Last Updated on 1 year by Komolafe Bamidele
I get asked this question a lot; what can you do to make a headline more compelling?
You’re writing a blog article.
Your final objective is to write the most compelling headlines that will lead people to read the whole article so that you can get your desired response from them.
Either to get them to take specific actions such as;
- Sign up for your newsletter
- Buying a product you are promoting
- Attending
- Etc
If you are finding it difficult to come up with killer and attention-grabbing headlines that will literally force people to take action, then you are in the right post.
I’m going to show you 10 ways to write the most compelling headlines.
I’ll list them for you and also explain everything
What Can You do to Make a Headline more Compelling in 2022?
Top 10 Tips
- Start with a working title
- Brainstorm keywords and phrases
- Use numbers in your headlines.
- Focus on the benefits of your content
- Use emotional words in your headlines
- Consider how to tap into controversy and curiosity.
- Use a headline analyzer tool.
- Read your headline out loud to yourself and ask if it makes sense.
- Write multiple versions and pick the best one
- Run an A/B test on two different versions of your title.
Now let’s go ahead and explain in detail all of these tips so you can practice and start getting results with your headlines
Start with a working title
The title of your article is the first impression you make on your readers. It’s what makes them click to read your post, so it’s important to have an attention-grabbing title that will compel them to keep reading.
A good headline starts with a working title, and then adds details and context around those ideas.
That way, you can focus on the core message of your article in the second half and leave the first half to explore other ideas.
The first thing you need to do is come up with a working title for your article. This is a working title because it’s not set in stone. You can change it, edit it and make it better at any point in time.
For instance, if you’re writing an article on how to write a good headline, the working title might be “How to Write the Perfect Headline.”
But after you’ve written the article and have proofread it, you’ll probably realize that your original working title isn’t quite right.
You can revise this title to “How to Write the Perfect Headline: Step-by-Step Guide.”
A premium ai tool like CopyAI can help you generate attention-grabbing titles in a matter of minutes. If you want to try it here’s a 40% off promo code to save some money with the tool.
Brainstorm keywords and phrases
Brainstorm keywords and phrases that are relevant to your topic.
These are the words, phrases and ideas that will make your headline catch your reader’s eye.
This can be a long process because you want to get the most out of your headline, but it’s worth the effort.
You might think of the words “best,” “new,” or “free” when you think of something new, but they don’t help you sell a product or service. Instead, try using words like:
- “How-to”
- “DIY”
- “Top Tips”
- “5 Easy Steps”
and so on.
If you were writing about a new weight loss product, you might brainstorm the following:
- “Lose Weight Fast Without Exercise,” “Burn Fat in Just Minutes,”
- “Burn Fat 24 Hours a Day,”
- “Lose Weight Fast With No Exercise” or
- “Burn Fat in Just One Hour.”
You can use these keywords and phrases in any order to make sure they appear consistently throughout your headlines.
For example, if you’re writing about three different products with the same headline, each one will have a different keyword or phrase in it.
The more specific you get with your keywords and phrases, the better — but don’t overdo it.
The more general you are with them, the more likely readers will ignore them as irrelevant fluff words that don’t move them forward toward their goal of buying from you.
Never do keyword stuffing.
Use numbers in your headlines.
Numbers are also a great way to help your audience see the urgency of your content.
In fact, they’re so powerful that you should use them as often as possible.
When you split up a number into two or three words, that’s one-third of the way toward making the headline enticing.
If you have a big number, start with the first half of the number and then break it down into something more manageable for readers.
For example: instead of writing “5 million people are going to die this year,” which can be difficult for people to understand, write “5 million people will die this year from natural disasters and wars.
Do you get the idea now?
Numbers in your headlines can help your readers understand what you’re talking about better. It’s a simple but powerful way to grab their attention and entice them to click.
The key is to be clear, concise and accurate.
Here are some examples of headlines that use numbers effectively:
- “9 Reasons to Write for Us” – Business2Community
- “4 Ways To Become A Better Writer” – The Huffington Post
- “6 Tips To Improve Your Writing Skills” – Copyblogger
- “5 Reasons Why You Should Be Writing For Your Business” – HubSpot
- “How To Write A Great Headline That Pulls Readers In” – Forbes
- “The Top 10 Ways To Write The Most Compelling Headlines” – CopyHackers
- “Top 6 Tips For Writing Effective Headlines That Get Buyers Reading” – CopyBlogger
- “The 5-Steps It Takes To Create An Irresistible Sales Pitch” – CopyBlogger
- “The 5-Steps It Takes To Create An Irresistible Sales Pitch” – BlogTalk
The best way to decide how many numbers to include in your headline is to think about how readers will react when they see those numbers.
If you want to make sure that the headline doesn’t appear too technical for readers, for example, you might use fewer numbers than if you want to make sure that people understand what each number means.
Get this right and you’re well on your way to grabbing the attention of your audience.
Focus on the benefits of your content.
