How You Can Write Awesome Headlines Easily
The headlines that you write for your blog posts, social media posts, guest blog posts, and blog promotion activities are the key to getting people to read your content. A perfect example of this is StumbleUpon, where your awesome headlines will make the difference between getting no readers at all and getting thousands in a few days.
Twitter is another good example of how a good headline can drive traffic for you. If you just write a functional Tweet, you will maybe receive a few hits, but write a tantalising, awesome headline and you will soon drive far more traffic to your blog content.
A few important points about Headlines before we get started;
- Your Awesome Headlines must be related to your blog content
- Be Honest
- Tease and Tantalise
- Think about your readers, not yourself
It is vital that your headlines reflect the content that you publish, so assuming that you are already producing great content, all you need to do is to add a fantastic headline in order to maximise the traffic your post receives.
If you think about the headlines that grab your attention and make you read more, you will start to notice that they have several things in common. They will usually relate to you and a problem or concern that you have, or allude to a solution that you need to know more about.
The job of your headline is to make people want to find out more…..
Basic Types of Awesome Headlines
There are six fundamental types of headlines;
- Zen like Headlines – The promise of an easier life
- Headlines that piggyback on something famous
- Mistakes you could be making
- How to…….. headlines
- Fear headlines – highlighting things people are afraid of
- Lists – Everyone likes a list
1. Awesome Zen Headlines
Zen headlines are related to peoples need for simplicity. Many people are overwhelmed with too many responsibilities and too much to do, so if your posts offer them the same results in less time then you will attract an audience.
In some ways, Zen headlines are just like ‘How to…’ headlines, but instead of just telling people how to do something, you are offering them a ‘How to Simplify’ ‘How to do xyz’ in a calm, masterful and easy way.
Top Zen headlines
- The Ultimate Zen of [XYZ]
The key to this is to contrast Zen with your topic. ‘The Zen of a Calm Day’ doesn’t really stand out and contrast, as that is what Zen is all about, but ‘The Zen of Teaching Toddlers’ for example has enough contrast to make you want to know more.
- Struggling to Keep up? 7 Ways to Simplify your [XYZ]
Not getting everything done is a very common problem that everyone struggles with. No one wants to fall behind. This headline capitalises on this and offers solutions to help people.
- How to Get Control of [XYZ]
Many people worry about problems that often don’t even exist yet. This headline focuses on that element. Write a post about popular concerns and worries in your niche and then use a killer headline like this to get people reading it.
- 7 Shortcuts for [Completing XYZ] in Record Time
Who doesn’t love a shortcut? Not only does your headline promise to make the task easier, but it also implies that they will gain an unfair advantage on everyone else.
Download our Ultimate Awesome Headlines Guide Here
2. Piggyback Headlines
It is perfectly acceptable to piggyback on the back of famous brands and people in order to create great headlines.
- [Do XYZ] Like [XYZ Person]: 7 Easy Ways to [XYZ]
This could be ‘Innovate like Steve Jobs: 7 Easy Ways to Design Great Products’
or
Tweet Like Barack Obama: 7 Simple Ways to Tweet to Millions
By picking one people who have had outstanding success at a particular task, you are associating yourself with the curiosity surrounding how the famous person has achieved what they have done. That curiosity will make people want to read your post.
- The [World Class Example] School of [XYZ]
With these type of headlines you want to use contrast rather than straight examples….
‘The Silvio Berlusconi School of Moderation’
‘The Liz Taylor School of Long Term Marriage’
These headlines associate your post with the example of the famous person.
You can also adapt this headline for companies;
‘The Disney School of Storytelling’
‘The Starbucks School of Tax Planning’
Download our Ultimate Awesome Headlines Guide Here
3. Mistakes Headlines
Headlines like ‘Do You Make These 7 [XYZ] Mistakes’ always work well, because people want to check that they are not making stupid mistakes in what they are doing.
’11 [XYZ] Mistakes That Will Make You Look Dumb’
‘Common [XYZ] You Don’t Know You Are Making’
These headlines work really well and will push traffic to your blog posts.
Download our Ultimate Awesome Headlines Guide Here
4. How to…. Headlines
‘How to be [Something Desirable]‘
and a twist on this is to include a commonly perceived obstacle;
‘How to [XYZ] Even if [Common Obstacle]‘
and another great variation is to add an objectionable action on the end like this;
‘How to [XYZ] Without [Objectionable Action]‘
A good example would be;
‘How to Regularly Email your Contacts without Irritating Them’
Download our Ultimate Awesome Headlines Guide Here
5. Fear headlines
Fear headlines are designed to make people want to find out how to avoid things. They imply an impending threat if the reader doesn’t take action….. and that action is to read your post to find out more about the threat they are facing.
- 10 Warning Signs That [XYZ]
- 7 Warning Signs that you Chose the Wrong Blog Topic
Can we Really Trust [XYZ]
This headline works well if you use large institutions as the example, ‘Can We Really Trust Google’, Can We Really Trust Paypal’ etc
A Media favourite is to use;
‘The Shocking Truth about [XYZ]‘
To make this work you do need to have a ‘shocking truth’ to reveal otherwise you will soon become as untrustworthy as whatever you have named!
‘The Great [XYZ] Hoax’
People love a good conspiracy theory, so if you can back this headline up with a great post then it will work really well for you.
Another great work for getting a response in the work ‘Lies’
‘Lies [XYZ] Like to Tell’
‘ 7 Things your {Trusted XYZ] Won’t Tell You’
Deep down we suspect that many ‘experts’ in positions of power are lying to us, but we are often not knowledgeable enough about the topic to take them on, so we need another ‘expert’ to tell us who is lying, why and how.
Download our Ultimate Awesome Headlines Guide Here
6. List Headlines
The reason there are so many list headlines everywhere you look is because they work, plain and simple.
If you take a look at sites like StumbleUpon, Digg and Delicious you will see that their results are full of list posts.
We would recommend that at least one post per week is a list post on your blog.
10 Ways to [XYZ]
27 Top Headlines for Social Media (or [XYZ])
The Top Ten [XYZ]
9 [XYZ] Secrets Every [Your Target Audience] Should Know.
7 Unwritten Laws of [XYZ]
5 Steps to [XYZ]
Get [XYZ]! 10 Ideas That Really Work
Get our printable Ultimate headlines guide containing more variation templates of awesome headlines that will drive traffic for you…… click the link below
Download our Ultimate Awesome Headlines Guide Here
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