You will be surprised, but statistically, 8 out of 10 people read headlines, only two of them open the link itself. This is why it is so important to put in a lot of effort to create a headline that can grab the attention of your audience and induce them to take action, whether it is clicking on an ad, signing up for a newsletter, watching a video, clicking from the SERP, or reading a post.
A headline is one of the strongest leverages to attract people to a website or landing page. Split testing the headlines allows you to see a difference of 20%, 50%, and even 500%.
In this article, you will find 11 simple techniques for writing clickable headlines.
Table of Contents
Choose Words That Evoke Strong Emotions.
Words with emotional marketing value are words that evoke emotion in potential buyers.
According to the Advanced Marketing Institute, most professional copywriters use 30-40% of words with emotional marketing value in their headlines, while the titles of the best in the business have 50-75% of those words.
CoSchedule decided to do a headline performance study to see if high emotional marketing value correlates with article popularity. As a result, it was found that articles with a large number of shares in social networks (over 1000) had a higher rate than less popular articles.
Emotions affect people. They involve them and force them to act.
Write Multiple Headings For Each Page.
Creativity is like a muscle: it takes a lot of practice and getting out of your comfort zone to develop it.
Coming up with several headlines for each ad, article, or pop-up, you activate your brain, especially those areas responsible for creativity. Searching for different approaches and ideas will help you find new opportunities to attract your audience, and A / C testing will help you choose the best ones.
Gradually, your titles will get better and better.
Include Numbers
Conductor’s research found that the most popular headlines are those that include numbers:
Why are people attracted to such headlines?
Numbers give a link specificity: the user gets a clearer idea of the content of where it leads.
In addition, a joint study by Outbrain and Hubspot found that headlines with odd numbers receive 20% more clicks than headlines with even numbers.
Use Brackets ()
Research by Outbrain and Hubspot found that headlines containing brackets get 38% more clicks.
Here are some ideas on how you can use parentheses in your titles:
Bonus Mention: Mentioning a free bonus may encourage some people to click on the headline, especially if your bonus seems valuable to them:
- Initial Draft: 7 Steps to Writing Viral Content
- Revised Draft: 7 Steps to Writing Viral Content (Free Checklist)
Add real data
- Initial Draft: How I Started My Ecommerce Business
- Modified Version: How I Started My Ecommerce Business (and Made Over $ 100,000 in One Year)
Instill curiosity: This is another tactic used to get people to click on your headline. The only condition: the reader should enjoy viewing your material.
- Original Draft: 11 Surprising Facts About Zebras Revised
- 11 Surprising Facts About Zebras (5th will shock you!)
- Also Read: 7 Marketing Tips for E-Businesses
Use A Dash (-) and a Colon (:)
Dashes and colons, like parentheses, can also improve the clickability of headlines. An Outbrain study found that headlines that include energy generated 9% more clicks.
Here are some ways you can include a dash in your title:
Short terms with the keyword (keyword) at the beginning of the header. This tactic will work for you if you are using specific keywords for SEO purposes.
Example: SEO Myths: 5 Common SEO Misconceptions
A short introductory phrase. You can use a brief essential word to make your headline more interesting.
Example: Breaking news: A tiger escaped from the zoo
Clarification at the end. You can also add a short phrase at the end of the title.
Example: How My Bank Account Was Hacked – The Complete Story
The dash and colon allow you to add more information to the title, making it more attractive to potential readers.
Interrogative Construction
According to research published in Social Influence Journal, interrogative headlines get 50-350% more clicks on Twitter than regular headlines.
Headings in an interrogative form often make the reader curious and want to know the answer to the question.
Create an Information Gap
The curiosity gap is a powerful copywriting technique that provides just enough information to make readers curious and want to click on a headline. This technique helped Copyhackers increase the number of clicks on Mad Mimi’s SEP page by 927%.
This technique should be used with caution: avoid writing clickbait headlines. Readers need to feel that the article they read has satisfied their curiosity. Otherwise, you may lose the trust of your audience.
Negative Headlines
Here’s an example of a headline written in positive and negative terms:
Typical headline: 5 tactics marketers use for SEO
“Positive” Headline: 5 Powerful Techniques Marketers Can Use To Increase SEO Traffic
Negative headline: 5 common marketer mistakes that lead to SEO failures
In a study of over 65,000 headlines, Outbrain found that “negative” headlines received 30% more clicks than regular headlines. Another interesting finding was that “positive” headlines received 29% fewer clicks.
So why do “negative” headlines work better than “positive” ones?
This is most likely because authors very often overuse “positive” titles and specific keywords like “free” and “best.” In addition, their success is because many people are more focused on avoiding any negative experience than on achieving positive results.
Rewrite Subheadings at Least Once
If you want to master writing effective headlines even faster while improving the quality of your articles, then make it a rule to rewrite your subheadings at least once.
Before reading any text, most people “scan” it with their eyes. Interesting subheadings can convince them to delay and click on a link.
Emphasis On Clarity
With the vast amount of content we have on the Internet today, it’s no surprise that people appreciate clarity in headlines. They want to know precisely what they will receive by clicking on the link. Frequently, marketers try to be creative and come up with headlines that stand out or even shock. However, sometimes the best option is to write a simple, straightforward headline.
Conclusion
Writing headlines is a skill that takes time to master. If your goal is to get more ad clicks, video views, or newsletter signups, start creating multiple headlines and even subheadings for each of your campaigns.
Despite the research data presented here, remember that there is no one perfect heading formula.
