Whether you choose to hire a professional copywriter or do it yourself, blog writing can be tricky. It’s not necessarily all about the actual blog post – the hardest part can be making sure your work gets read and is shared enough to drive fresh customers towards your business.
One of the best ways to guarantee that your blog posts get read and shared is to create a show-stopping headline. It’s the first real call to action [CTA] to entice your audience and, if it’s as bland as a dry cracker, you’ll have failed at the first hurdle.
Do headlines matter?
Think about how you found this blog post. You probably headed to Google and searched ‘how to write headlines’ and then saw a few million search results.
How do you choose which ones to click on?
Well, you can look at certain clues about the pages on offer. The blog or webpage headline is likely the first thing that catches your eye and [hopefully] spark interest.
Traffic to your blog post will inevitably depend on the power of your blog post’s headline. If it’s not magnetic enough to be clickable, you may have wasted a lot of time. So, what’s the secret to a great headline?
Here are three easy ways to write headlines that guarantee high engagement:
1. Provide the value you promise
This can’t be stressed enough. The fastest way to lose trust with your audience is to promise them one thing and then deliver another.
Does your headline and blog content align or are you just writing captivating headlines to draw people in? There’s no trickery in digital marketing that customers can’t see through.
There are more than 500 million blogs out of 1.7 billion websites [!] so you have to make sure you’re in the top few percent that delivers on what you promise, rather than just adding more noise to the increasingly crowded online world.
2. Use numbers and lists in your headline
Several studies have found that headlines with numbers [👋] are one of the most effective ways to appeal to readers. They get more social shares and engagement because our brains are attracted to logically organised information.
Numbered blog posts help readers to process your posts more easily and help convey what sort of time investment they’ll have to make after they’ve clicked through.
Here are some great list words to combine with numbers and create super clickable headlines:
- Ideas
- Secrets
- Strategies
- Methods
- Tips
- Tricks
For example: 7 tricks for perfect headline creation
3. Be attention-grabbing
Our attention spans have reportedly shrunk by almost 25% in just a few years. So, what does that mean for content marketing? It means that you have less time than ever to show potential readers that you’re worth it.
80% of readers never even make it past a post’s headline, so how do you get a slice of that shrinking attention span?
You’ve got to use a powerful headline to convince them to keep reading:
- Convey a sense of urgency: why should they read this now, rather than later [aka never]?
- Provide value: how will the reader genuinely benefit from reading your post?
- Be specific: exactly what is the article about?
- Stand out by being unique: never copy someone else’s headline.
Create competitive content
With more and more blog posts and web pages being created every single day, the best way to guarantee your content converts is to provide value. Value is your secret ingredient when it comes to crafting competitive posts.
Thinking about what your audience really wants can take a bit of research, and ensuring it is SEO optimised can be tricky. If you’re stuck for blog post ideas, need a hand crafting engaging copy or want an SEO strategy that actually works – contact 3PM today.
Our expert team is truly amazing at content marketing, digital strategy and helping businesses grow. Get in touch today to find out what we can do to elevate your brand.
