The following is a sponsored post by Commune / The Content Optimization Company™.
If your entire headline-writing career consisted of nothing but filling intemplates (see the first point in our post last week), we certainly
wouldn't blame you.
That being said, you may want to be a little more creative.
So here are some points to remember when you feel like going it alone.
When in Doubt, Use a List
List headlines will always, always have magnetic properties.
- 10 Laws of Building Wealth
- Seven Temples of the Food World
- 18 Ways to Make Your Dog Smile
Why the eye-drawing power? Because lists explicitly tell your reader
what to expect.
Still Doubtful? Write a How-To
Better yet, make it a how-to with a healthy dash of quick-and-easy.
Or combine benefits for added power.
- How to Get Glowing Skin in 30 Seconds a Day
- How to Win Friends and Influence People
Use Engaging Words
Particularly eye-catching words are ones that announce news or offer
a solution to a chronic problem.
Words like "finally," "announcing," "eliminate" and "discover" are
engaging—and they're virtually guaranteed to draw eyes and start your
prospects down the road to doing what you want them to do.
Words like "good," "pretty," "people" and "stuff" are vague and boring.
So don't waste your space.
Use Your Headlines to Tell a Story
People are hardwired to love and remember stories—so use that inborn
attraction to your advantage.
- How an Everyday Garden Tool Helped Me Bounce Back from Bankruptcy
- How I Paid Bus Fare to North Bay and Found the Man of My Dreams
Just be sure to work in a strong benefit for the reader, or they'll skip your
story in favour of more immediate rewards.
Emphasize Exclusivity
It doesn't matter who you're writing for: Most people feel like they're on
the outside looking in.
So give them the thrill of being on the inside track, of being cool, of being
part of the in crowd with a headline that pushes privilege.
- Secrets of Sculpted Abs
- Little-Known Ways to Slash Your Grocery Bills
-
You Don't Have to Be a Business Whiz to Master the Market
That's it for February's headline series. You're now on your way to becoming
the Hemingway of headlines and that's great.
But, of course, headlines are just the beginning.
So keep reading, and we'll keep giving you tips on writing all kinds of
devastatingly effective, optimized content.
 | Want to learn more about content optimization? Download our free Instant Content Optimization manual for nine proven strategies you can apply today. Want to optimize your website or a client's? Claim your complimentary content optimization analysis and learn where you're leaking traffic, leads and sales. |
2 comments
These tips are perfect if you’re looking to write a bunch of forgettable cliches. Anybody who follows any of these tips will come up with garbage.
With a proper strategy, writers should be able to come up with an engaging, original thought.
If a writer can’t do so, then he/she is a poor writer and should stop uglifying the advertising landscape with tired dreck.
Writing good headlines is incredibly difficult. That’s why 90% of the headlines out there are crap.
These tips do nothing but encourage more of that crap.
VVI4, thanks for your feedback. As all successful marketers like you know, the trick is to IMITATE and then INNOVATE. Every good copywriter has a swipe file. This is simply a swipe file starter kit. From here, people can innovate, and testing separates the cream from the crap. “Unexpectedness” (the opposite of a cliche) is just one variable in a successful headline; but sad as it may be, nearly 100 years of testing shows that humans respond to a handful of definable triggers. Like notes on a piano, the key is to use these triggers in innovative, interesting, engaging ways.
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