An attention grabbing headline can be useful for improving your email marketing, increasing conversion on your website, and for any other form of content marketing that includes its own header or title. This is the first indication that a reader has as to what to expect from your content.
You don’t need to be a professional writer in order to create great copy for websites, landing pages, blog posts, and emails. But, you should start with a killer headline. Here are some extremely easy to follow tips for writing effective headlines.
Write a Summary of Your Content
The first step is to summarize the main point of your content in a single sentence. Don’t worry about how it sounds. Keep it simple. Just write a sentence. You’ll edit it to improve the flair of the headline.
For example, this article is about writing headlines. So, the main point is “how to write headlines that will grab people’s attention”. But, this is not quite effective. It still needs some polish.
Use Numbers in Your Headlines
People like numbers. This applies to almost any headline. Whether you’re writing headlines for emails, blog posts, or any other marketing campaign – numbers are effective.
If you are listing steps, providing tips, or offering any other content that could be put into a list, then consider giving your headline a number. Take your original sentence and see if you can add a number to your headline.
Include Exciting Adjectives
Next, try to include an exciting adjective in your headline. These words help inspire action and grab attention. Here are a few examples for your consideration:
- Essential
- Excellent
- Effective
- Fantastic
- Important
- Mind blowing
- Valuable
- Ultimate
- Simple
Keep Your Headline Short
You should also keep your headline short. If you’re writing a headline for a blog post or web page, your headline will also work as your title. Google recommends a maximum of 70 characters. Along with the character count, you should pay attention to the number of words.
In most studies, headlines with between 10 and 12 words tend to perform best. You could go as low as 8 and as high as 14. But, these may not be as effective.
Try to Include Your Focus Keyword
Even if you don’t pay close attention to keyword density, you should try to include a focus keyword. Use Google AdWords Keyword Planner Tool to find a relevant keyword that has decent search volume with low competition. Work into your headline if possible.
Once you’ve completed your headline, using these tips, read it out loud. Does it grab your attention? It should convey the subject of your content and encourage people to want to read the rest of your content.
These suggestions can be used for writing any type of headline. Improve the conversion rates of your landing pages, boost traffic to your blog posts, and increase click-through rates on your emails.
In addition to these suggestions, you may want to try writing 5 or 6 different headlines. Create a list of headlines and then consider which one sounds best.
You could even use A/B split testing to test the effectiveness of two different headlines. Create two separate versions of your content, with two different headlines. See which one works best.
You can start using these tips today. Go through the headers and titles of some of your older blog posts or landing pages. See if you can put a new spin on previous headlines.
Along with effective headlines, you could also benefit from additional online marketing tips, such as using a lead generation system. Click here to learn more about my done-for-you system.
