with simply "getting attention" - a headline that gets attention but doesn't entice someone to read further has generally failed. Exceptions noted for some newspaper front pages and the like.

In addition, many people give the headlines way too much power (as in thinking the headline sells anything but the copy). In general terms, nobody buys based on a headline. But they will read your pitch based on the headline. Big difference in focus.

It's sort of like a resume. Many people have this all-in-one, all-purpose resume that's written "to get them a job". I always wrote individual resumes laser-focused to one purpose: to get a phone call from the particular person/job I sent it to - nothing more. I'll leave the job-getting to me.

If you look at it as "what is my headline's job?", it becomes easier.

[vangogh]

The most important thing to remember about headlines is they have one main job - to get someone to start reading the copy. That's prettymuch it.

Agreed. A headline isn't going to sell anything, but a bad headline can keep you from selling anything as no one will read your copy.

Dan the thing about quirky headlines on a blog is they keep a lot of people from reading. We'll probably disagree on this. I think we've disagree over the same subject before.

Speaking for myself I'm subscribed to a few hundred blogs. Granted that's probably a lot more than most people. Unless I can tell what a post is about from the headline it's not getting read. Some quirky can work, but I find most don't. They usually don't give an impression of what's inside and if I can't figure it out I'm generally not clicking. Now if your quirky headline really is that interesting I may be curious enough to look.

Some headlines can be quirky and still let you know what the post is about. Dan you could likely write a headline that does both. Most people probably can't. Most people when they write quirky tend to obscure what will be in the post. And even more often that not the quirkiness only makes sense after you read the post.

There's a fine line between effective quirky and ineffective quirky. It's definitely possible to write the effective kind of quirky headline, but it doesn't take much to cross over into the ineffective kind, which is more often than not what happens.

[cbscreative]

Which is why I'm always so surprised that many people here don't seem to be as interested in copywriting as some of the other sections on the forum. This section more than most of the others is including in most everything any business does.

Well, since all the admins are very much aware of how important copywriting is, we will continue to support it. The trick is to get small business owners to realize the value. Big businesses certainly know this, but I'm guessing that small businesses need more awareness.