How To Write Headlines For contents That Leave Your Competitors Behind

If you are not convinced in the title of your content, you are throwing 80% of your effort in the trash.

And it is with this subtle phrase that we are going to talk about the main element of writing, be it an email, blog article or a sales page.

Anyone who wants to win the click on Google or sell a digital product, needs to write headlines for better contents than those of competitors.

How to do this?

Creating seductive titles, which generate emotional impact and lead the reader to take an action , whatever it may be.

Have you ever shared a content without even reading it, just because the call was irresistible?

Yeah, I bet you do!

So you already know in practice the power of magnetic titles.

They, alone, can increase traffic, the open rate of your emails or the number of views of your videos.

But I'm not talking about Clickbait titles.

Clickbait, or click bait, is a tactic used especially by sensationalist news sites.

This is a bad practice, but it shows the power of a good headline to attract clicks and visits.

A bombastic promise in a title needs to be delivered in the body of the content.

I cited and example clickbaits just to illustrate how much an excellent title can do for your content.

But I don't recommend that you use it.

So, let's get to know the best techniques for you to create mesmerizing titles .

Does the size of headings for contents matter?

We not only scan the content of a content, but we also scan titles.

Especially in the digital medium, people tend to absorb the first three words of a title and the last three .

Obviously few titles will have up to six words in total, as we need to use several elements to make it more striking.

For this reason, it is important to make the first three and the last three words really stand out.

SEO - focused contents as well as video titles for YouTube have character limitations. Therefore, it is necessary to create considering this limit.

If you use headings for contents on Instagram (as we do in our images) try to keep it as short as possible, while catching the attention of the person who is scouting your phone over and over.

Write the title before or after?

I always recommend writing all the content first and then creating the title.

There is no rule for this, but with the finished content you can create a much more appropriate title that summarizes and attracts the rest.

Not to mention that good title ideas can come from insights within your content, for example.

However, if you had a fantastic title idea and want to write the content on top of it, go for it. But the reverse is usually easier.

In any case, it guarantees that your title has the name SHINE.

The acronym SHINE (which in English means brightness) is the abbreviation of 5 elements that must be present in a magnetic title .

And that also recommends that you leave the creation of the title last:

S - Specific

H - Helpful

I - Immediate (urgency)

N - Newsworthiness (notable)

E - Entertainment (ability to entertain)

First you identify the problem, then you offer the solution and finally you make a promise.

When you create your headline, be specific, your visitors want to know exactly what they will find if they decide to click on your call and how you can help them.

3 magical ingredients of titles

Created by John Caples, a pioneer in the use of persuasive techniques in advertising and one of the greatest copywriters of all time, the 3-factor technique consists of creating titles that contain:

• Personal benefit
• Curiosity
• Novelty
• Personal Benefit

People will always look for what personal benefit they can get from something. The famous “what do I get out of this?

In the case of the title, people need to realize right away what they will gain from that content that you are offering.

If you know your market and audience well, this may be the easiest element to apply to headlines for contents, after all, you understand the needs of your target audience.

At the same time it is the most difficult to use without falling into the cliché.

A good practice when using personal benefit as the focus of your title is to start with

" As…".

Here are some examples:

• "How to increase your child's IQ even before they are born".
• “How to grow the equivalent of a thousand $ 1,000 of food in small gardens?
• "How to eat more and still lose weight"

Realize that all these titles make the benefit very clear, after all, who would not like to be able to eat more and still be thinner, right?

Curiosity

The second powerful element of a title is its ability to generate curiosity.

The search for information to satisfy curiosity activates parts of the brain related to pleasure, as we were satisfied to discover the reason for what we were looking for.

The curiosity trigger becomes even more powerful when it is combined with a controversy.

When you say something controversial, it piques people's interest.

A slightly less secure option than the “How to do something” titles, since at the same time it is an element present in most viral titles.

When misused, the way to generate curiosity can be considered controversial and inadequate.

Some examples:

• “They laughed when I sat at the piano. But when I started playing! ” (used by John Caples to sell music courses).
• "Do you make these common mistakes in your personal finances?"
• Titles that stimulate curiosity work very well when they are related to a story .

“Imagine me maintaining a bewitched audience for 30 minutes! ”“ As I resigned, I paid my debts and found my purpose in gastronomy.”

