{"id":1202,"date":"2018-01-24T07:00:07","date_gmt":"2018-01-24T13:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalstriked.wpengine.com\/?p=1202"},"modified":"2018-03-07T14:34:25","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T20:34:25","slug":"how-to-write-headlines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/how-to-write-headlines\/","title":{"rendered":"Here&#8217;s How to Write Headlines Like a Pro (You&#8217;re Welcome)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Once you know how to write headlines, you can pretty much rule the world.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>First impressions are crucial, right?<\/p>\n<p>If you make a bad impression in front of your girlfriend&#8217;s parents, they&#8217;ll probably hate you forever.<\/p>\n<p>And if you write a bad headline, no one is going to read your article.<\/p>\n<p>People may say &#8220;never judge a book by its cover,&#8221; but everyone does anyway.<\/p>\n<p>(Don&#8217;t lie &#8211; you know you do)<\/p>\n<p>Especially on the internet.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 497px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/media.giphy.com\/media\/qAHL503BuIXXG\/giphy.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"497\" height=\"239\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sorry, Christian Bale. That isn&#8217;t true anymore. <a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/qAHL503BuIXXG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gif credit<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In this Newsie-less world, headlines are the thing that sells everything.<\/p>\n<p>If the headline doesn&#8217;t interest you, you aren&#8217;t going to read it. Period.<\/p>\n<p>And if you can&#8217;t get people to click, then the content you spent so long writing might as well not exist, because no one is reading it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.copyblogger.com\/magnetic-headlines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">According to Copyblogger,<\/a> 8 out of 10 people will read the headline, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The purpose of the headline is to get at least the first sentence read<\/strong> and then the rest of your writing will hopefully get them to read the rest.<\/p>\n<p>From a copywriting and content marketing perspective, <strong>knowing how to write headlines is a critical skill<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Write Headlines That Are Actually Successful<\/h2>\n<p>There are a few rules you can follow when you&#8217;re drafting headlines, but I think the ones you need to write down and tack on your wall are from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quicksprout.com\/the-definitive-guide-to-copywriting-chapter-3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Neil Patel&#8217;s Definitive Guide to Copywriting<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>The 4 U&#8217;s of Writing Headlines:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your headline should be <em>unique<\/em><\/li>\n<li>It should be <em>ultra-specific<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Make sure your headline conveys a <em>sense of urgency<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Your headline should be <em>useful<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You probably won&#8217;t be able to include all four into one headline, but if there&#8217;s one or two, then you&#8217;ve made a compelling headline people will want to click.<\/p>\n<p>Think of good headlines you&#8217;ve probably clicked on lately.<\/p>\n<p>They made you go &#8220;huh, I wonder what that&#8217;s about&#8221; as you click on it.<\/p>\n<p>The headlines probably came from viral content creators like\u00a0<em>Upworthy<\/em> or\u00a0<em>Buzzfeed<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But why do those headlines work?<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s take a look.<\/p>\n<h3>They&#8217;re specific, useful, and pique your curiosity.<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1204\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1204\" style=\"width: 409px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1204\" src=\"http:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Buzzfeed-Headline-1.png\" alt=\"How to Write Headlines - Buzzfeed\" width=\"409\" height=\"116\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Buzzfeed-Headline-1.png 409w, https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Buzzfeed-Headline-1-300x85.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 409px) 100vw, 409px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1204\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the 14 things is <em>not<\/em> a marshmallow. Learned that the hard way.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeed.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Photo credit<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This headline,\u00a014 Things You Never Knew You Could Cook in the Microwave, is obviously one of the more tame Buzzfeed headlines.<\/p>\n<p>But it checks off a few of the 4 U&#8217;s &#8211; it&#8217;s ultra-specific and it&#8217;s useful.<\/p>\n<p>It also creates curiosity, because whoever reads it will think &#8220;huh, what else could I be cooking in my microwave?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This headline also employs negative words that make you want to click on it. It&#8217;s telling you that you don&#8217;t know something, but you will once you read it.<\/p>\n<h3>They&#8217;re unique and tug at your emotions.<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1206\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1206\" style=\"width: 465px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1206\" src=\"http:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Upworth-Headline-1.png\" alt=\"How to Write Headlines - Upworthy\" width=\"465\" height=\"102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Upworth-Headline-1.png 465w, https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Upworth-Headline-1-300x66.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 465px) 100vw, 465px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1206\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is from <em>Upworthy<\/em>, obviously.