How To Come Up With Good Blog Post Titles

We have only seconds to catch a reader’s attention. In fact, it doesn’t matter if you have created a unique and well-researched article or just a draft, your reader spends the same time deciding whether your piece of content is worthy of reading or not.

Today people are overloaded with information and our brain tries to filter the content we are really interested in. But how to make people believe that your content is worthy of reading? It is all about a headline! 

If you are a blogger or a marketer you need to think about attracting people’s attention through your content. There are numerous strategies and online tools that help to generate catchy headlines. And sometimes they can be helpful. But understanding which headlines work better for your audience and niche takes time.

First of all, you should know the formulas and elements that are used to create attractive headlines. So, let’s dive deeper into the details of how catchy headlines are created to help you bring more readers to your blog traffic. 

How to write eye-catching blog headlines

“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar”. — David Ogilvy

Bloggers write content to share their experiences, and the headline is a welcome message to their blogs. A headline is also a powerful tool that influences the number of readers who will read the article. And if you haven’t paid too much attention to the process of headline creation now it is time to start! 

So, let’s start with five important rules to remember while writing any headlines. Here they are:

1. Use the words people are searching for

Bloggers understand the importance of keywords analysis for SEO and high rankings. Nevertheless, doing keywords research is not for search engines only. 

You write for people and want to be read. I am not an SEO expert but I always analyze the content I create for my readers, and here is what I noticed. Complicated and professional words don’t work when talking about headlines. 

Writing a headline, use the words searched by people when they try to find something. Remember that you write for humans and your main goal is to find a window into your readers’ minds. 

Keyword research helps to understand what information people want to find. So, give it to them! There is no need to invent creative metaphors to explain the topic of your article in one headline. 

Use the right keywords and that’s it.

2. Use numbers and digits in your title

The more specific you are, the more catching your headline is. Headlines with numbers are proved to attract more attention and are more likely to be clickable.

Using statistics in headlines works great for most spheres like news, marketing, blogging, finance, etc. Most world media companies like Inc, Forbes, Bloomberg, and many others use this technique to create viral content because it works.

Image source: inc.com

Additionally, there is a study showing that people are more likely to click through the titles with odd numbers. 

So, if you want to write about “10 Best Summer Cooking Recipes”, consider changing this number into 9 or 11 for better effect. 

3. Use persuasive and emotional language

Emotional marketing is very powerful. The more emotional you sound the more persuasive you are. And, as a result, the more chances you have to attract readers’ attention. So, make sure to use strong adjectives to encourage clicks. 

Here are some emotional adjectives you can consider for your headlines:

  • Guaranteed
  • Easy
  • Secret
  • Proven
  • Wanted
  • Instant
  • Exclusive
  • Best
  • Unique
  • Improved
  • Professional
  • Powerful
  • Practical
  • Important
  • Huge

4. Think out of the box

The main task while creating a catchy headline is to think about something that doesn’t sound too boring. Additionally, your headline should be easy to understand. If that sounds not so easy I would recommend brainstorming and writing down 10-15 ideas you have about the topic of the article. 

  • Do not be afraid to write weird things 
  • Do not filter the information, just write all the headlines you have in mind
  • Practice freewriting as it helps to expand the imagination

Remember that you won’t be judged. This approach will help you to develop your creativity and create interesting titles for your article. 

5. Do an A/B test of your headlines

Once you create an article, test if your headline is a magnet to the readers. Your social media audience can help you a lot with this. 

Just create a couple of posts with different headlines linking to the same article and analyze which one will be of higher interest and get more clicks. 

Additionally, you can create a poll and ask your followers about the topic they would be interested in more.

7 best headline formulas that will always work

Let’s move on to the headlines structures and analyze the most popular types of headlines that you can start using today to boost your blogger pageviews. 

1. How-To Articles

You shouldn’t underestimate the power of classic How-To headlines. This headline formula has been in trend for years and is still a magnet for the readers. 

Headline formula: How To Do Something Using/Without Something

Here are some of the great How-To headlines examples:

One more thing to mention here is that How-To articles can be also effectively used without “How” in the following formula:

[Number] Tips/Ways/Tips To Do Something

I use this formula every time I want to educate my readers and share specific strategies on a particular topic. For example, my recent article highlighting the steps of getting an LLC has the same headline format because it works great for my niche. 

The secret here lies in the way you disclosed the topic promised to your readers. Remember that any headline should be used as a tool to attract more readers, but the virality of the article depends on the content itself. While writing an article, always try to create the best piece of content on the internet. Aim big!

