Attention Bloggers! This Is How To Write Attention Grabbing Headlines

138Shares
How To Write Blog Headlines
  • Save

If you ask any experienced copywriter, they will tell you that your headline is a critical aspect of your copy. It determines the success or the failure of your overall piece.

David Ogilvy put it right when he said that:

  • “On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy.”

You need to understand that the post title you choose for your copy is just like a newspaper headline. It either grabs attention or it doesn’t, and I’m sure you want your headline to attract as many people as possible.

You might be wondering: Why do I keep publishing articles that no one reads? This is especially confusing when most of the other articles on the internet are much worse than yours, but those articles are still getting all the shares, mentions, and comments.

Well, I want to tell you that it’s not your article. The problem is that your headline is not inviting and enticing enough to make people read the article.

In simple language:

Your headline sucks.

So what’s the solution to this? Well obviously, you should:

  • Write better headlines.

Before you publish your next blog post, it is important to realize that even if it’s the most innovative article in the world, if it has a weak headline, the chances of it being successful will be severely diminished.

If you’ve been looking for ways to craft compelling headlines that’ll always blow away the minds of your readers and get them to read every article you write, then search no more, because that’s what I will be teaching you here.

7 Easy To Follow Ways To Craft Attention Grabbing Headlines

1. Focus on solving a problem, not selling something.

The first thing to do while creating an eye-catching headline is to focus on helping.

If you check out most of the articles ranking high in Google, you will find that their focus is mainly about helping people solve a particular problem.

Remember this:

Your headline will always perform better if it is helpful.

2. Come up with many ideas.

Upworthy.com is a popular news/storytelling site, and I’m sure you have heard about it before.

According to them, virality is a combination of great content, a compelling story, and the right environment. But there is nothing more important than the headline.

They attribute much of their content marketing success to writing 25 headlines for each blog post they publish on their site.

Then they will select the one that seems more promising, compelling, and attention-grabbing.

Upworthy has eight rules for writing headlines.

Here they are:

  1. You have to write 25 different headlines for every piece of content you’re writing.
  2. You will write some stinky headlines.
  3. Once you start getting desperate, you should start thinking outside the box.
  4. So you have to write 25 headlines.
  5. Number 24 will suck. Then Number 25 will be a gift from the headlines gods and will make you a legend.
  6. Accept that headline every will be perfect.
  7. Then write 25 headlines.
  8. With consistent practice, you’ll be writing 25 in 15 minutes. Only then will you be allowed to lower your limit.

As you can see, there’s the power of consistency here, and this is something you should try. The next time you write a blog post, write lots of headlines before choosing a winner.

You can use a headline analyzer to help you out.

The more you do this, the better and more professional you’ll become at crafting great headlines.

3. Keep a swipe file.

A swipe file is a collection of different headlines that have already proven to work for others. This helps you get inspiration when you need to come up with a great title.

A good example of this is the Jon Morrows Headline Hacks eBook. With this book alone, I’ve been able to write consistently better headlines over time.

Headline Hacks A Cheat Sheet for Writing Blog Posts That Go Viral
  • Save

You can always use your swipe file as a source of inspiration to write good headlines whenever you’re lost or stuck.

According to Brian Clack, swipe files can’t even really be considered cheating. It’s just the way it’s done if you want to write effective copy, especially when starting out.

Only once a copywriter has a true understanding of what works can they take a completely original approach. Even then, it’s pretty rare to come up with a gangbuster headline that is 100% unique.

Using these templates can ultimately increase the effectiveness of your blog post titles, and hence, the ultimate read rate of your blog posts.

Start gathering good headlines from across the web.

Start to pay attention to the things you click on and WHY you’re clicking.

Figure out what works and then copy the model.

4. Use numbers (preferably odd numbers).

Several pieces of research have proved that using numbers in your headlines tend to get 73% more social shares and engagements.

What’s more is that adding specific numbers (like data) to your headlines is a good way to make the title more exciting to your readers.

