Writing Effective Headlines For Articles: A Short Guide

While you should never judge a book by its cover, the truth is that its title is the first thing that catches your eye and tempts you to read more. No surprises then why copywriters devote more than half of their time to churning out snappy headlines. The same is true of articles too; unless the headlines are catchy, you cannot be certain that even superior-quality content will get the viewership it rightfully deserves. So, writers offering article writing services spend considerable efforts on coming up with compelling titles. But it is not as easy as it sounds; there are some tips and tricks to creating effective headlines.

Important Tips For Writing Effective Headlines For Articles:

Keep it simple: The idea is to convince your readers to read the article, not to dissuade them from reading. So, you need to choose text that is relevant, powerful, and not filled with jargon. If the reader cannot understand words in the title or these come across as bland, they will probably not be keen to read further.
Insert a call-to-action: This can be a good way to get your readers interested; using words like “click”, “how-to”, or “try”, or addressing them in the second person to make it more conversational and informal. You can even make a generic article readworthy by introducing powerful negative words like “never” in the title to catch attention.
Shock factor: Have you seen that people are more interested in any news where there is a shock factor? Just like breaking news on TV channels are designed to fetch the highest TRPs, your article headlines can get the highest click-through rates when the title is bold or hints at controversies.
Use target keywords: Just like you create YouTube videos or ads on products and topics that are popular; when writing an article, you must target keywords that have search volume. By doing this, you can ensure that people read the article to get the information that they need, and your article, on its part, gets only targeted traffic. You may use paid or free online tools to identify such high-volume keywords for use in the headlines.
Use numbers: Have you noticed that you are invariably drawn to articles that have numbers in their titles? For instance, you will be encouraged to read “10 tips to lose weight fast” rather than an article titled “How to lose weight”. This happens because the human brain processes numbers faster. Such articles are typically in a listicle format that is easier to understand and remember.
Insert a question: You will see that when you ask a question, especially if it is a tad controversial or unusual, it will turn heads. It makes the readers curious and eager to find out more and get answers.
Research: If you know that your competitors are writing articles on the same kind of topics, it may be wise to go through their headlines and check out how they are being ranked on Google. This insight will help you identify what you can do differently or better than them to get noticed.
Include urgency: There is no better way to capture your reader’s attention than by creating urgency or a “fear of missing out”. FOMO is very real, and readers are always unnerved at the prospect of losing out on special discounts and offers. Inserting urgency with words like “book now, “limited,” “grab”, “hurry before stocks expire,” etc can get you a reader’s undivided attention.