How to write brilliant blog titles with 3 simple tips

The power of enticing headlines has been known, and exploited, since newspapers began to print. Since the digital explosion, a headline is created every time you hit publish on a blog, create a new landing page or share a link on social.

The big question is - are you making the most of your title?

Copywriting legend David Ogilvy once stated that five times as many people on average will read the headline as will read the body content – perhaps even more now with the number of places a piece of digital content can be found.

Yet many bloggers still treat the title as an after-thought and go with the first thing that comes into their head - not advisable!

Creating a bad title can let down your great content

A common problem amongst fledging blog writers and small business owners is creating an info-packed blog post that no one reads because of a badly worded headline. The internet is a cut-throat world of skim-readers – no prisoners are taken. If you’ve got this far, you’re doing well! 

If the title doesn’t grab someone (metaphorically), or the first paragraph falls short of the interest mark, ALL users will be grasping for the back button no matter how good the rest of the piece is.

How do I know what a good headline looks like?

A quick Google search of “best headlines ever” tends to bring up a variety of funny, absurd and slightly bonkers titles.

Example - hmm interesting

Example - tongue and cheek

Example - too far?

A slightly deeper look into headlines unveils the examples that have categorical worked for a business, returning a measurable result - be it revenue or inbound enquiries.

In Victor Schwab’s fantastic book, ‘How to write a good advertisement’, he shares 100 examples of good headlines, containing some of the most successful ads in history.

Here are a few of the best headlines from Schwab’s book:

• The secret of making people like you – surely you want to know what the secret is?

• How to win friends and influence below – how to’s have a strong appeal and entice people to read on to get knowledge promised.

• Six types of investors – which group are you in?

• They laughed when I sat down at the piano – but when I started to play! – this example turns a negative into a positive, creating a before and after angle.

Now, all the above headlines are decades old and were written way before the internet was even conceived (the piano headline was written in 1926!). But they all contain evergreen learning points for you to incorporate into your blog post titles to get users to read on.

Written in 1926 by John Caples - one of the most famous advertising headlines ever written

3 tips to create an enticing title

1) The 4 U Formula (try to include at least 2)

Sharpened in the advertising heartlands of the USA by Michael Masterson, these 4 elements will help you to produce a powerful headline. Treat this almost like a checklist the next time you come to write one.

• Useful – how is the article going to be useful to the reader should they invest the time in reading it? What do they get out of it? It might address a problem or help to solve a customer pain point. This will compel the reader to carry on reading.  

• Ultra-specific – this is about giving the details. If you’re are too general, your headline isn’t going to attract anyone. This may be a number of steps to do something or specific insight related to the content. It’s going to make your headline more believable and help to urge the right type of reader (not just any) to read on.

• Unique – a unique approach offers a surprise factor. It makes the reader sit up and take note. If they’ve seen the same headline somewhere before, it’s going to look tired and uninteresting. Try adding a bit of emotion or something unusual. Instead of 10 top tips, how about 9?

• Urgent – usually used more in advertising or email subject lines, urgency can still play an important role in headline crafting. It might be used to persuade the user to solve their issue faster or take action sooner. Imagine your content is the pain relief to the problem – who doesn’t want to get rid of the headache sooner rather than later? Do you want to Increase Your Traffic by 30% or Increase Your Traffic by 30% Right Now?

Be sure to include at least one of these U’s in your headline. The more you can fit into your headline the more compelling it’s likely to be.

2) Make sure your headline contains a benefit

This relates to the useful element of the 4 U’s. If there isn’t some kind of benefit to the user – knowledge, information or value – what’s the point in reading it?

By promising a benefit in the headline you’re urging the reader to take action. If they don’t carry on reading they might be missing out on something, and everyone hates FOMO (the fear of missing out).

Sometimes a benefit may be implied within the headline. This only works if your audience is knowledgeable and in sync with the type of services or products you deal with.

Going further, it’s vital that your content delivers on the benefit-driven promise of your headline. If not you risk being branded as a ‘clickbait merchant’, which can have negative consequences for your trust and authority in the eyes of potential customers.

3) Write more than one version

Create multiple versions of a headline to see which sounds the most effective. Test it on a few people. What sounds genius to you might not be your target audience’s cup of tea. Don’t just go with the first title that comes into your head. As Hemingway once said (allegedly), “the first draft of anything is shit”.

Some of the best copywriters in history would spend hours, even days, coming up with the greatest possible headline. You may have heard about the 50:50 rule – this suggests spending the same amount of time on your headline as you do on writing the main body content.

Wordsmithing also includes trying to get the keyword closer to the start of the title. This helps with your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and can also make it more specific. You might want to start with a verb to stimulate action and tick off the urgency box. Assess your other headlines to see which ones have worked well in the past.

Wrap up

Crafting an irresistible headline certainly takes time, focus and effort - but it will pay off. It will get more people to actually read the content you’ve spent so long working on, as well as helping your business to resonate more successfully with the prime audience of the piece.

