How to Write Powerful Headlines That Draw in Readers
A powerful headline is one of the most important parts of copy-writing. Your headline is literally the only chance you have to convince your audience that what you’re writing is worth their time. With the amount of spam that bombards an average person, a powerful headline is the only way to make your content stand out amongst the crowd. Trying to come up with an effective headline can be difficult at first, but I’ve compiled three rules of thumb that can help simplify the process and help you to write effective headlines.
Headlines come first
One of the most important things to remember when copy-writing is to always write the headline first. Your headline is a promise, an agreement with your audience. By writing your headline first, you allow this promise to shape the body of your work. It is much easier to promise something and then write content that fulfills it, than to write an entire piece of content and try to figure out a promise that incorporates what you have written. Basically, don’t work backwards.
You're Making a Promise
Your headline is a promise to your readers, but make sure you are promising them something useful. Your headline needs to offer them something that will improve their lives or help them in some way. Your audience members won’t want to read content with a great headline if they don’t think they’ll be able to get anything out of it.
Be Succinct and to the Point
Your headline needs to be succinct. A headline needs to be a complete thought, not a run on sentence. If you feel that your headline may be too long, but you also feel that all of the information in it is important, then you need to rewrite it. For instance, “Powerful headlines draw in readers, and I can show you how to write them” is too long and awkward sounding to be used as an effective headline, even though it summarizes what this blog post is about. A more concise headline would be “Learn how to write powerful headlines that draw in readers.” Here, I essentially took the two different thoughts of the original headline, “Powerful headlines draw in readers,” and “You can learn how to write them” and then combined the two into one succinct headline that captured the essence of the original headline, but was also more easily readable.
Marketing Takeaway:
Headlines are your readers gateway to your content. Ensuring that your headlines are effective is the only way to convince your audience that you have something worthwhile to say. Promise your audience something. Make sure the information is relevant. Keep your headlines short and to the point. By following these three tips you can begin to write powerful headlines that will help your content stand out amongst the spam and junk mail that bombards your audience every day. And remember, a powerful headline is the first, and most important step in getting your content read. What are some other ways you have found helpful in creating successful headlines? Please feel free to leave a comment below!
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Content production is tough, and it takes a lot of time and energy. However, the advantage to having well written, optimized copy is immediate impacts on your Internet Marketing budget's ROI. For more information about headlines, content production, or internet marketing in general, contact us. We’ll be happy to answer any of your internet marketing questions. Thanks for stopping by!