A great headline can make a large difference in CTR (click through ratio) and in Impression – that’s why it’s so important to create them strategically. Most of the times we struggle hard to find the best headline for the article or the post. I am here to help you through this process.
Here are few headline writing hacks that will help you.
Don’t have too long headlines. TL;DR – Have too long headlines will be boring for readers, so try to have headline length that actually takes about the article.
Use keywords in your headlines – Do not forget to add keywords in your headlines, as we can’t ignore the SEO point. I know making great titles having keywords is a difficult task.
Basically, you need to play with words. In this, you can use keywordtool.io, it will give the suggestion based on the focused keywords.
Use Hashtags and Emojis – This is a totally practical thing. I have practically tested with few of headlines with hashtags. Having headlines in the title will automatically be included when people get to share it. To get more idea about hashtags you can use hashtagify.me
You can even use emojis to make your headlines more engaging, using emojis in headlines is a new trend, even google provides search result based on emoji’s.
Try have multiple headings for the same articles – Normally I come up with 10-15 different headlines per story/article. This gives us options. So what to limit yourself?
Now you can pick up the best headline you feel from the list.
Even you can have A/B testing to have a better understanding, which titles works more. What you can do is you can change titles every after 10-15 days, even you can retweet/repost this on FB, twitter, google+, quora. etc and check which heading lead to more clicks.
This is the best part of having multiple headings.
Sometimes Sweet and short headlines are OK – Sometimes we overthink. Sometimes we need to get straight to the point. Not every headline is a sonnet, nor should it be — especially if your content is particularly serious.
Try to Pull a Quote from the Article – If you have used any quotes from influencer or celebrity, can be excellent for a headline. If the quote is too long try to short it like (blah blah blah…..blah blah by <<person name>>
Leverage a Compelling Statistic – Similarly, you can include a really powerful statistic right in the headline. “ as per report of <<organisation name>>” or “voice search will increase by 50% as per google report 2017” etc.
Use a Colon to Make the Most of Limited Space – Pro tip: don’t ramble. Sometimes people try to pack too much in the headline, which is not the practical approach. Or maybe you have two key points you want to make and you’re having trouble synthesising them into a single headline. Enter the colon. It’s the piece of punctuation that gives you two headlines for the price of one.