Featured image credit, also quite a funny read - https://www.joe.co.uk/life/british-local-news-headlines-that-are-just-sensational-76865

Why your company really should be doing content marketing - plus 6 key benefits!

People are fed up of advertising and shady sales tactics that come across as not very genuine - you can spot them a mile off. What customers now want is information, value and transparency.

Content marketing generates over three times as many leads as the pushy, promotional advertising messages and costs 62% less. In short, content marketing can become your most productive channel. 

What is content marketing?

“It’s blogs and articles. Maybe a bit of social. A few selfies and that.”

Correct, content marketing does often include those things (selfies may depend on your field). But it does go further, especially if you want to do it right.

Content marketing for a small business is a long-term approach to your audience. A courtship if you will. It’s used to build trust and develop a strong relationship by being the go-to source of valuable information in your field.

Blogging is the most popular form of content marketing and there's a very good reason for that - it works.

When it's done right and approached strategically, you’ll be consistently solving issues and addressing problems of a well-defined, targeted audience through relevant, quality content.

Content can take all sorts of forms. As long as it’s communicating a message, that’s content. It can be blogs and articles (you knew it!), social posts, infographics, e-books and downloadable guides, videos, emails, webinars and probably a few more. Actually, as many as 105 types of content have been identified!

My advice is to type it simple. You don’t have to go all quantum field theory.

The best way is to focus on a handful of content marketing routes (depending on your audience preference) and do them well. Very well.

What are the benefits to my business?

You may have noticed the word ‘audience’ appear a few times already. This isn’t by chance. It’s probably the most important aspect. If you’re providing very useful content to your target audience when they’re in need, they’re going to like you.

Over time they’re going to trust you and have confidence that you do actually know what you’re talking about. This is when it starts to turn in your favour.

So, what are the benefits of having a good content marketing plan?

1.       Increase the amount of traffic to your site

2.       Improve your search engine visibility for your site as a whole - websites with blogs have 434% more search-engine indexed pages. 

3.       Better online presence and exposure for your brand

4.       A boost in authority – you’ll be seen as a fountain of knowledge

5.       Engaging your target audience and building that all important trust - this results in not just more leads, but more relevant, quality leads.

6.       Budget friendly with a healthy ROI - lower up-front costs and deeper long-term benefits.

Will it actually work for my small business though?

You might’ve started a blog once. Talked about what you do, what sort of things you’ve been up to. Your top post might have got 27 views, 10 from family members (I know I’ve been there).

When done with a plan – yes – it will work. Almost categorically. 

Good content marketing will provide true value to your target audience in a non-pushy or salesy way.

A good content marketing strategy takes two key things into account: your audience (they don’t really care what you’ve been doing) and SEO (search engine optimisation).

Having these two aspects means your writing efforts won’t go to waste. Why?

Because you’re providing value to your audience and your post is optimised to be found on Google (get a bit more information on Google and SEO content writing). Doing content marketing means you're creating lots of little pathways spread across the internet that lead back to your site. 

This is what brings in long-term traffic and not just a spike in views after you’ve shared in on LinkedIn and Twitter.  

People love reading content that answers their problems and solves their issues, if not completely, then at least helps them on their way with increased understanding and information. 86% of people will make a search before making a buying decision. You want your content to provide the answer for these search queries relevant to you. 

What about if this content marketing stuff doesn't work? 

Ok, a user might read a post and click off your site. In fact, most users will do this. It's natural. 

“Eh Ben, this content marketing is a bit crap isn’t it?”

Remember, it’s a long-term play. When the reader (potential customer) is in the mode to buy or make a decision, it’s you they might come back to. They might visit your site five times, 10 times even, before they do anything, but when the time is right you’ll start to get contacted.

It’s all about bringing people to the top of your sales funnel (apologies for the marketing speak). In basic terms, this is the first step to becoming a customer and it’s what Hubspot describes as the attract phase. Once you have ‘attracted’ a viewer to your content, they can be shuffled down the funnel to the converting phase.

This is inbound marketing. Rather than direct advertising and traditional ‘selling’, people actively contact you. Create the content and the people will come as a wise man once said. 

But it’s not just about creating more and more content, it’s about creating better quality content.

How do I start?

By all means get started straight away. There are marketing strategy templates you can download and plenty you can read about. But it needs to be taken seriously and it will work much better with a strategy. As a business owner, you’ll have a lot on your plate already so give it a real thought before you personally take this on as well.

Your other options are to hire someone to do this for you or outsource to a person or agency who can work with you to get your content marketing plan up, running and working. Around 62% of businesses now outsource their content marketing. 

Wrap up thoughts

I don’t think there are many businesses out there who won’t benefit from content marketing: more website visitors, more targeted traffic, better brand recognition and the building of trust with your audience.

It won’t cost you the earth either. Paid advertising stops the second you turn the money tap off. Great content doesn’t.

In fact, the longer it sticks around, the more traffic it tends to generate and the more people you get enquiring. You don’t have to take my word for it, here’s a Hubspot study.

Especially for small businesses, there is no better long-term marketing strategy than content marketing.