How To Write Better Headlines For Your Blog Posts (Beginner’s Guide)

Do you want to learn how to write headlines that get clicks?

No problem. We’ve got you covered.

In this guide, you’ll find everything you need to know to write headlines that get attention from your audience.

You’ll find headline writing formulas, tools, tips, and plenty more.

Time is money so let’s get right to it.

Why do headlines matter?

Imagine this:

You walk past 4 shops; each of them has boarded up windows and a sign saying ‘Sweets’.

Would you go inside any of these shops?

Probably not. I definitely wouldn’t.

Now imagine this:

You walk past another shop; vases filled with candy can be viewed from the windows and the shop’s name is ‘Mr Smith’s Sweet & Candy Shop’ with a tagline below “We have every single type of candy on the planet!”

Would you go inside?

Most likely. If I was looking to buy some sweets, this would be the shop I’d choose.

Headlines work in a similar way; only on a much larger scale. 

Instead of a few store owners vying for attention, there are thousands of content creators all competing for the attention of the same group of people.

Your headline is what gets people through the door. It’s the sign post that grabs people’s attention. 

It creates intrigue, offers value and makes a promise that your content has to deliver on.

And like Copyblogger says:

On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest.

What does this statistic tell us? People aren’t utilizing headlines effectively.

Long before the Internet took over our lives, copywriters and journalists of the print industry would spend hours crafting the most compelling headlines for newspapers because they knew of their importance.

How else would they attract readers and sell their newspapers?

On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy.

David Ogilvy

His most famous headline came from an article he wrote for Rolls-Royce, advertising their latest car:

“At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”

He rewrote this headline 104 times until it was perfect.

Today, this headline would be a little long winded, but back in the 1950s it was all about compelling statements.

So this begs the question, are you spending long enough working on your headlines?

5 things you need to know (so you can write better headlines)

What you SHOULDN’T do with your headline

You’ve invested a lot of time in content creation, hoping it will be read and loved by many. The first thing potential readers will see is your headline, and if it’s ‘wrong’ your content will gather dust in some far off corner of the internet.

But, your content deserves better.

Improve your headlines by avoiding the following:

1. Exaggerated to the point of annoyance

Exaggerations can work in conversation. For example, a metaphor such as: 

‘ she was so mad I thought she was going to explode…’ 

But in a headline it can be irritating.

I’m sure you’ve been a victim of these types of ‘suggested content’ at the bottom of some websites.

I have fallen prey to these types of content, and I am always disappointed.

You would not believe what she did when he came home…

A boyfriend proposes to his girlfriend, she cries and says yes, that’s it. Literally. No catch. No drama. The problem is I would believe this, therefore the headline doesn’t deliver.

Plus the fact that I had to go through 20 pages to complete the story was annoying.

Your headline has to deliver.

Don’t say ‘Shocking Tips…’ or ‘Tips Marketers Aren’t Telling You’ if they’re just the most basic bog standard tips everyone is sharing and talking about.

I had this recently with a YouTube video and the second part of the headline was ‘Tips YouTubers Don’t Want You To Know!’

It definitely peaked my interest because I want to know these tips that YouTubers are keeping to themselves. However, it turned out that these tips were basically:

• Have a headline
• Create a thumbnail
• Write a detailed description
• Be interesting and have great content
• Look at your watch time to find which videos are more popular

I had wasted 15+ minutes on a video with basic beginner knowledge that made out it had industry secrets on growing your YouTube channel.

*sighs*

2. Clickbaity to the point of irrelevance

We are all familiar with clickbait headlines, and although this type of headline can get you your clicks, it doesn’t get you loyal readers or earn trust.

However, for those of you who are oblivious here are some example headlines:

I just couldn’t do it today…

I made a HUGE mistake and I’m sorry…

It broke and I don’t know why…

These are random statements that explain nothing about the content and leave you completely confused yet slightly curious. Which is great if someone is familiar with you and your brand, or a loyal fan of your content because they’ll want to know what you couldn’t do, or a mistake you made, etc.

But let’s say you’re writing an article on easy, simple recipes that involve avocados. Having the headline: ‘I didn’t know this could be so easy’ would be clickbait.

Why? Because the person clicking on that headline has no idea that you’re referring to the fact that it is easy to add avocados into meals.

So what do you get in return? 100% bounce rate. Ouch!

Curiosity didn’t kill the cat, it killed your readers average view time on your site.

3. Over promising to the point of disappointment

If you order a 12” pepperoni pizza, you expect a 12” pepperoni pizza. You expect it as described on the menu, which is completely understandable, right?

So, if you’re given a 12” pepperoni pizza with ham, pineapple and mushrooms instead; would you be disappointed?

Yes, that’s not how the pizza was advertised.

Your headline is a promise that you’re advertising, and you have to deliver.

If your headline says: The Ultimate Guide To Knitting Like A Professional In Less Than A Week, but it’s only 500 words with no depth, no explanations and lacking anything that would enable you to learn how to knit; then this headline hasn’t delivered on it’s promise of being an Ultimate Guide, turns out it’s an ultimate guide to nothing.

Example: Adam wrote an in-depth article (over 3,500 words) and as a result got an outreach email from another website. They asked him to link to their article because it was useful and in-depth. They labelled their post as an ‘Ultimate Guide’. Their article was 500 words. 

The same principle applies when you use numbers in your headlines. If you state ‘6 Tools’ in your heading, show 6 tools in your content. If you can read and write, surely you can count…

If you state ‘Free Tools That Do [insert action]’ but turns out they don’t unless you cough up some money – you’ll just annoy people who could otherwise become loyal fans.

If it’s a guide for beginners, make sure the content is beginner friendly.

I’ve written a blog post called: Basic Music Theory: The Complete Beginner’s Guide. Now, what I wouldn’t do is talk about complex chord formulas and advanced theories because this post is aimed at those at a beginner level.

Instead, I go through the basics slowly along with imagery for additional learning support. My content delivers on the title, nothing more and nothing less.

Don’t over promise value in your headline if your content can’t deliver on that promise.

What you SHOULD do with your headline

Well I suppose the answer would be the opposite to those above; don’t exaggerate, don’t be clickbaity and don’t over promise; but that’s not all.

What you should do with your headline, or how you should present your headline depends on your target audience and the best way to attract their attention.

But the goal should always be to deliver on the promise of the headline, that is non-negotiable.

So what exactly are we promising?

1. Something of value

So your headline needs to offer something of value to the reader. But, what exactly does value look like?

Well it depends on what your target audience wants.

Hopefully, before you’ve written your content you’ve done your research into your target audience in terms of their demographics and their pain points, etc.

This information will show you what your target audience wants or needs, and you cater your content around fulfilling those wants and needs.