Magic Words for Any Website Content Strategy 
Published: 2020-10-28 21:26:33

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Harry Potter is one of the most quotable movie series of all times.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And while there are plenty of good quotes to choose from - including clever quips from Severus Snape, Hermoine Granger, Hagrid, and Harry himself, it’s Professor Albus Dumbledore who often delivered the wisest and most profound statements.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">One of his better quotes was delivered in a conversation he had with Harry in the</span> _

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Deathly Hallows Part 2</span> _
<span style="font-weight: 400;">movie where they find themselves in a strange dream-like version of King’s Cross station.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">In that conversation, Dumbledore says: “</span>_

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.”</span>_ 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">What Dumbledore means is that words, spoken or written, have a huge impact on people. And though you might think one word is a small thing, it can have positive or adverse consequences.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">While Dumbledore was no professor of copywriting or user experience, his words ring true for website content strategies.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Words are a source of “magic.” And if you want to boost website traffic and increase conversions, you need to learn how to wield the right magic words.</span> **Why Words Matter** 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Words are powerful tools for change. They shape a customer’s first impression of your brand. They pre-frame sales conversations. They educate, inform, and influence. They have power and should be chosen wisely - whether written or spoken.</span> 

[<span style="font-weight: 400;">As psychologist Jack Schafer says</span>](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/let-their-words-do-the-talking/201011/words-have-power)

<span style="font-weight: 400;">, “Words cannot change reality, but they can change how people perceive reality. Words create filters through which people view the world around them.”</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">All it takes is one word to make someone love or hate something.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">As Schafer explains, using the word “untrustworthy” to describe one person to another immediately predisposes that person to think of the other individual as being slimy, manipulative, or unlikable.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Likewise, using the worth “friendly” predisposes that person to think of the other individual as being warm and relatable - regardless of what else happens.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">That’s the power of a single word. And when it comes to building a website and driving visitors to it, sometimes a single word can make the difference between a prospective customer engaging and converting or avoiding your website.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But this isn’t an article in psychology. It’s an article in practicality.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">We want to show you precisely how you can use “magic” words to build influence, accrue traffic, and drive conversions.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">From blog post headlines and social media posts to email subject lines and CTA buttons, we’ve got it all.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">What do you say...should we dive in?</span> **Magic Words for Engaging Headlines** 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The world’s best copywriters suggest spending at least half the amount of time it takes you to write a piece of content brainstorming the headline. In other words, if you spend an hour writing a blog post, you should spend 30 minutes perfecting the headline.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">That might seem like overkill, but the reality is that your headline is going to get 10x the amount of visibility as the post itself. And if you want to convince people to click/read, the headline is your best weapon.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">If you study viral posts, you’ll find that these words are often included:</span>

*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Smart</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Surprising</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Science</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">History</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Hacks</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Huge</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Critical</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">People</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">See</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Man</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Old</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Dog</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Guy</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Video</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Facebook</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Awesome</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Photos</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">love</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;"></span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Headlines that get shared often evoke strong emotions of anxiety, anger, awe, or surprise. Descriptive words that fit these categories tend to do well.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Sometimes it’s the combination of words that creates magic</span> _

<span style="font-weight: 400;">phrases</span>_

<span style="font-weight: 400;">. Research shows that the following phrases work extremely well (as measured by Facebook engagement):</span>

*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Will make you</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">This is why</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Can we guess</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Only X in</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">The reason is</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Are freaking out</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">X stunning photos</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Tears of joy</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Is what happens</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Make you cry</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Give you goosebumps</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Talking about it</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Is too cute</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Shocked to see</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Melt your heart</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">X things only</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Can’t stop laughing</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Top X songs</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Twitter reacts to</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">What happened next</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">You obviously can’t use these words or phrases in isolation. It’s all about how you structure the headline. However, including some of these magic terms can dramatically increase engagement, clicks, and even conversions.</span> **Magic Words for Social Media Posts** 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Social media is one of the top referral sources for most websites. If you want to boost your website traffic numbers, you should be cognizant of the words you’re using in your Facebook and Twitter posts.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The following magic words and phrases work exceptionally well on Facebook:</span>

*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Check it out</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">How to</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Learn why</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">The most</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Get exclusive</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Remarkable</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Would you</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Will inspire you</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Will surprise you</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Will amaze you</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Most amusing</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Best deals</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">The world’s</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Proven</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">New blog post</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Please</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Try this</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Why did?</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">How did?</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Tell us</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Discount/deal</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Magical</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Warning</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">These words tend to heighten engagement and clicks on Twitter:</span>

*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">You</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Twitter</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Please</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Retweet</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Post</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Blog</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Social</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Free</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Media</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Help</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Please Retweet</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Great</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Social Media</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">10</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Follow</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">How to</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Top</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Blog Post</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Check Out</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">New Blog Post</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Again, it’s all about how you string together words and what you’re linking to. But if you emphasize proven magic words such as these, it’ll have a positive impact on your engagement, clicks, and conversions.</span> **Magic Words for Email Subject Lines** 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">An email list can be worth millions of dollars to a business. However, a list is only useful if you can actually get people to open the emails you send. And the best way to do this is by writing compelling email subject lines.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Subject line structure is very important, but before focusing on different formulas and conversion tactics, you need to know which words work.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">OptinMonster has done a fantastic job of</span> 

[<span style="font-weight: 400;">curating the best email subject lines</span>](https://optinmonster.com/101-email-subject-lines-your-subscribers-cant-resist/) 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">from a variety of research studies (including studies that cumulatively analyzed over 60 billion headlines). And, according to these studies, these are the words and phrases most likely to boost email open rates:</span>