Debra Jason stated that one of the major reasons why using numbers in headlines works is because numbers are like “brain candy”. This is to say that the brain is very receptive to numbers.

I also want you to know that there’s a science behind odd numbers. Odd numbers tend to perform better, and that’s why you often see blogs using odd numbers in their headlines.

Research carried out by Content Marketing Institute discovered that the brain seems to believe odd numbers more than even numbers. It was also discovered that odd numbers help people digest and recall information more easily.

When they tweaked one of their headlines to include the odd number “7”, the click through rate increased by 20%.

5. Include positive words.

Using positive superlatives in your headline will help make it more emotional. This will, in turn, make it more enticing and attention-grabbing.

Some positive superlatives that will enhance your headline writing include:

  • Perfect
  • Funniest
  • Best
  • Biggest
  • Always
  • Fastest
  • Easiest
  • Most
  • Greatest
  • Largest
  • Hottest
  • Strongest
  • Ever
  • Top

6. Use negative words to highlight fear.

Fear is a strong emotion which can make anyone take action on a given task.

A study carried out by Outbrain found that headlines featuring negative superlatives performed 30% better than those with positive superlatives.

Some of the negative superlatives you can use include:

  • Never
  • Worst
  • By No Means
  • Nothing
  • No One
  • No Way
  • None

Also, using words like Stop, Avoid, and Don’t in your headline is a good idea, too.

Examples:

7. Make use of brainstorming tools.

The availability of tools on the internet has made most tasks easier and less time-consuming.

There are tools out there that you can use to help come up with great headlines. If you have tried all the other methods mentioned here but still can’t get a thought-provoking headline, then try using some tools to help.

How To Write Better Article Titles

Again, the headline is an essential element of your content. It’s the first thing that will determine the success or failure of your article.

Beyond catching your audience’s attention, your primary focus should always be to deliver value. Learn to educate your prospects and customers by given them valuable and actionable content.

Clicking on your headline is only one side of the coin. When they finally arrive at the body of your content, ensure that the article covers what your headline has promised.

Finally, keep on tweaking and learning how to write attention grabbing headlines, and soon, you’ll become a master copywriter.

Know of any other ways of crafting magnetic headlines? Please share them with us in the comments section below.

Do you know someone who could benefit from this guide? Share it with them on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus!

Was this helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!
  • Save
138Shares
Authored By
A Blogger, Author and a speaker! Harsh Agrawal is recognized as a leader in digital marketing and FinTech space. Fountainhead of ShoutMeLoud, and a Speaker at ASW, Hero Mindmine, Inorbit, IBM, India blockchain summit. Also, an award-winning blogger.

44 thoughts on “Attention Bloggers! This Is How To Write Attention Grabbing Headlines”

  1. John Laskar

    Good article… I have witnessed that problem solving title works very well. If you want to write an article based up on problem solving style then follow 4w1h format – What, Why, When, Where and How… but again it depends up on the niche. If you are in to health niche/segment you should definitely try this format. Thank you!

  2. Mohan Das

    This was a great article & I’ve updated the headlines of my articles.

    I’ve heard about a plugin called yorocket which automatically writes better headlines and help to gain more organic traffic.

    It would be great if we see a review of some plugin or any other plugin similar to that which helps up writing better headlines would be great.

    Thanks for this informative article,
    Mohan Das

  3. Sachin

    I also think headlines are pretty important to get attention from social media sites. People usually don’t click on links if the titles are not catchy after having so many fans for page.

  4. Anil Agarwal

    Without any doubt, the headline of any post is as important (if not more important) as the post itself.

    What will make a reader, or a searcher to stop and read your article? Your headline of cause.
    Check any popular blog on the internet today, you will notice one thing…their headline is always superb. They often pay lots of attention at crafting a better, compelling, and magnetic headline that is capable of enchanting anyone to stop and read their article.

    Now, that’s exactly what every serious marketer should be doing as well.

