Welcome to lesson 12 on blogging.  

Grumbling that you have great content but no one reads your article? Do you want to know the reason? Imagine that you arrived at a new blog site, what is the first picture that comes into you now?  

I bet most of you will look at the blog title first followed by the most recent article headline. These are the 2 most prominent elements of a blog that captures the initial attention of most people. So do you know the answer to the question now?  

In this lesson, I will reveal the secrets to writing compelling headline that will lure your readers to “slip” into and read the entire article.

3 Steps To Writing A Good Headline

Think about how you get to live safely in your house without any burglary. Yes, you are right. It’s padlock. Padlock is composed of alloy which is a mixture of 2 or more metals. Metals are not strong by nature and it is through alloy production that increases its toughness. Headlines are the same.  

Adding in emotional elements into your headlines will make it more compelling to read. It raises the quality of the content, thus gaining more exposure. Below are the 3 steps production in constructing a good headline:

1) Raw materials - Ideas

This will be the stage where you come out with 3-4 ideas for your headline. These headlines should give your readers a clue as to what your articles are about. Do not be restricted by any language boundaries. Just write down any input that comes into your mind first. Remember, this is the raw materials in production. 

2) Combining metal – curiosity input 

Add element of curiosity into your headline. Instead of using “How to write a powerful headline?” which is so commonly seen in many blogs, I tweak the idea and come up with something more crude “Why your headlines sucks?”  

You can also include something popular in your niche as your headline. For example, I can change my headline to “Problogger on Headlines”. This will create an urge for my readers to read my articles should my first sentence be a supporting sentence of this headline. 

Reading widely helps you in choosing a better headline. Put on your creative cap when you are at this stage. You may spend 30mins, 1 hour or even 10 hours thinking of a good headline but it is worth the effort. Practice makes perfect and this will come in naturally as your do more of it.  

3) Output alloy – great headlines 

Completed the production process and it is time to shape the alloy into a product. Similar to headlines, rearrange the words to get the best headline for your article. Mix and match the words for difference impact that you bring to your readers.

How About Having Headlines Formula?

This idea sounds great isn’t it? It is easier to use these formulas then to think so hard to come up with a great headline. Let’s see what these formulas are:

1) List headline 

These are the most commonly used headlines and have proven to work even till now. “10 tips to strip faster” is a list headline combining with the element of curiosity. This type of articles is deemed to be easy to read and at the same time provide great educational value.

2) “How to” headline 

It is appealing to readers if you are teaching them something on your article. It need not be anything rocket science. An example is “How to style your hair on different occasions?” I would find it interesting if there is a blog teaching me how I could do it.

3) “Works” headline 

Your readers will think that what you have in your content is something that have happened before and is proven to work. An example is “Making money through blogging works.” This is a form of social proof article.

4) Problem based headline 

Instead of a statement, why not try asking a question as a headline. Readers interested in knowing the answer will read the article. Try adding in curiosity into your headline to make it even more compelling. An example is “Why I can but you can’t?”

 5) “Reveal” headline 

I notice that whenever I have a “reveal” headline in my previous blogs, it tends to draw in more attention. People love to expose what is happening on the backstage. They want to know the true secrets behind it and will start reading your articles unknowingly. An example is “Secrets of internet marketing revealed”.

 Additional Resources

1) Masternewmedia

2) Copyblogger

 Stop using boring headlines and start constructing compelling ones. Do you have any other great headlines that you would like to share with me? Do add in the comments below.

Tasks for lesson 12

1) Use the headline formulas on your next article and track the difference in results

2) Practice more on adding curiosity into your headline. Find any articles and tweak the headline to practice.

 Subscribed to my blog now to get updates for every of my coaching lesson. Next lesson will be introducing to you on copywriting skills – First paragraph of your article.

Wei Liang

ABloggerBlog.com