How to master the complicated art of headline writing
Congratulations, you started a blog! (No? You should!). Let’s say you have, and you’ve spent some time working on your posts, crafting tips and advice or interesting news to engage and share with your audience. You feel good about what you have, you’re confident it’s what your audience actually wants to see. Now, how do you get people to actually look at it?
One half of your content strategy is distribution. Meaning -- getting people to see all the great content you’ve produced. And a big part of that is linking to your work on social (think LinkedIN, Facebook) or on your own platforms (in a newsletter or on your site landing page). A third pillar to distribution is a little more difficult to personally control -- search engine results (Google). But in all of those different places, what people are going to see initially is your headline, a line or two of teaser text, and the image you’ve chosen to accompany it. [For the purposes of this post, we’re going to focus on your headline, though the image is also super important, but we’ll save that for a future post.]
So, how do you write a headline that will stop someone from scrolling their feed? Or make them click on it when they’re facing an entire page of search results? It’s a fine art, really. One that can take years to master. But here’s a few quick tips to get you started or help you refine what you’ve already got.
Figure out if you have multiple headline options. This is big. Look at the backend of your website and see if you have more than one field to fill out. Sometimes you can tweak the headline for your site, for SEO and for social. If you have this feature, utilize it! (Some social sites also let you edit the headline while posting from a business account - a great option if your CMS doesn’t allow it). Different platforms have different audiences and those audiences have different purposes. Your SEO headline should include some key words or phrases while your site headline can have more of a teaser-feel. An example of this in action? This blog from MTD; An SEO option is Frank Radice shares his advice for achieving your goals, while the site and social option is The man who’s done it all (and succeeded) shares his advice for achieving your goals. The difference? Someone might be searching his name on Google, whereas on our site or social someone would be more interested in the credentials of the author and less concerned about their name.
Be a little mysterious but not click-baity. This is a delicate balance. You want to leave your audience intrigued, but with enough information to know what they’ll get when they click on your link. You’ve definitely seen sponsored content that’s annoying, right? Think She took this pill and woke up like this! You might want to click on it, but who knows what it’s about? Your audience is getting smarter with this -- don’t make them guess what they’re going to find.
Keep it simple. Writing fewer words is always harder than writing more and your headline is the epitome of this. You are distilling your entire post into a few words. Focus on what is most important, leave out any words that are just filler. Adding lists or numbers often help in this - especially for viewers who are short on time. They might not want to read a short novel, but they can get through 3-5 tips on a topic they’re interested in.
Spend some time on it. Headline writing is hard! It’s ok to take a few stabs at it, or try a few different options, also known as throwing some spaghetti at the wall. Then, walk away and come back the next day to see what feels right. If you started writing a post with a headline first, is it the same headline you’d want after you’ve finished drafting?
Keep your audience as the priority. As with any part of your digital strategy, always come back to your audience. How will this piece of content serve them? How will it help them? Keep that as your focus as you write your headline. Frame it in a way that lets them know exactly what to expect and understand why they would want to read it. For example, this post is titled Two questions that have revolutionized my work. It could have been Our founder’s mantra: What works and what doesn’t? but the first option is simpler while also giving the audience an idea of what the post will talk about, how it could serve them, and in a short amount of time (just two questions!). It checks all the boxes.
Above all, your headline should sound and feel like the rest of your content. Don’t bend over backwards to try and write something that will get you clicks. At the end of the day, great content will get eyeballs over time. So while your headlines are super important, they’re also not something to lose sleep over. And the best news? You can always revise after you’ve published.