Novelty

People love news. In neurological terms, when we are exposed to something new, there is an increase in the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for the sensation of pleasure.

Although familiar things generate a certain tranquility, the novelty takes us out of the comfort zone and motivates us to look for the reward associated with it.

See some examples of titles that bring news:

• "Scientists at Cambridge have discovered a new testosterone formula"
• “A revolutionary idea for those who want to act in the cinema”

Note that the novelty is always linked to a personal benefit, but the key element here is the new way to achieve this benefit, which, preferably, needs to be cheaper, faster and easier.

How to write headlines for persuasive contents

All contents must somehow persuade their reader.

If only to get him to the end of the reading or leave a comment.

However, here I am referring to titles for copy contents, focused on generating revenue.

Did you know that a change in title can make a 10 to 1 difference in sales .

There are “magic” words to create powerful headlines, both for your content, as well as for your landing pages, emails and sales pages.

In general, a title for persuasive content can have 6 elements:

• Immediate / urgency;
• Connection;
• Specificity;
• Transformation;
• Call to action;
• Exclusivity.

You do not need to have these 6 elements together in a single call, but use a combination of them that gives a logical sense.

We will understand each of these elements from now on.

1. Immediatism and urgency

Its main objective is to capture the visitor's attention , piquing their curiosity.

Main words and terms:

• find it out
• Now
• Today
• The secret
• The truth
• Nobody ever told
• Revealed
• In this exact moment
• From now on

Some calls using these terms:

• "Discover now the shocking truth about ..."
• "Financial educator reveals the truth that no one has ever told about ..."
• "Discover today the # 1 secret to ..."

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2.Connection

The second element present in hypnotic titles is the connection.

The focus is to bring you and the visitor closer , making them feel capable of reaching a certain goal.

Here are the main words and expressions that generate connection:

• You;
• Common people;
• Step by step;
• Starting from scratch;
• Even if you never;
• As I did and as you can too.

Example:

"Discover the # 1 secret that ordinary people use ..."

3.Specificity

The third factor of a killer title is specificity.

The idea is to transform your title into something specific, either by setting a deadline or the number of steps to reach a certain goal.

It is one of the most powerful elements of a title.

Here are the main words and expressions that convey specificity:

• In X Hours;
• In X Days;
• In X Weeks;
• X Infallible Tips;
• X Essential Factors;

Example:

“7 simple steps to radically change your life in 30 days or less”

4. Transformation

The fourth characteristic of a powerful title is transformation.

Its main objective is ** to show the transformation that your content / product can cause in the life of your visitor **, making him dream or desire your solution fervently.

In this specific case, the transformation will depend on the purpose of your product, but the main objective of it should be very clear.

Example:

“Personal trainer reveals the secret to drying your belly in 8 weeks”

5. Call to Action

The fifth element in efficient headings is the call to action .

The objective here is quite clear: to make your reader take immediate action, whether to register an email, watch a video or make a purchase.

We human beings not only like it, but we need to be called to act.

And here are the main terms for making a call to action:

• Register now
• Click here
• Click and Register
• Click to continue
• Watch the Video Now
• Start now

6.Exclusivity

The sixth and final factor present in magnetic titles is exclusivity.

Its main objective is to generate a feeling of something unique for your visitor , unlike anything he has seen around.

Unlike the other elements, exclusivity is not a specific term, but the combination of these different terms to transform your title into something absolutely unique.

Let's say I did a keyword search and found that the term “change your life” has a lot of searches.

That way, I can create two titles:

"How to change your life"

“7 simple steps to radically change your life in 30 days or less”

Which of these titles gives the reader a feeling that he will find exclusive content, different from what he usually sees out there? Easy, right?

In short, the exclusivity of your title or your call is precisely to use the largest number of elements, as long as your title remains meaningful.

Good practices to adopt in your writing routine

Writing headlines for contents that gain attention on the internet is an art.

And like all art, you only get better as you practice and study.

I recommend that you create your own bond bank.

Every time you find an email that popped into your eyes, a video that stands out on YouTube or a sales page with an extremely powerful headline, write it down somewhere.

It can be in Evernote, a document in Google Drive or a spreadsheet.

But it is important that you try to understand why that title stood out and use it as a basis for your own creations.

There is also a Co-Schedule tool that assesses your headline’s emotional appeal.

I hope your click on this article was worth it.

If so, leave your comment here for us!