9 tips to writing catchy headlines
Learning how to write a catchy headline is an important part of any writing process. A well written, catchy headline acts as an attention grabbing “hook” that engages with your reader and encourages them to read on…
And writing catchy headlines isn’t just appropriate for brochures designed to sell a product or service – it is relevant for all your written material, from newsletters and media releases to blog posts and website copy.
Here’s a list of examples that demonstrate the different approaches to writing catchy headlines and how they could work for you:-
- Write clear headlines that are easily understood and include hooks at the beginning like, “how to…lose weight fast” or “get unlimited use of…at no extra charge”.
- State the benefit: although this will be covered in your body copy, make it clear up front what the big benefit will be if the reader reads your copy. This helps get your major selling point across
- Keep it short but sweet – particularly important in SEO copywriting when you only have 65 characters in your title to get your message across. Don’t forget that people scan headlines so if there is less to read you’ve got a greater chance of keeping your readers attention
- Exaggerate – why not? To exaggerate something implies a sense of urgency and will have greater impact, for example “How eating a kilo of spinach will dramatically improve your memory”…
- Solve a problem: the words “how to” are ideal to start a problem solving headline, eg “How to…lose 10 kilos in 10 days” and “How to pay off your mortgage in 5 years”
- Announce exciting news – incorporating this into a headline is bound to encourage further reading. You see announcements all over the media and the more exciting, the better, eg “We have some exciting news to share about Windows 10…” or “Win $1000 cash!”
- Use interesting adjectives..Why? Because they’re eye catching and the whole point of an attention grabbing headline is to capture people’s attention. Use words like essential, timesaving, incredible, adorable, fun, free…
- Include numbers in your headline – it’s another way to encourage people to read on. And if they know there are X number of tips in a list, it’s easier for the reader to scan the content and absorb information rather than read reams of text.
- Ask a question.. This approach is great because you’ll answer it in your body copy. The question could be something like: “Want to learn how to get rich through blogging?” or “Would you like to lose weight without dieting?”
“On the 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.”-David Ogilvy