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Photo credit<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Upworthy<\/em> is known for creating viral content that pulls at your emotions and it makes you want to share it with all of your friends.<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;re so successful at this at least partly because of their headlines.<\/p>\n<p>The headlines are unique and often create that curiosity gap that makes you want to click.<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;re conversational and typically much longer than you might want in a headline &#8211; but it works for their social media promotional style.<\/p>\n<p><em>Upworthy<\/em> creates content that is designed to be shared on social media, so a headline like this works perfectly for them.<\/p>\n<h3>They give you a hint of what&#8217;s in the article with brackets.<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1205\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1205\" style=\"width: 387px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1205\" src=\"http:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Hubspot-Headline-1.png\" alt=\"How to Write Headlines - Hubspot\" width=\"387\" height=\"104\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Hubspot-Headline-1.png 387w, https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Hubspot-Headline-1-300x81.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 387px) 100vw, 387px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1205\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sharing another headline about writing headlines in a blog post about writing better headlines. Meta. <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image Credit<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This headline from Hubspot isn&#8217;t as exciting as the headlines above, right?<\/p>\n<p>But the reason I&#8217;m using it as an example is their use of brackets.<\/p>\n<p>Some people might click on it just because they want to learn how to write better headlines.<\/p>\n<p>But more people will click because now they know there&#8217;s an infographic in there.<\/p>\n<p>Using brackets or parentheses can add more specificity, usefulness, and uniqueness to your headline.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It gives your readers a hint of what&#8217;s to come without giving it all away.<\/p>\n<p>And if you&#8217;re writing for your business&#8217; blog, you probably won&#8217;t be using sensationalist headlines like\u00a0<em>Upworthy<\/em> or\u00a0<em>Buzzfeed<\/em> (even if you kind of want to).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Your headlines might be more straightforward, but you still want them to be clickable and promising something interesting inside.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s where the use of brackets can come into play.<\/p>\n<h3>They make a strategic use of numbers.<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1203\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1203\" style=\"width: 621px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1203\" src=\"http:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Backlinko-Headline-1.png\" alt=\"How to Write Better Headlines - Backlinko\" width=\"621\" height=\"192\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Backlinko-Headline-1.png 621w, https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Backlinko-Headline-1-300x93.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 621px) 100vw, 621px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1203\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I&#8217;m convinced Brian Dean has a deal with the devil to get results like this.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.backlinko.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image credit<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As a content marketer, I have to say &#8220;all hail, Brian Dean&#8221; because he consistently writes useful and informative posts that people love to share.<\/p>\n<p>Another thing he does is make a <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/headline-writing-tips\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strategic use of numbers<\/a> (and in this case, parentheses too) in his headlines.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Not only does he tell you a highly specific percentage, but he gives you a specific number of days as well.<\/p>\n<p>And on top of that, he gives you a hint of what&#8217;s to come in the article by using parentheses.<\/p>\n<p>Literally amazing.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/media.giphy.com\/media\/jShr8wkP38XTO\/giphy.gif\" alt=\"Standing ovation for Brian Dean\" width=\"500\" height=\"240\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Standing ovation for Brian Dean&#8217;s headline <a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/applause-standing-ovation-jShr8wkP38XTO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gif credit<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>The Bottom Line<\/h2>\n<p>The bottom line is that your headline is one of the most important parts of your content.<\/p>\n<p>If not\u00a0<em>the<\/em>\u00a0<em>most\u00a0<\/em>important.<\/p>\n<p>There are a lot of ways to make your headline stand out from the crowd.<\/p>\n<p>When you&#8217;re drafting headlines for your next blog post, remember the 4 U&#8217;s, and write several different ones.<\/p>\n<p>You aren&#8217;t always going to come up with the best headline on your first try.<\/p>\n<p>Now that you know how to write headlines like a pro, go forth and rake in those page views and shares.<\/p>\n<p>Are you looking to add more quality content to your website? <a href=\"http:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Contact us today for a free consultation<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Once you know how to write headlines, you can pretty much rule the world. First impressions are crucial, right? If you make a bad impression in front of your girlfriend&#8217;s parents, they&#8217;ll probably hate you forever. And if you write a bad headline, no one is going to read your article. People may say &#8220;never [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[53,47,16,54],"class_list":["post-1202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo","category-on-site-seo","tag-how-to-write-headlines","tag-on-site-seo","tag-seo","tag-writing-headlines"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}