15 Tips To Write Catchy Headlines For Your Content

One of the most important parts of the content is its Headline. The headline can make or break the success of your content because it is what always comes to the notice at the very first glance. Whether in SERP or on Social Media, everywhere the title of the content displays prominently. Thus, spend more time writing the headline for each article or essay you write. So, if you write catchy headlines for the articles you write, you will get better Click Through Rate for sure.

According to an article on Kissmetrics, only 20% of all people who read your headline actually read the content. And, that too when you have extremely attractive headline. If your headline is too flat, you don’t even get 5% of people reading your content.

For example,

Look at the screenshot below which I got when I searched for Link Building Strategies in Google.com

You can see a few results, but at the first glance, the link of Searchenginewatch grabbed my attention because the headline tells clearly the ways to build links which will help drive traffic, and that is what we want from our link building efforts. So, I clicked that link only among others. If you see the other links, they have normal headlines that don’t seem to be catchy ones.

Thus, having a headline that is catchy and at the same time displays the actual benefits of reading the content is great.

As I got attracted to the headline mentioned above, you would be too.

It is very important to write catchy headlines for your content because if you cannot attract people to click on your headlines, no matter how great your content is, it is difficult to get readers on it.

Thus, spend more time writing the headline for each article you write.

In this blog post, I am sharing 15 tips to write catchy headlines:

#1. Define what the content is all about in a creative way

You must define clearly that what the article is all about because if it explains well, people may click on it as they are sure that what they are going to read.

On the other hand, if you write a headline that doesn’t define clearly as what it is all about, people may not click because they are not sure about the content.

Therefore, your content headline needs to define what all is covered in the content.

Apart from this, you should also keep in mind that the headline is written in a creative and catchy way so that it can grab more eyeballs.

For example:

Link building strategy – This headline doesn’t define what is covered in the article rather it just says that something about link building strategy.

10 Link Building Strategies– This is better as it defines that in this blog post 10 different link building strategies are defined.

10 Link building strategies to boost search rankings – This is the best one because it defines that 10 link building strategies have been shared in the article and also, tells the ultimate benefit of those link building strategies.

At the beginning of this article, I have explained about this as well. When a headline clearly articulates about the content covered in the article and also tells the benefits, it gets more clicks.

#2. Use Numbers

When I surf the web as a reader, I prefer the articles that are in the form of the list because even if I don’t have time to read the full article, I still get the information by looking at the list items. List posts give the clear view of the whole article, and that is why it performs well.

List posts specifically perform even great when you use Numbers (1-10) and not the text (one-ten).

Therefore, using numbers in the content headline makes it more attractive and catchy.

For example:

7 Signs your website is penalized – More effective

Seven signs your website is penalized – Less effective

There are many ideas of such kind of catchy headlines:

10 Reasons why you are not getting search traffic

10 Tips to rank high on Google

20 Content Marketing Strategies you should not miss.

Pro Tip: Use bigger numbers such as 50 tips to rank for any keyword you want as they attract more people.

#3. Personalize the Headlines

While writing the headline being a bit personal is beneficial. Personal means to write something in a manner that shows a relation between you and your content.

For example,

How I earn $2000 every month from my blog?

How I am making money online sitting in my Armchair?

How I ranked my blog for high competition keywords in a month?

These kinds of Headlines create a feel of the case study. I mean when you write such headlines, it shows that you have actually done this thing, and that’s where you grab the people’s attention to it. This is one of the best headline writing tips I could give you.

Note: Don’t mislead people by writing such headlines just for the sake of grabbing attention. Do it if you really have achieved something.

#4. Make use of Question Words

At the time of writing headlines, we must think like a user because it gives us ideas as how people find the content on the search engines.

For Example,

If I want to know about NASA,

Then what I will search:

What is NASA?

When it was created?

People use question words for finding such kind of information. Thus, it is good to use those words in your headlines.

Those Question words are:

• Who
• Why
• When
• What
• Where
• How

#5 Use Keywords

One of the best ways to write catchy and good headlines is using useful keywords. Before you write headlines for your content, do a thorough keyword research to find out the keywords with high search volume along with fair competition, and use that in your headlines. It is important because if use those words in your headlines that people don’t even search, then how your content will be found in the SERPs?

