Brad Good | Squarespace Expert, Designer & Developer

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How To Write Clickable Headlines To Boost Your Traffic

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No matter how useful your content is, it is useless if it is not getting clicks. There are several blogs who owe most of their views to their unique and engaging headlines. These sites have mastered the art of creating titles to persuade someone to click.

Have it at the back of your mind that the work's body is as good as the headline. Take adequate time to construct your headline carefully, so your job is seen by all those who need it. There are writing tools that can help you achieve this.

A good headline will grab the attention of readers or ultimately bore them. Research found that only 2 out of 10 people will read an entire post that they come across.

It is tricky creating a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) keyword-friendly headline that remains cool and creative. However, the following strategies for writing headlines will guarantee you click.

1. Use numbers, digits, and lists in your headline

The human eye is attracted to contrasting colors just as much as it is drawn to setting numbers and words side by side. Having a number in your headline helps it stand out. It also informs the reader that the link they are about clicking is a list-post.

List-post gives the reader a structure to follow, as well as being scan friendly. Adding numbers to your article heading helps put into perspective the information contained therein.

In this digital age, many people skim through subheadings and bullets so they can quickly get the information they seek. List-post makes this very easy to do while being easy to read. Even the Best Writers Online write using bullets and lists to improve readability.

Some right list words you can juxtapose with numbers in your next headline to boost your traffic includes:

  • Tips

  • Secrets

  • Reasons

  • Ways

  • Strategies

  • Techniques

2. Ensure Your Headline Is Useful

People will click on a headline that offers them something of help. Ensure you understand what will be useful to your target audience and deliver it to them.

Once your headline identifies a problem, it should offer a solution. The body should contain detailed answers to the issues identified in the headline.

Useful headlines are one of Melanie Duncan 4U recipe for crafting clickable headlines. The other three are:

  • Urgency

  • Uniqueness, and

  • Ultra-specific

A) Urgency

Creating a headline that makes the reader scared of missing out on something is a great way to generate clicks. With multiple internet content fighting for our attention, it is easy to ignore what we think we do not need urgently.

To ensure the reader understands the article's usefulness, a headline with an urgent tone must be used. No one wants to miss out on an exciting or educational piece that they urgently need.

It is tough to capture urgency in your headline because not all article topics need an urgent tone. However, it is one of the easiest ways to generate clicks. If you’re in doubt, ask content writers on Online Writers Rating.

B) Uniqueness

A unique headline can be the answer to increasing your websites’ click rate. Use rare and unusual phrases to pique the interest of your audience to click on the post.

Playing on words is a great way to guarantee your headline stands out. You can also use a topic that is interesting to pique the interest of readers and generate clicks.

C) Ultra-Specific

An ultra-specific headline gives explicit detail of what to expect from the article. Headlines that have numbers in them are ultra-specific. These types of headlines take ideas and break them down into little bits.

Once you know what will be useful to your audience, creating an ultra-specific headline will not be too difficult.

Use an urgent tone, show your headline's usefulness, use a unique headline, or an ultra-specific one every time to create a clickable headline for your article.

3. Make Your Headline Look Like A Guide

Another way to create interest for people to click your article is by creating your headline to look like a guide. This classic way helps show the audience that the solution to their problems is contained in your post.

A simple way to achieve this is by defining what your post will be covering. Examples of headlines that look like a guide is “How to compose a poem: Poetry 101” or “The ultimate guide to learning how to play a violin”.

Once you can show the main benefit, your article will be given in the headline, boosting traffic to your site.

4. Use Powerful Words

Some words contain sounds similar to the noises they describe, and others that are powerful. You can use words in these categories to spice your headline up.

These words add to your copy's urgency and increase the excitement of a reader before they click on your article. Instead of writing a headline that reads “10 reasons why you should exercise regularly”, a headline with a strong accent would read “10 reasons why exercising is incredible for your body”.

Some examples of power words for headlines include:

  • Incredible

  • Shocking

  • Explosive

  • Overwhelming

  • Crushing

  • Magnificent

5. Remember the 5Ws

The five Ws are engaging and interrogative words used to collate information. You do not have to deploy all of them at once to boost traffic to your site. You only need to combine some of them to create eye-catching titles.

Anyone that did grammar in high school knows what the 5Ws are. For the benefit of those who do not have an idea, the five Ws are:

  • Who

  • What

  • Where

  • When

  • Why

The five Ws helps the reader with substantial information in the article. Using any one of them to craft a cool headline helps the reader know what to expect even before reading it.

6. Compel Your Readers To Click With Emotional Words

There are positive and negative emotional words for headlines that can significantly improve your post's clicks. Some positive emotional headline uses phrases/words like

  • Simple Ways

  • Everything you need to know

  • Proven

  • People

  • Best

  • Powerful

These emotional words will compel the reader to click on a title that contains any of them. Negative emotional words like “Never” also compels readers to click on a particular link.

Conclusion

Putting all these points into consideration while creating your headline is vital in boosting your site’s traffic. Another point to note while creating your headline is ensuring that your characters are not above fifty, so they rank well on Google.