You might have a brilliantly written, meticulously researched article, but it won’t help you much if people don’t read past the headline, as David Ogilvy said, “on 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.”
You need headlines that convert in order to get the most out of not only your article, but your entire marketing strategy.
Whether you’re writing a blog, a social media post or a magazine article, your headline is always the first thing anyone sees. It’s your brief window of opportunity to grab the reader’s attention before something else snatches it away. Traffic can vary up to 500% based on the strength of your headline, so it’s important to make high-converting headlines a priority.
There are two main elements that have an impact on headlines. H1 (header 1) tags are top-level HTML tags that the headers on most websites are coded within. Title tags are the links in search results. While these two aspects are built from different HTML tags, a sufficiently catchy headline effectively serves as the text for both.
So what makes a headline catchy, and how do you make yours stand out among thousands of other search results in order to win clicks and conversions?
What Is Important in Headlines?
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to writing high-converting headlines. Instead, there are a variety of approaches that work well for different situations. Sometimes the direct approach is the most effective when the deal or offer is good enough to speak for itself. Other times, an indirect approach engages the reader and stokes curiosity. Just make sure it isn’t shallow clickbait with little to no value to offer.
Many marketers swear that writing great headline copy starts with the four U’s:
Unique
When customers hear the same promises and wording over and over again, they eventually become jaded to the message. Consumers have more options than ever before. Businesses, especially small ones, have to provide more than just quality products if they want to compete with larger players in their field. Potential ways you can do this include finding a use for your product that your competitors don’t have or showing unique ways it can be used.
Ultra-specific
You only have a few seconds before your customers’ eyes dart away from your headline to the next one. If your headline doesn’t promise to provide the specific information they’re looking for, they’ll move on quickly. If your headline is too vague, readers won’t know what you’re offering and whether or not it’s targeted towards them. The sooner they have all the details, the sooner they can figure out whether your article provides what they’re looking for. Of course, there’s an art to conveying the most important information in a limited number of carefully chosen words.
Urgent
Every searcher is looking for the fastest way to solve their problem or find the information they need, whatever it is. A sense of urgency helps compel users to read the post and take action. This can be a time-limited offer or an encouragement to act now, before the problem at hand gets any worse. Reminding the reader of the consequences of not taking action can be just as effective as bringing up the benefits of doing so.
Useful
Customers need to see benefits for them in your headline, or at least potential solutions to their issues. The right headline promises readers that your blog article has the answers they were looking for when they came to Google. It’s important to highlight the advantages for them, whatever they may be, upfront and as early as possible.
Considerations Needed For Headlines
Creating headlines that convert means pleasing both users and search engines, but always taking a people-first approach. The most important considerations both for SEO and user experience (UX) include:
SEO
Character count
On Google, the visibility of your title tag is limited to 50-60 characters. Google can hide headlines for being either too long or too short, so keeping your headline to an average character count of 30 (spaces included) gives you the best chance of visibility.
Keywords
While using your keyword in your headlines will help you in your rankings, using the same keyword (or one that’s too similar) twice is more likely to hurt your results. The more you needlessly repeat yourself in your headline, the more likely Google is to read it as keyword stuffing. A good headline incorporates keywords seamlessly and naturally, ensuring the message remains clear.
Relevance
The relevance of the headline to the article’s content affects the bounce rate, which is how long users stay on the page. A high bounce rate can be a warning to search engines that your site has some issues or isn’t delivering on what it promised.
Users
Consistency
Your article needs to match what you promise in your headline, otherwise users will see you as merely producing clickbait and your brand will lose credibility.
Attention
Like a good movie trailer, an effective headline is attention-grabbing and gives readers an idea of what to expect without giving everything away.
Clarity
Your headline should be easy to read, grammatically correct and have a clear message. Keeping it as straightforward and concise as possible is the key to being easily understood.
How to Write Headlines that Convert
Some important steps to take when writing high-converting headlines include:
Understand your audience
As with all marketing strategies, the needs, preferences and desires of your target audience need to be taken into account. The most important factors are what they’re looking for and how you can provide the right answers and solutions for them.
Capture attention
There are many ways to create a compelling headline. For starters, phrase it as a question, address the reader personally using the pronoun “you”, or let your unique personality shine through.
Use numbers and data
You’ve probably noticed a lot of blog post headlines include a specific amount of numbers, e.g. ’10 Ways to Improve Your Site’s Rankings’. The human brain loves numbers because they organise information into a logical, easy-to-process order. Marketer Debra Jason has said numbers are like “brain candy”. They’re addictive, which is one of the reasons they generate more interaction and social shares. Using large, even numbers is effective when discussing something positive (e.g. ’20 Ways to Make Money Online) but if the context is negative, small odd numbers frequently work better.
Use emotional and power words
Sometimes even a single word can transform the way a user feels about your ad. Power words are words that are emotionally impactful. Words like “conquer”, “courage”, “triumph” or the timelessly popular “free”. Powerful words capture the imagination of the reader and help drive them to action.
Use simple headline formulas
Some headline formulas that are straightforward but always effective include the question (e.g. ‘What is SEO?’), the how-to (e.g. ‘How to Improve Your Google Rankings) and the reasons why (e.g. ‘5 Reasons to Invest in an SEO Agency’).
Test
It’s important to test the strength of your headline to make sure you’re not wasting your time or money, making adjustments if necessary. You can measure your results through customer inquiries, social media engagements, direct responses and A/B testing tools.
Increase Your Conversions with Anchor Digital
Sometimes all you need is the right content marketing agency to create headlines that convert. As a creative agency in Brisbane, Anchor can help you with so much more than finding the right words. The headline is only the start. We’ll work with you on a content strategy that strongly supports your whole campaign, with clear KPIs. Our pay-per-click advertising (PPC) can double your revenue and our copywriting can improve your rankings and connect you with potential customers.
We can communicate your brand identity to the world in powerful and dynamic ways. If you need help building a brand identity from scratch, we can help you find your style and voice. Then we can share your message and the unique benefits of your brand with the world through web design, graphic design, direct digital marketing campaigns and more.
Contact the Anchor team to become even greater at what you do.