Therefore, use searchable keywords in the headlines along with the creative ideas that tempt people to click.

#6 Keep Headlines in between 60-65 Characters

Most search engines read only around 60-65 characters (includes spaces). So, if you write headlines in this range then it looks good in search results, and people can read the full headline. If you write longer than this range, extra words get trimmed by Search Engines. And, people don’t get the full understanding of the headline.

In the above screenshot, you can see that the second one has few words trimmed due to having the longer title, and as a user, you may not be able to read the whole title until you open this link. Thus, have the headline in the limit of 60-65 characters in order to show the full titles to the users.

#7. Arouse Audiences’ Curiosity

The catchiest headlines are those that arouse the readers’ curiosity to a great extent, and that made them click on your headline.

Example,

What he did next will surprise you.

You will be shocked to know how he ranks for every keyword

Though, these types of headlines go lengthy sometimes. But they perform quite well.

#8. Ask Questions

Asking questions in headlines directly hits audiences’ mind, and they get tempted to click to read the content. I have a few articles already on this blog where I have used question type headlines, and they did pretty well.

Here are a few examples:

Why Do Newbie Bloggers Give up Blogging Soon?

Are You Bored from Blogging?

Why Do I Love Blogging?

By asking questions, you will be able to write great catchy headlines that actually perform better.

#9. Use Power Words

There are many words that are very powerful in order to get better CTR. Secret, excellent, Free, Wonderful, etc. are a few words that draw audience attention quickly. They can readily improve the CTR of your content headline.

For example,

Wonderful ways to lose weight.

Secret tips to rank high in Google.

20 Free tips from Probloggers.

#10. Promise Time-Specific Advantages

Headlines that promise something to happen in specified time attracts more eyeballs because whenever people find something actionable, they want to know how much time it will take to get the benefits. So, the headlines that have this kind of time-specific words get more Click Through Rates.

For example,

How to lose your weight in 30 Days?

How to write an e-book in 10 Days?

These types of headlines are very promising and get more eyeballs.

Note: Always give doable time frame while writing such headlines.

#11. Create Controversy

Controversial headlines perform extremely well. But, be prepared to handle the negative comments, and also you must have guts to defend what you have written.

For example:

Why is link building not important as much as you think?

#12. Address readers in the second person

It is crucial to connect directly with your readers, and that you can do by writing content headlines in which you mention the readers in the second person.

For example:

Blogging tools that you must not miss

This shows that you directly talk to your every reader. Thus, it is a good way to write catchy headlines.

#13. Take time to finalize the Headline

I would recommend and in fact, many experts recommend devoting more time writing headlines because it is the most important part of the content.

Before writing the final headline, try around 4-5 different headlines for the same content, and then see which one is the best. Then, finalize.

If you want, you can get suggestions from your friends for choosing the final headline. You can show them all the headlines you have written, and ask them to choose one. This way, you can get the votes from each of your friends, and on the basis of that, you can select the best one.

#14. Use Authority Names

Being a normal person when you give tips then its impact will be low. But, when you write something with a popular authority person name, then it will impact more.

For example,

10 life lessons from Billionaire Jack Ma

Entrepreneurial tips from Bill Gates

Note: When you use authority persons’ names then make sure you give the actual tips that are given by them. It is not like that you write your own tips and tag with their name. Don’t do that, please.

#15. Avoid Passive Voice

While writing Headlines, avoid Passive Voice as Active Voice is easier to understand when people scan through to find out exciting headlines.

These are the best tips one can give you to write the best catchy headlines. If you are not able to do it, you can get one written with someone’s help, and use for your article.

Final Words

Writing a headline is the most important part of content creation, and it also decides whether the article is going to be a hit or flop.

Therefore, it is imperative to devote time to writing catchy headlines to get them clicked by most of the people who read it.

I have done my best to pen down the 15 tips to write catchy headlines. I hope you have enjoyed this blog post.

I would like to hear from you as well about the considerations you take into while writing the headlines.