How to write such a headline for a text that will guarantee to interest the reader? Let's figure this out together.
Imagine: you open your social media feed and start scrolling through it. A mass of content, like ice floes during a flood, drifts past you. And suddenly you stop at an seemingly unremarkable post. Why? It's likely because the headline caught your attention. So how do you write headlines that hook as many readers as possible? Let's dive into this.
Why the headline is important
The headline is the first thing a reader sees. And whether the headline catches attention, resonates with pain points, surprises, and answers the request will determine if your subscriber will even begin to read the text at all.
It is the headline that "sells" the text, even if the text itself sells nothing. And if those very 6-8 words at the very beginning do not interest the reader, they will not read further than a single line.
What a good headline should be like
Short, concise, interesting. The main tasks of a headline are to attract the reader's attention, briefly outline the topic and content of the article and... weed out the non-target audience.
A good headline meets several important criteria:
- clearly and understandably outlines the essence and importance of your article or blog;
- is targeted at a specific target audience;
- helps solve the pains and problems of the potential reader;
- does not cause irritation;
- is not clickbait.
How to write a good headline
To captivate the reader with a headline, use proven examples. There are quite a few, so let's focus on just a few of them.
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Keyword
First, you need to find a keyword—the very one that is entered into the search bar to find what interests the reader. For example, if a person wants to update the furniture in the apartment, they will be searching "buy a sofa," "buy a dresser," or even "buy a dresser in Yekaterinburg." If they are interested in neural network capabilities, they will search "neural network free," "how to ask a question to a neural network." Those who decide to engage in sports will be searching "fitness," "gym," "fitness club." This word or phrase must be included in the headline.
Numbers in the headline
3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 100 are the most popular numbers in headlines. Articles with these numbers are more eagerly read and shared. Example headlines:
- 3 ways...
- 5 reasons...
- 7 most interesting...
- 10 best places...
Questions in the headline
Ask a question in the headline—it can be strange or amusing, but it must be intriguing. Colons and dashes can also be used: they, too, increase the click-through of headlines. For example:
- How to sleep twice as fast: 5 effective methods.
- Where is Nofelet located: the most popular places in Moscow.
- Why do you need a sofa: 5 reasons to update your furniture.
Comparison
If you want to demonstrate the advantage of a product, service, or something else, the headline can sound like a comparison. For example:
- Which phone is better: comparing "X" and "Y."
- What's better: pizza or shawarma.
Personal experience
Many readers like the format when personal experience is shared, describing not only the path to achieving the goal but also the mistakes. For example:
- Increased conversion from 3% to 50% in two months: here's how we did it.
Tips and life hacks
Tips and life hacks promising to solve some problem also enjoy popularity with readers.
Victory and defeat
Alternate in the social media feed and articles on the site headlines that convey both positive and negative information. For example, you can talk about how you went from "bad to good," sharing mistakes and victories. For example:
- The devil is in the details: how I opened a car wash and failed.
- Why my company was fined three times by the tax authorities.
- How I avoided problems with tax authorities.
Expert opinion
Add the name of an expert to the headline, and more readers will certainly read your post or article. Important: the expert's opinion must actually be presented in the article, and the expert should be a real person, not fictional.
Main mistakes in composing headlines
There are not many main mistakes, but if they are repeated, your social media followers will lose interest and search engines will no longer view your site as a source of reliable information.
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- Uncertainty: the headline should be clear and specific so that it is immediately clear what the article will be about.
- Redundancy: the headline should not be too long or contain excessive words, this can distract the reader from the main idea.
- Absence of keywords: the headline should contain keywords that help the reader understand what the text is about and what information it presents.
- Non-target use of capitalization: the headline should be written in accordance with grammar rules; capitalization should not be used in every word.
- Unoriginality: the headline should be original and attractive to capture the reader's attention and interest in reading the text.
And, of course, clickbaits should be avoided—these are headlines that intrigue and shock but do not convey the essence of the text at all. Such headlines can include quotes taken out of context, a substitution of concepts (for example, "law" and "bill"), hint or directly indicate that someone is "hiding the truth" or state that some event happened without specifying what and where it happened.
What the length of the headline should be
The optimal length of a headline is about 60-70 characters, a maximum of 100 characters is permissible. If counted by words—6-8 words, including conjunctions and prepositions. But it is better—less.
Write interesting and intriguing headlines, and your posts and articles will quickly become popular!
