Think about what is important to your readers and use that in your headlines
To create headlines that grab their attention, it's important to know what your audience likes and cares about. You can use surveys and polls to help you understand what they like.
With this research, you will write headlines that speak directly to what they want.
By constantly talking to your audience and getting their thoughts, you'll learn more about them. This will help you create the best headlines that will interest them and make them want to click.
9. When writing headlines, address your readers using the 2nd person
You'll notice that I'm speaking directly to you in this audience. You can also use the second person to write compelling headlines:
What is your interior design style? Click to find out
Do you know the best way to train your dog?
Can you guess which type of pop-up works best?
Each headline directly addresses the reader as “you,” just like this example.
Second person titles
Image via Nordic Visitor
10. Create a sense of controversy to attract readers' curiosity
The headline “Things Tourists Should Stop Doing Abroad” is a great example of using controversy to gain attention. It suggests that tourists make mistakes, which makes people curious and want to read more.
Controversial headline
Image via BuzzFeed
This type of headline writing will get people talking. Some may feel defensive and others may completely agree. It's the kind of headline that makes your content very popular.
It attracted several hundred comments and a lot of shares. Using strong opinions can increase website traffic and keep readers engaged.
11. A/B test your headlines and see what works best
We built A/B testing into Hello Bar for a reason. We knew our customers would want to test different versions of top bars, modals, sliders, page takeovers, and other assets to see which one worked best.
A/B testing works. In fact, it’s essential. Play around with different types of headline writing to see what works.
12. Whenever possible, use images to complement your headline
use images to write the headline
This is a cute picture, isn't it? It's a mother and daughter putting money into a piggy bank.
Maybe I'm writing an article about saving for your children's college funds, teaching children the value of a dollar, or setting a band database child support amount.
Either way, a good image will help complement your headline.
You've seen those Upworthy-style headlines, right? It's always something like, "Man yells at his toddler. You won't believe what happens next!"
This is an extreme version of this headline writing tip. The goal is to give your readers a strong incentive to click. This one tells a personal story about losing weight, but surprises people by saying that diets don't actually help. You'll wonder how they lost weight without dieting.