2. List Articles

List articles, aka listicles, are one of the most popular formats used by bloggers. The list-based format allows organizing the most useful information in a specific theme.

Why are list articles so popular? It’s a win-win for both readers and writers!

Readers love in-depth content but they have so little time and so much to read that list articles are a true time-saver. Such content gives an opportunity to scan all the information while spending less time.

Bloggers use this format to structure their experience in a piece of content. Such a content structure allows bringing more value to the audience and saving time for writing.

Most bloggers and world media companies get tons of traffic writing list articles only. For example, Buzzfeed also attracts a huge audience due to their viral list articles. 

Image source: Buzzfeed

There is one important thing to mention about listicles. List articles should not only provide a list of something but always go into details of each step to be helpful.

Headline formula: [Number] Best Ways/Steps To Do Something

Some other listicle headlines examples:

3. Ultimate guides to…

You might have read a number of “Ultimate guides to…” and they still work! Guides perform well for evergreen content when you want to provide an in-depth analysis of the topic. 

Image source: Buffer.com 

Ultimate guides are also great because they are aimed to provide exceptional information on the topic and are frequently the most shareable content type. Many bloggers repurpose their ultimate guides in various formats, for example, they work great for creating videos and ebooks. 

Headline formula: The Ultimate Guide To Something

Some headline examples:

  • A beginner’s guide to influence marketing
  • An Ultimate Guide To Meditation And Living A Happy Life

4. Ask questions

Image source: The Guardian

Questions are used to catch readers’ attention. Such headlines always look fresh and eye-catching because they answer the readers’ questions. By the way, according to the research, 8% of all Google searches are questions. So why don’t make use of it? 

The success of the question headline lies in the opportunity to ask the question people are searching for and inspire curiosity at the same time. Though there are some important things you shouldn’t do while writing question headlines:

  • Do not ask questions that are obvious and easy to answer without reading the article. 
  • Don’t ask fearful questions, like for example Are you in danger? Remember that your article should give the answer to the question you asked in your headline.
  • Don’t ask misleading questions to just increase the number of clicks.

It is better to ask inspiring and sometimes provocative questions to get more readers’ attention. Here are some examples of great question headlines:

  • Do you make these mistakes in blogging?
  • Are you ready to scale up your blog? Read this article first.
  • What does it actually mean to be a full-time entrepreneur?

5. Giving a strong benefit

Headlines that promise benefits and fix problems always look attractive. You can use such headlines when your article is dedicated to getting a new skill or helps to avoid some mistakes. 

Headline formula: X Ways You Can Get [Desirable Result] Doing Something

Here are some other examples of how such headlines may look like:

  • Here is a simple way to acquire new skills if you just start a business
  • 9 ways you can start making money online as a virtual assistant 
  • 17 proven ways you can boost your sales with email marketing

6. Tell Personal Stories

It is one of my favorite headline formulas and the type of content that works great. Everyone loves getting value through personal stories because such articles are engaging and tell about someone’s experience with something. So, people are more likely to read your story if you tell about it via your headline. 

Headline formula: How Something Made Me Something

Here are some other examples of how such headlines may look like:

  • How I Doubled My Blog Traffic By 300% After Moving To Another Hosting Provider
  • I Started Using Facebook Ads And Here Is What I Learned
  • 25 Rules That Helped Me To Build A Dream Team

7. Use Dates 

With so much information available online, you should go in pace with time and regularly update your content. Use dates in your headlines to tell readers that your information is fresh. Moreover, search engines also like updated content, and you have more chances to get higher rankings with such headlines.   

Image source: Backlinko

Sum Up: How to come up with good headlines for your blog posts

The power of headlines is huge, and this is what you should pay attention to if you want to get more traffic. Nevertheless, remember that the main goal in blogging is to make your readers satisfied with the content. Before writing any content, ask yourself these questions:

  • Will the article bring value to the readers?
  • Who will benefit from reading it?
  • Why is this article special?

Once you answer these questions, the process of creating a powerful headline will be easier.  Generating headlines can be fun and help to grow your creativity. Just make sure to use the formulas listed above!

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About the author: Tatyana Artemova is an entrepreneur, mastermind expert, and editor at IStartHub. She writes about business ideas and growth hacks and supports entrepreneurs on their business journey.

How To Write Catchy Headlines For Your BlogHow To Write Catchy Headlines For Your BlogHow To Write Catchy Headlines For Your Blog

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