Headlines and titles are all around us. In blog posts, white papers, case studies, executive briefs, press releases, infographics, videos, emails, pay-per-click ads — the list goes on and on.
But for the purpose of this post, let’s talk about headlines specifically for blog posts.
As the most visible portion of any post we produce, marketers should be putting substantial effort into crafting amazing, click-generating, and interesting headlines. Many content creators are guilty of spending 99% of their time writing and editing a new piece of content, and then slapping on an explanatory headline at the end. I’ve done it. You’ve done it. We’ve all done it at some point.
Our content deserves more than that.
You should be spending 50% of your time crafting the perfect headline, and the remaining 50% of your time writing and editing the body of your blog post, according to many content marketing experts.
Does that sound like too much time to devote to a simple headline? Consider these points:
- Headlines convince people to engage with your content
- 8 of 10 people read the headline
- Only 2 of 10 people click-through to read the post
Tips for Crafting Click-Worthy Headlines
- Bracketed clarifications appended to your headline can increase click-through rates by 38%. Examples: [Infographic] or [Video]
- Improve click-through rates by 36% when you use numbers in your headline.
- Find headline formats that have worked well for similar content to increase click-throughs and social shares. Buzzsumo is an excellent tool for this.
- Use words with an emotional appeal to connect with readers.
- The best headline length is about 6 words. But more importantly, make sure your headline fits within the 60-character title tag limit used by most search engines to improve your blog post’s SEO.
- Use super-descriptive adjectives. (easy effortless) (great incredible)
- Try negative words (no, stop) to grab attention.
- Phrase your headline as a question. People have a natural inclination to find the answer.
- Keep SEO in mind. Use your keywords in the headline where it makes sense, but don’t stuff. Click-through rate and engagement (time on site, low bounce rate) are always important for organic rankings, so optimize the post for these critical factors.
- Think outside the box, but don’t be misleading. Your blog post should deliver on what you promise in the headline. Don’t sacrifice integrity for the sake of creativity.
Bonus: Test! See what works for your audience. Periodically take stock of your blog posts, use Google Analytics to see which posts performed best, and find correlations between headline style and performance.
Once your headline is perfect, you can do a few other things to improve your blog post:
- Nail the opening statement. If people read the entire first paragraph, they are more likely to read the rest.
- Leverage the power of a story to make your introduction compelling. People have a desire to finish a story once they start.
- Include visuals above the fold. Viewers will be 80% more likely to finish reading the rest of the post.
- Reduce the horizontal width of your posts. It’s easier to comprehend shorter lines of text.
- Shorten your links. Shorter URLs are 2.5 times more likely to attract clicks than long URLs.
