Your Guide to Writing Kick-ass Headlines Every Time

Posted on by ematic

A day on the Internet looks like this: 2 million blog posts, 294 billion emails, 864 thousand hours of video, and 400 million tweets.

Why does this matter for your headlines?

With all that competition, your headlines not only have to draw your readers in but needs to be on point in terms of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). We have put together a cheat sheet of 5 ways to ensure you write a kickass headline each time.

  1. Hook a reader using emotions
    It helps to clearly state the value the reader will get from reading your article.  Emotions can: 

    • Create a desire to learn or to address a gap in the reader’s knowledge.
    • Being clear about your intentions also helps to build trust, thus increasing the chances readers would click and read until the end.
    • Adress the reader directly: Use second-person language.
  2. Use numbers
    Listicles remain popular as they are an efficient way to set expectations with readers. Numbers are great because:

    • They indicate how much content there is, and for today’s generation of people on the go, the opportunity to get quick information is very appealing.
    • Adding numbers like percentages, on the other hand, add a visual layer to your headlines. 
    • Statistics and percentages exude authority.
  3. Think about length
    “Keep it short and simple”. I bet you’ve heard this a million times, but do you know why? When deciding to go long or short when it comes to writing headlines, consider these points:

    • Keeping headlines below 70 characters will prevent it from getting cut-off in search engine results.
    • A study by HubSpot revealed that headlines with 8 – 12 words got the most shares when it came to Twitter and 12 – 14 words got the most Facebook likes.
  4. Use long-tail keywords
    You could have the best headlines – quirky, catchy and helpful. However, if you’re not using the right keywords, it might get buried in all the clutter on the internet. While long-tail keywords might not have as many searches, it will be longer than your head keywords, so it becomes easier to rank on a search engine for a long-tail keyword and begin generating some real traffic, and potential leads.
  5. A list of tips and tricks to tie it all up
    To end, here are a bunch of nifty tips:

    • Be original, do not copy!
    • Research shows people read the first and last 3 words.
    • Make all the words in the headline capital.
    • As questions to arouse interest and engagement.
    • Place your keyword at the beginning of the headline

We hope you enjoyed these tips and feel free to leave comments in the section below if there have been some exceptionally successful headlines you’ve come up with or seen.

 

Sources:
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/a-simple-formula-for-writing-kick-ass-titles-ht
https://neilpatel.com/blog/a-step-by-step-guide-to-integrating-long-tail-keywords-within-blog-posts/
http://www.squirrly.co

 

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