7 TIPS & TECHNIQUES FOR THE ‘HEADLINES’ THAT WILL CAPTURE YOUR AUDIENCE’S ‘ATTENTION’
Tags: Content Marketing, Content Marketing Tips, Headlines

HEADLINES THAT STEAL ‘ATTENTION’:

Attention of the audience is at the utmost priority; If we are unable to capture the audience’s attention in the first place we can’t do anything else. We do live in the world with a lot of distractions. There is a lot of competition for our time and attention.

Headline is the Most important aspect of attention. If you want anything to work the headline should work first.

The most important job of the headlines is to get the audience’s attention & get them to read the first few sentences.

The job of the first few sentences is to keep them reading the content.

It is considered a best practice to write your headline first.

So before you write a piece of content, sit down & knock out some ideas for headlines. You may adapt the piece after you have completed it.

First tip for writing the headline is to borrow it:

In other words you can creatively adapt the great headlines which are already out there in the market.

You can take a look at headlines from popular magazines in general; consider looking at headlines they put out on magazine covers.

The headlines on the magazines are crafted in such a way that the headlines will get people to pick their magazine in the book store, the newspaper stall & bring it home. Headlines are very important for the magazines so they are crafted by their most experienced writers & editors for the job of getting the right headlines on the cover & headlines for the popular magazines tend to work even better.

The best way to adapt a headline is by going to magazines that are in a different genre than your topics.

If your topic is fitness & weight loss then don’t go to men’s health. Go to something completely opposite. If you use headlines from the same topic magazine , then you will end up with similar kinds of headlines that are not going to stand out, and headlines have to stand out to get clicked on.

You can also check out the sites which get heavy traffic from social media.

Keep adapting until it does not feel too dopey:

Each scenario is different and every organisation is different & so a headline that would work really well for a smaller blog will often feel a little too hyped at a famous blog.

Each scenario calls for a unique ‘WWWHOT‘ formula.

W hich — certain words do well

hich — certain words do well W hat — posts get shared

hat — posts get shared W atch — what does well

atch — what does well H ow — how many emails get opened

ow — how many emails get opened O bserve — your audience

bserve — your audience Test — headlines

TIPS & TECHNIQUES FOR THE HEADLINES :

1. Numbers in headlines :

A number in headlines just compels the audience’s brain that makes them curious to know more. Numbers are specific & specificity almost and always works better to get attention on headlines than vagueness.

We are most curious about the specificity than we are about the vague. You can use extremely specific numbers.

Instead of 70 % in your headline go with something like 70.42%

2. Include a benefit or a promise in the headline to help boost traffic :

Make the reader aware about what to expect from your content by reading the headline. Mention inconvenience that your audience is facing & provide solutions.

Mention what’s in it for readers, what they have become, will turn into, improve as a result of reading your content.

3. Don’t make the promises that you can’t keep :

Don’t make a click bait headline, just to get views. such an action will discredit your brand value in the reader’s mind.

like many click bait social media sites do. Headlines should match the content. Make sure that headline is writing a cheque that your content can cash.

4. Your headline needs to be clear rather than clever :

If the headline is confusing in any way & particularly if they don’t understand the benefit, they will not click on it.

You are much better off with a headline that is specific & useful than a headline that uses a lot of curiosity.

Headlines with a direct benefit do well, anything confusing does not do well.

People choose articles with clear headlines over confusing ones.

5. Urgency :

sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.

If there is an urgency element ( for example you are writing a piece of content for something that does have a deadline) the urgency element needs to be in your headline to convey it & communicate it.

Don’t be shy about that. If you have an element of urgency always go with the deadline.

If the headline is meaningful or useful is decided by the audience.

6. Use the images to attract attention :

Images are powerful, people respond to them more quickly than words. Combining a great image with matching content is highly effective.

Think of memes Images can repel or they can attract.

Think about attractive images that are pulling people in & making people to want more.

7. Design usability :

People are not very attracted to an old looking website. Site design is very important.

unappealing design repels: sites that look better get more social sharing .

people like attractiveness.

Now that you know the tips & techniques for the headlines. Indulge the spark of content creation and WRITE ON!