    Harsh, I love this post, it is very educating and informative, and can turn even a newbie into a headline writing machine 🙂
    Thanks for sharing.

  5. shemroz

    hi,
    I am already keeping in mind a lot of things you mentioned above and that are too effective .You could examine it on yourself , whenever we saw some headlines like that contains eye catching words. We too check out the complete article .
    It’s one of the strategy to get the attention of the viewers on the content.
    No matter how good your content is , people will only look inside when they’ll found it interesting from outside.
    So Always try to write some eye catching headlines.

    Best Regards\
    shemroz

  6. Kaustubh Patel

    Thank you for such informative article on how to write an eye-catching article title.

  7. sahil suman

    Hello Harsh,

    Thanks for this fantastic article.Buddy writing an attention grabbing title is very much important if you are ranking in a search engine or posting on social media sites then you don’t get enough traffic, but a fantastic title can help you to drive more traffic than not so good headlines it’s like the first impression is the last impression.

    I have personally implemented this tricks to increase traffic.Btw can you tell me one answer my blog post is not ranking? I don’t want to put the link here because maybe it will be considered as spam or the things that you won’t like so just click on my username and tell me about that.

    Waiting For Your Reply
    Sahil Suman

  8. arba

    excellent ideas i just started my travel blog and i was searching for these kind of ideas
    glad it was helpful thanks for the sharing

  9. Himanshu Kumar

    Your post got my attention 😁.

    Thanks Harsh for collecting all that expert info for us. I had nearly forgot how important headlines are.

    After reading your article I looked at my headlines and seriously they suck. This was the reason why my posts weren’t getting the attention on Twitter

  10. Erika Mohssen-Beyk

    Hi Harsh
    you’re right. that we need a compelling yet interesting headline for getting more traffic.
    I am trying to improve the headlines of my blog post so that I get even more readers through fb ads.
    Thanks for the tips
    it definitely help

  11. Sohal Gupta

    Catchy headlines are used mostly by Viral blogs
    The term Clickbait maybe offensive but very powerful
    I made some good amount of money with one of my Viral blog earlier

  12. piyush gupta

    I have learnt a lot from both your videos and blogs, the best part is you show me, what i need, Step by Step. Keep on Sharing such wonderful contents… I even twitted you about an issue..

  13. MD Morsed Alom

    thanks a lot Harsh, for such a great and really informative post! I like your way of writing. your ideas are really very nice.

  14. Nayab Khan

    Your content itself is a great example of eye catching heading. They say practice what you preach and you teach us this through your words as well as through your practice.
    Shared this on twitter https://twitter.com/nbnayab11.

  15. Sourajit Saha

    Click bait title is very popular nowadays. I enjoy the posts, but sometimes I find worthless content with an attractive title. Even some news channels also use (e.g- Ebela- a bengali newspaper) this type of practice in their Facebook page.

  16. WhizBlogger

    Thank you for telling me importance of headlines.. this is great eye opening lesson for me

  17. Sayan Das

    Thanks harsh,
    I have a blog and I started it by following. Totally inspired by you.
    Whenever I face any problem, mt next step is to visit your blog.
    Just I want to thank you for helping me. So, keep writing and helping others.

  18. Gaurav Verma

    Dear Harsh , A Better headlines is a great way to grab reader attention. Thanks for the info

  19. Swayam Prakash

    Your style of writing the headline if this post was grabbed my attraction a lot. Thanks for the detailed article about writing great headlines.

  20. Aditya Vikram

    @Harsh

    I am already keeping in mind a lot of things you mentioned above and that are too effective .You could examine it on yourself , whenever we saw some headlines like that contains eye catching words. We too check out the complete article .
    It’s one of the strategy to get the attention of the viewers on the content.
    No matter how good your content is , people will only look inside when they’ll found it interesting from outside.
    So Always try to write some eye catching headlines.

    Best Regards
    Aditya

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top
138 Shares