As a content marketer, you win the battle for engagement by making your headlines irresistible. Let’s make our way through the alphabet and spell out 26 nuggets bound to help you improve your headline-writing chops.
You also can print the A-to-Z infographic to have a visual reminder of these tips. Thank you to Infobrandz for the great infographic design. (Go directly to the end if you prefer the infographic version.)
Ask
Posing a question, one of the oldest tricks in the book, remains one of the best ways to engage a reader.
Benefits
Features tend to bore readers. Make an emotional appeal by putting benefits in your headline.
Colons
A proven headline approach is to begin with a topical keyword phrase, followed by a colon – or dash – followed by a statement or question.
Do’s and don’ts
A headline using “do” or “don’t” indicates your content is going to advise on what does or doesn’t work for a task your audience needs to accomplish.
Emotion
Decisions are based on emotions. Capitalize on that power using the headline to elicit a feeling or to describe one.
Facts
A well-timed, topical, or provocative fact (or list of them) can be the ultimate hook for your story.
Greats
No matter what you’re writing, you likely can attach “greats” to it – great accomplishments, great leaders, great landmarks in time, etc.
Attach “greats” to your headlines to attract readers, says @feldmancreative. #writingtips Share on XHelp
Help is a universal foundation of content marketing, nonfiction, and so many forms of publishing. Identify how the content will aid the reader or viewer.
Inspiration
Similar to the appeal of emotions, encouragement is well-received by audiences. A great headline may focus on the basic idea “you can do this.”
Jack
“Jack” – as in steal or borrow – is a helpful tool. Craft a headline that borrows interest from a trending story or famous figure discussed in the media.
Keywords
Craft your headlines to include keywords and phrases people use when searching.
Lists
Lists work. Readers instantly know what they’re getting and appreciate how lists bring order to the content topic.
Mistakes
Mistakes, misconceptions, myths … negative headlines have tremendous pulling power.
Negative headlines have tremendous pulling power, says @FeldmanCreative. #writingtips Share on XNumbers
Add intrigue to your headlines by citing results, time frames, measurements, or anything that can be enumerated.
Opinions
Indicate you’re going to express your opinion – or that of another expert – and you’re likely to woo many readers.
Power words
Revisit your headline looking for soft or vague words that can be replaced with more powerful, energetic, emotional, or descriptive words.
Quotes
Use a quote from a speech, interview, research report, song, movie, or anything you believe makes for a tasty appetizer for the content soon to be served.
Roundups
Headlines for roundups almost write themselves. How many experts? What will they share?
Starting
Getting started tends to be the hardest part of a task. Indicate that your content presents the reader with an effective way to begin that task.
Teasers
The curiosity gap is an age-old and proven headline technique. Simply write a headline that teases the reader into a state of “I must know where this is going.”
Uses
A derivative of the how-to headline, write it to reveal how x can produce y.
Verbs
Start with a verb. Make the verb urgent and interesting. Inject action into your headlines with interesting verbs.
Who, what, when, where, why
Whether your headline is a question or a statement, these five “w” words can help shape an interesting one.
eXamples
eXamples give an exciting way to tee up your content. Showcase a person, group, companies, accomplishments, or any type of relevant example.
You
Your headline can’t call the reader by name, but the word “you” is the next best thing.
Zingers
A zinger is a quip or phrase that comes last. Add zing with a subhed (or place a thought in parentheses).
Write headlines from A to Z
Crafting a great headline is not easy. Using these tips (though not all in the same headline) will attract your readers to your content. Then look at your content analytics to see which of these tips worked better than others for your audience. And repeat those.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute