Top Tips For Writing Blog Headlines That Attract Readers

The use of blogging by businesses has become a vital way for gaining visibility online, and getting your brand out there. But blogging simply for the sake of blogging is not going to help drive traffic, or help your business grow online. You need to ensure that readers want to read your posts, to stand any chance of obtaining leads or customers through your blog.

So how do you grab a reader’s attention? You’ll need a well-written and enticing headline that readers simply can’t ignore. They need to feel they’ll get some value from clicking through to your article.

What are your audience looking for?

With so much new content published online every single day, users are faced with an abundance of blog posts, articles and news surrounding any given topic. They are not going to sit and read through all of this. Why would they choose yours?

Readers tend to only read things online that will provide some benefit to them. Whether this be a quick source of entertainment, detailed information on a subject, or help and advice for instance.

The secret to attracting readers is a headline that clearly shows them the benefits they will get from reading your post.

Show your readers the benefits

Taking the headline of this post as an example, the words “top tips” immediately help show the reader that they could learn something from reading the blog post. An alternative could be words like “how to”.

Following on from that is a clear statement of the benefits of learning what the post has to say – “attract readers”. Another example could be “drive traffic”.

Although a simple headline, it clearly shows the user what the article is about, and why they might want to read it.

Other effective headlines

Although the “how to” and “top tips” headlines are effective, it is important to ensure there is variety throughout your blog, and that you are not re-using the same tactic over and over again. Some other types of headlines that work are:

• Questions – These can help provoke intrigue, and make the reader want to read your post in search for answers. Note, that if you are going to ask a question in your headline, it is important to make sure your blog post actually answers it!
• Lists – “8 tips for…”, “Top 5…” style headlines help give a reader an immediate impression of how long the article is likely to be, provide a god understanding of what you are promising, and build trust and authority.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with headlines. It may be that certain types of headlines resonate better with your audience than others. You’ll only find this out through trial and error. With practice will come confidence in your headline writing ability and you’ll understand what works.

The best way to recognise successful headlines is through keeping tabs on other blogs and competitors. Which ones draw you in? Which articles have the most shares or comments? Use these as indicators and pick up tips from others to bring to your own writing.