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Have you ever wondered, why some headlines draw your attention and some don't?
“Five times as many people read the headline as the body copy. When you’ve written your headline, you’ve spent 80 cents of your dollar.”
— David Ogilvy, “the father of advertising,” in Ogilvy on Advertising
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| "Make sure the big type does not contradict the little type"- John Russial, Associate Professor, University of Oregon |
Alright, let me begin with asking you this simple question:
What is a Headline?
The very first image that possibly comes to your mind naturally would be of a newspaper headline or those TV News channel headlines, Correct?
In the rawest and simplest form, a headline is a title which is strategically written and allotted the topmost position in the page of an article which represents the context of the following text in a few words, I would rather like to put it as " A Headline is a shorter version of the following article ."
A headline plays a vital role in capturing the attention of your audience, separates you from the rest, help you stand out, sets the tone and conveys the context of your written piece in a pretty quirky and quick way. A good one can get you from nowhere to everywhere and a bad one just won't take you anywhere.
A headline plays a vital role in capturing the attention of your audience, separates you from the rest, help you stand out, sets the tone and conveys the context of your written piece in a pretty quirky and quick way. A good one can get you from nowhere to everywhere and a bad one just won't take you anywhere.
The Effect of Great Headlines
Sarah has an appointment with her dentist at 12 PM, the traffic was unusually less today which led her to reach an hour early and while waiting for her turn, she starts browsing through the magazine rack and out of the 10 magazines available, she picked up the one with the strange headline which said: "4 Unhealthy Things That You Thought As Healthy".
You google earphones/headsets and after scrolling a bit on the results and out of all those search results, even if you're not on a tight budget you are very likely to click on "Best Headsets at Best Prices". No, you are not alone, most of us probably would choose the same, since it sounds so irresistible and promising.
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| Even the strongest hearts can't save themselves from being captivated by great headlines |
Ok, now let's use a more generic example, most of us don't read the whole newspaper, do we? What many of us do is: look for those unusual or intriguing headlines first and tend to read that interests us the most or something that is unworldly weird or simply which stirs your curiosity, right?
Now, what triggered you to behave like that? What grabbed your attention? Why some headlines are worthy of your recognition while some are just not worthy enough?
The truth is... We all are biased! Undeniably!... Sorry to be rude but it is what it is! When it comes to choosing what needs our attention, we are pretty quick to judge the context of the text followed by the heading or the headline and rule out unrelatable things.
Our logical subconscious mind rapidly processes the headings and assesses whether is it valuable to us or not, should you spend our precious time and effort or just move on and keep searching until it finds the right one and this process happens within the matter of the fraction of a second.
So, what a great headline means?
In simple words, one which gets your and your viewer's attention followed by getting them hooked leading to conversions and help you reach your goals within the desired time.
In the world of business, evidently, some advertisements/commercials do great and some don't. Firms are ready to pay a hefty amount of cash to the marketers who could help them write a compelling headline. Why? Is it more important than the great product/service offered by the firm?
Yes, and no; there is no denying the fact that your product should also match up with the expectations of your customer as well, but first, you have to work to bring yourself towards customer's notice.
You might be producing great contents or digital products or even physical products but if you lack the skill to grab those eyeballs of your target audience/customer, unfortunately, with the global cut-throat competition, you are very miles away from making even a penny of our products, no matter how your great product. Although it doesn't apply when there is a monopoly in the market. With the ever-decreasing attention span, you have to capitalise on the supremely effective use of the quantity and quality of right words to catch the attention of your audience otherwise its a lost opportunity.
"You could sell crap with a great headline" and "A great product won't sell with a shitty headline".
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| The Art of Writing an Exceptional and Compelling Headline lies in Practice, the more you do, the better you get |
So, how a great headline should look like?
Here are the 3 hidden steps to your glory:
- Keep it Concisely Tight- Restrain yourself from putting every detail into a single headline. Limit it to 60 characters or less but not too short otherwise your audience will lose out on your important details. Let's be honest, we are so tempted to putting every detail into that one line, right? And we end up writing a useless long mundane sentence. examples: New Members Will Get An Access To Use Our Premium Themes Worth $25 For Free, To Avail The Offer Sign Up Before 21 August. Too Long... Isn't it? Now let's make it Crisper. Here's How: Sign Up Before 21 August to Get Our $25 Premium Theme for Free. Which one seems better to you? I am willing to bet, the latter one.
If you can’t say your title in one breath, it’s probably too long.”
— Sam Horn, author of POP! Stand Out in Any Crowd
- First 3 and last 3 words- Make sure that the first 3 and the last 3 words of your headline are an attention-grabbing, examples: How to Make a Delicious Cake Without a Microwave.. Doing 5 Things Can Land You In Trouble In Dubai... 25 Breathtaking Places to Visit Before You Die. Use numbers, adjectives, humour, create urgency, teach a skill, share a secret, use a clever call to take actions to emphasize your offerings and benefits but don't forget to empathize your audience first.
A good title should be like a good metaphor. It should intrigue without being too baffling or too obvious.”
— Walker Percy, author of Love in the Ruins
- Don't Use Difficult or Uncommon words- Headlines are meant to be Crisp Clear Concise and sadly, it is just not the right place showoff your vocabulary, trust me, use of high-quality English words won't work here and give you the desired results when you mean business rather it will put off your potential customers, although it might work if you were to publish a journal targeting Professors or English Literature students, when it comes to conversions it's better to use commonly used words, but the way it is crafted will make an impactful difference and deliver extraordinary results and ... you don't want to confuse and expect your customer to sit with a dictionary, do you? Do use your product/service related specific keywords to make your headline SEO friendly, very important!
“Don’t write a headline you wouldn’t say when talking to a friend. No one in history ever uttered, ‘Woodley, defence propel Dolphins past NY.’”
— James Barger, sports editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Use them in your emails, sales offers, blog posts, landing pages, websites, ads.
Some Bonus Tips:
- Be quick, but don’t hurry. Don’t allow the goal of “pushing pages” before the deadline to short-circuit the need to write accurate, clear, tasteful headlines. Remember: readers start here.
- For news heads: play it straight, summarize the news.
- For feature heads: be creative. Tease, flirt, hint - but don’t give away lead.
- Highlight intrigue, contrast or conflict within the central theme, using keywords.
- Avoid lazy headline writing. Don’t settle for your first try, then change the type size to make it fit.
- Don’t fall in love with your own cute, creative puns. The challenge: rewrite and make it better.
- Seek the input of others: How can the headline be misread? Does it work?
- When it comes down to Cute vs. Truth, make sure you choose the right one.
Conclusion
Headlines are the very first line your audience will unfailingly notice, make sure its the best one to stand out, not too long and wordy or not too short and unclear, but precise, concise, something that is captivating and engaging because if it isn't, they will zone you out in no time. Keep your headlines witty, catchy, weird, humorous, impactful, compelling, thoughtful to stir their emotions in order to convert them into your fans.
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