*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“upgrade”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“just”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“content”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“go”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“wonderful”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“jokes”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“promotional”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“congratulations”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“revision”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“forecast”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“snapshot”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“token”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“voluntary”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“monthly”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“deduction”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“free”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“ICYMI”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“$ today, $$ tomorrow”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“free delivery”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“available”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“new”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“alert”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“news”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“update”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“summer”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“weekend”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“monthly”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“thanks”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“*|*|*|”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“bulletin”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“golden”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“iPhone”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“breaking”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“order today”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“thank you”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“introducing”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“celebrate”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“buy”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“continues”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“get your”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“what…?”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“won’t…?”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“do…?”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“can…?”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“may…?”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“on orders over”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“orders over”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“off selected”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“your next order”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“available”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“brand new”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“latest”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“special”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“wonderful”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“great deals”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“sale starts”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“back in stock”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“stock”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“sale now”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“now in”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“Urgent”</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">“important”</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">If you’re active with email marketing and have access to the analytics behind your emails, you may also find it helpful to go back and analyze your own email subject lines from the past year or two.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Is there a correlation between the emails with the top open rates (or the ones with the worst open rates)? Can you identify words or phrases that are consistently found in these categories?</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Every audience is different, so your list will respond to certain words that other demographics won’t (and vice versa). However, the terms highlighted above should give you a solid place to start.</span> **Magic Words for CTAs** 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Whether it’s a blog post, landing page, or email, the call-to-action (CTA) is the element that will make or break your results. The right CTA builds on the rest of the copy and motivates people to follow through by purchasing, registering, singing up, or learning more.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;"></span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Here are some magic words that successful copywriters and website conversion optimizers use to get people to click:</span>

*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">You</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Free</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Because</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Instantly</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">New</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Create</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Explore</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Join</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Save</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Start</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Upgrade</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Find</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Try</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Stop</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And here are some of the top CTA phrases:</span>

*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Get started</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Sign up free</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Create account</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">View demo</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Book a demo</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Contract sales</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Learn more</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Join free</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Shop now</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Get X% off</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Add to bag</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Add to cart</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">New _____</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Buy now</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Enter now</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Try for free</span>
*   <span style="font-weight: 400;">Join _______</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">As is the case with email subject lines, you’ll learn which trigger words your audience does and doesn’t respond to. Experiment around with the ones outlined here in this article, but let your data and analytics help you zero in on the best options.</span> **6 Tools to Help You Find Traffic-Boosting Keywords** 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Magic words are only effective when they’re combined with the appropriate keywords. Thus if you want to be successful with blog posts, website copy, social media posts, email subject lines, CTAs, and any other element of copy-based marketing, you have to find and leverage the right keywords.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Not sure which keywords to use? Here are some keyword tools you can use to home in on the right ones:</span>

*   **Google Keyword Planner**

<span style="font-weight: 400;">While it’s fairly plain when compared to some of the other tools listed below, Google Keyword Planner is a good one to begin with. The data comes straight from Google, which means there’s one less transfer point for data to get shrouded, lost, or misconfigured.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The best feature of Google Keyword PLanner is the “top of page bid” column. This tells you precisely how much advertisers are bidding on keywords. The more expensive this number is, the more value it has as an organic keyword. (Advertisers don’t pay top dollar for keywords unless people are searching for it in droves.)</span>

*   **Kewyord.io**

<span style="font-weight: 400;">This free keyword research tool will help you find highly relevant keywords for Google and beyond. One of the best features is the different filtering options. You can search keyword suggestions for YouTube, Amazon, Bing, and even Wikipedia. There’s a pro version that costs a few bucks but has even more resources and features.</span>

*   **KWFinder**

<span style="font-weight: 400;">In terms of paid keyword search tools, KWFinder is one of the newer kids on the block. (Having said that, it’s nearly seven years old at this point.) It’s affordable, comes as part of a suite of five tools, is great for tracking keyword difficulty, and has a slick interface that makes it fun and easy to use. It’s not perfect, though.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Some of the negatives of KWFinder include low limits for keyword suggestions, no integration with Google Analytics or Search Console, and minimal backlink analysis capabilities.</span>

*   **Ahrefs Keywords Explorer**

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ahrefs is one of the classic keyword research tools. And while it’s been around for a while, the development team does a great job of keeping it fresh. They’re constantly adding new features and tinkering with different options.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The “keyword difficulty” tool is one of the best in the industry. Not only does it rate the difficulty, but Ahrefs tells you why. It gets as specific as telling you precisely how many backlinks you’ll need in order to reach the first page of Google for that keyword. (That’s awesome!)</span>

*   **Moz Keyword Explorer**

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Moz prides itself on helping users find the keywords that will generate the most traffic for them. It does this by finding “lateral” keyword ideas that line up with the search term you input. And Moz is pretty dang smart!</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Let’s say, for example, that your keyword is weight loss. In addition to finding standard lateral keywords, such as “weight loss pills,” it’ll also find unique suggestions like “foods that help burn fat for men” or “men’s belly fat burning foods.”</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Moz also has valuable features that find organic click-through rate and priority. These show you how many clicks you’re likely to get from a specific search term or keyword.</span>

*   **Keywords Everywhere**

<span style="font-weight: 400;">This tool is unique in that it displays keyword data from some of the top websites and search platforms. And its “people also search for” feature is really cool. This allows you to zoom in on the keywords that target customers search for when they’re not searching for precisely what you sell. This reveals new ranking opportunities for your content strategy. When combined with other tools, Keywords Everywhere can yield some very neat insights.</span> 

<span style="font-weight: 400;">At Dev.co, we design unrivaled digital experiences by cohesively mixing strategic innovation with beautiful interfaces. We work with our clients to</span> 

[<span style="font-weight: 400;">design websites</span>](https://dev.co/web/)<span style="font-weight: 400;">, mobile applications, and software that empowers and delights.</span>