To formulate the perfect headline, start with a working title, make it stand out with strong words and a clear promise, add the keywords people search for, stay honest instead of using clickbait, and keep it short. These 5 steps work for blog articles, search results, and social media posts alike.
An enticing headline draws attention to your articles and blog posts. The perfect headline looks at the different types of headlines and the words that draw readers in. But how exactly do you write one of these perfect headlines? Follow these 5 steps, and you are a lot closer to headlines that attract new readers.
1. Start with a working title
Perfection does not come at the beginning, but every perfect piece of work has a beginning. Before you formulate the perfect title, start with a working title that roughly outlines the purpose of your article.
A good working title already uses the type of headline you want, such as "How to" or "10 ways to". It also works as a guide for your blog post and how you may want to structure it.
From topic to working title
Let's assume that the topic of your blog post is gaining more followers on social media. You can create several working titles from this topic, for example:
- How to gain more social media followers
- 10 strategies to gain social media followers
- A social media expert's guide to growing your follower count
- Gain more social media followers with these 5 steps
2. Make it stand out
Be fun, be bold, be a little exciting. "Sex sells", as the saying goes, and the same is true of headlines: make your title stand out from the mass of other headlines.
Strong language
Do not overdo it, but strong (and still appropriate) language makes people click on your title and read your article. Strong words and phrases, even negative ones, grab your readers' attention.
Words and phrases you can use:
- kick-ass, bad-ass
- brilliant, amazing, genius
- the best, the fastest, the worst
- love, hate
Use them in moderation, though. Too many strong words in one headline make each of them seem a lot less enticing. The key is to use the kind of language that appeals to most of your target audience.
Extra information and value
If your blog post comes with a video tutorial, an infographic, or anything else of extra value to your audience, why not say so in the title? When readers know what to expect, they are much more likely to click.
Extra value could be:
- infographics
- short overviews
- tutorials
- free downloads
- templates
Add the extra value to your headline, for example in square brackets. With these tips applied, the working titles could look like this:
- 10 kick-ass strategies to gain social media followers
- A social media expert's guide to growing your follower count [video tutorial]
- 5 brilliant steps to gain more social media followers
3. Optimize for search engines
Unless you set it otherwise, the title of your blog post is also the one that search engines show. So optimize your headline for search engines as well. Do not distort your title just to fit in an important keyword or search term, though: the title must still be correct and make sense.
If a keyword that people search for more often fits into your title, use it:
- 10 kick-ass strategies for social media marketing
- A social media expert's guide to getting more followers [video tutorial]
- 5 brilliant steps to gain more social media followers
4. Avoid deceptive clickbait
Just as important as not distorting your title for search engines is staying accurate. Do not be tempted to use false advertising, or so-called clickbait. Do not raise expectations too high, and always let the reader know what to expect. An accurate title and an article that delivers what the title promised earn your readers' trust far more than a bombastic headline that covers up so-so content.
Instead of raising expectations too high, why not try it the other way round? Undersell your article, and then nail it with your content. Clickbait and overselling only lose you valuable readers who would otherwise share your content.
5. Keep it short
As a rule of thumb, search engines show about the first 60 characters of a title in their results and may cut off the rest. A shorter title is also easier to share on social media.
The shorter and easier to read your headline is, the more likely people are to click on it instead of skipping it. Here are the example headlines again:
- 10 kick-ass strategies for social media marketing: 49 characters, short enough for search results
- A social media expert's guide to getting more followers [video tutorial]: 72 characters, likely to be cut off in search results
- 5 brilliant steps to gain more social media followers: 53 characters, short enough for search results
The second title needs shortening so that it is not cut off. Rephrase it, or cut the words that matter least. Using a symbol such as & instead of and, and contractions such as don't instead of do not, are also valid ways to save space:
- An expert's guide to more followers [video tutorial]: 52 characters, short enough for search results
For more ideas, read 40 examples for the perfect headline.
Finally, check that your headline is free of spelling mistakes and typos: it is the first thing every reader sees. You can paste a headline into the Spell Checker just as you would a whole article.