Headlines are responsible for most of your traffic and sharing rates. They’re the first thing people interact with when they come across your content, so they affect your views and open rates.
According to Copyblogger, eight out of 10 people read headline copy, but only two out of 10 read the entire piece.
In other words, headlines must make a solid first impression to motivate readers to take action.
Don’t know where to start? Read on to find out.
What Is a Catchy Headline?
A catchy headline is persuasive copy with a traceable impact on user interaction. This means that if you spend some time working on crafting the perfect headline for your project, you can cut through the noise and stand out.
A strong headline can, more often than not, determine how well a piece will perform. For that reason, great content needs an equally great headline.
Why Catchy Headlines Matter
According to recent data from YouGov, strong headlines impact a website by up to 500%.
From a creative standpoint, crafting a catchy headline is essential to getting your hard work noticed. There’s a lot involved in the writing process, including research, interviews, brainstorming, outlining, writing, and editing. It wouldn’t be fair to wrap up your hard work with a weak headline.
From a business’s perspective, the headlines, subheaders, and titles you use to promote your content and products affect user interaction and click-through rate (CTR).
Essentially, catchy headlines matter because they engage your audience and motivate the reader to perform an action.
How To Write Catchy Headlines
The perfect headline looks different to everyone. Factors such as audience, project, distribution channel, and brand voice make a one-size-fits-all approach almost impossible.
You may find it helpful to stick to the general rules, and as you develop your technique, you can switch things up and add some novelty.
Know Your Audience
You can’t write a great headline without a clear understanding of who you’re writing to and why the topic you’re writing about matters to them.
Let’s say you’re writing an article about “the best at-home ice cream makers” for a small ice cream shop with a nationwide audience. If you don’t know the audience, you might think that writing about best-selling ice cream makers and creating a title that says just that is the way to go.
However, since the blog belongs to a local ice cream shop with a strong brand reputation, it’s safe to assume that people follow them for the quality of their ice cream. So, creating a headline that shows people a way to recreate the shop’s ice cream at home by using certain ice cream makers is a much better angle than the first.
And that’s why you need to know your audience.
Choose the Right Keywords
This is not SEO; this is common sense. If you don’t choose the right keywords for your headline, your chances of being found will decrease. Whether you’re writing for digital or print, keywords help your target audience decide whether that piece of content benefits them.
For example, if you’re writing a travel guide to the Bahamas for a digital publication, you can’t use a title like “Let’s Travel,” “Come Visit the Caribbean With Me,” or “Travel Itinerary to a Beautiful Island Country.” The second title has potential, but the others don’t because they’re not specific or appealing.
On the other hand, something like “A Locals-Approved 3-Day Guide To The Bahamas For Your Dream Vacation” works because it:
- Targets people who are planning to go to the Bahamas.
- Uses the term “local-approved” to signal the uniqueness of the guide, as opposed to too-touristy generic guides.
- Let readers know right away what to expect from the guide.
Use the Woo Factor
Headlines without a woo factor aren’t engaging. You can follow all the best practices and use the right keywords for your audience, but if your headline lacks soul—that woo factor—it will repel people.
Now, what is that woo factor I’m talking about?
The woo factor is engagement, and depending on your audience, grabbing their attention and keeping them engaged means different things. It may sound complicated, but all you have to do is identify what keeps your audience engaged and use that to your advantage. Then, choose the type of headline you want to use and make your keywords work for that type of headline.
Here are the five most common:
- How-To Headlines are by far the most used format, and they address a reader’s problem.
- Reason-Why and Top-X Headlines inform readers about the choices available to them in a particular situation.
- Direct Headlines tell readers right away what the content is about and what it can do for them.
- Indirect Headlines intrigue readers without giving too much away.
- News Headlines expand on a piece of news.
Tips To Write Catchy Headlines
Again, great headlines look different to everyone. The following tips are a generalization of headline writing best practices. Don’t feel obligated to follow them if they don’t fit your brand’s voice or style guide.
Use Numbers
There’s a reason why copywriters often use numbers in their headlines. They work, and people love them for their conciseness, so there’s no harm in using this format. Just remember that context is important; leave them out if the headline doesn’t read right.
Consider Using the 3Ws and 1H
People consume content to either learn something new, be entertained, or solve a problem. Using what, why, when, and how in your headlines is an easy way to grab their attention. Just keep in mind that sometimes mixing numbers with this headline format isn’t ideal.
Use Emotional, Power, or Unique Words
These words trigger strong reactions in people; hence, their popularity among copywriters to shock, inspire, or generate urgency in the reader. Examples include outstanding, easily, download, mind-blowing, the best, really, and ways.
As you can see, writing great headlines is all about conveying what readers will get from your piece in a few words. Keep honing your craft, and you will succeed.