What separates good and compelling headlines from bad ones is that the former focus on the benefits of your content, while the latter focus on what they don’t have.
Let’s say you’re selling a product that claims to help people lose weight.
Your headline should be based on what it actually does instead of what it doesn’t do (like “Lose weight without pills!”).
The same principle applies to any business: if you want people to buy your product, then you need to show them how it can help them solve a problem or improve their performance in some way.
In fact, if you can write a headline that makes the reader stop and think about what your content can offer, then you’ve created an incredible opportunity for them to engage with your content and share it with their friends.
The most compelling headlines are those that focus on the benefits of your content.
Use emotional words in your headlines.
Emotion words are words that evoke an emotional response by the reader, such as Exciting, Amazing, Inspiring and Passionate
They make your headlines more attractive to readers, and they create a better overall experience for them.
They can help you determine whether you should use a headline or make a call to action, and they can even help you decide which words to use as part of the headline.
A good example of an emotion-focused headline is;
“We’re taking our business offline.”
This headline uses words such as “taking” and “our,” which makes it sound like the company is doing something that is out of the ordinary.
The fact that they are going offline creates a sense of urgency for the reader, so it makes them want to know more about what this company is doing and how it will benefit them.
Another example is;
“14 Tips for Growing Your Business With Google AdWords.”
This headline uses emotional words such as “growing” and “AdWords,” which also makes it sound like something that would be beneficial for those who read it.
It creates an emotional connection between the reader and their business, so they want to know more about what these tips could do for them.
Tap into controversy and curiosity.
You need to grab people’s attention in a split second, so you have to be clever and persuasive.
When writing headlines, consider how to tap into controversy and curiosity.
Consider the media landscape and social media trends.
What are people talking about today? How can you make your headline stand out from all the noise?
Use a headline analyzer tool.
Using a headline analyzer tool can help you write headlines that are compelling and convert more easily.
These tools will help you analyze the keywords in your content and the competition, as well as give you suggestions for what kind of headline would work best.
You can use several different analyzers to find the best possible headline for your content:
A few of them include;
1. Google Trends: Google Trends is a great way to see what topics are trending at any given time.
It also shows how many people are searching for those terms, which can give you an idea of how much interest there is in that topic.
You can look up past data by date range, or even by specific date range (like today or tomorrow).
2. Buzzsumo: Buzzsumo allows you to see which social media platforms are getting the most attention from users on each platform.
This will give you an idea of where people are spending their time online and whether they’re interested in your topic or not.
3. Social Media Examiner: Social Media Examiner allows you to see which social media platforms have the most followers across various industries and topics, which will help you determine which ones might be more popular than others for promoting your
Try any of these tools and see how it goes as they will make things easier and faster for you.
Read your headline out loud to yourself and ask if it makes sense.
This is a very simple and short exercise to determine the effectiveness of your headline.
What you need to basically do here is take some to go through your headlines yourself, and read them aloud.
Does it make sense?
If it doesn’t, either start over or try another idea.
Then ask yourself: “What do I want readers to do after they read this?” This can be anything from clicking a link to buying something that you are promoting.
Think about how you’d describe the content in one sentence. Then write that sentence in your headline.
For example, if your article is about how to eat healthier as a family, you might write “Eating Healthy as a Family – 7 Tips.”
Finally, go back through your article and ask:
“Is there anything else I could add here?” If there is something else you think would help readers understand what the article is about better or make them more likely to click on your link or buy from you, put that information in the headline too!
Write multiple versions and pick the best one.
This is self-explanatory.
Some people think that you can write a great headline by looking at the first few words.
Wrong or let’s say this is often not true.
You need to write multiple versions and pick the best one.
When you do this, you’ll be able to see which version resonates with your audience and which ones don’t.
For example, if I’m writing about a new product launch, I may start with “New Product Launches.” If it doesn’t resonate with my audience, I will try something else: “New Products are Coming Soon.”
And if that still doesn’t work, then we’ll go back to “New Products Coming Soon.”
This method works for all types of content: blog posts, emails and more
Run an A/B test on two different versions of your title.
Have you ever been tempted to change a headline just because it wasn’t working well? Or because you were worried that the original was too long, or too boring?
It’s always a good idea to run an A/B test on your headlines before you stick with the one that isn’t working out.
You can do this by using Google’s Keyword Planner tool or the free version of Moz’s Keyword Explorer tool.
You can also use a tool like SEMrush to find out which keywords are driving traffic to your site and which ones aren’t — and then try out new headlines for those keywords.
Final Thoughts
Headlines when done correctly can get you a lot of traffic, grow your list and make sales easily.
You just have to get it right.
These 10 headline tips will help you to write more compelling titles and headlines for content that you create in the future.
Hope this helps and if you’ve got anyone else who is asking the same question: what can you do to make a headline more compelling, make sure to forward this article to them.
They’ll thank you for it.
Have questions, please drop them in the comment section.