What makes this content special? The answers to these questions most likely won’t produce the exact headline you’ll use. 1. Who will benefit from this content? Review your headline to make sure you use language that intrigues your audience. For example, your target audience may be marine biologists who have a tendency to procrastinate. If your headline only says, “10 Tips to Beat Procrastination,” you can look for ways to add words that will attract marine biologists. The promises certain pieces of content make to expand people’s understanding or knowledge of a topic persuade them to read content throughout the day. Your tips might help marine biologists accomplish tasks faster, and if they can accomplish tasks faster, they’re less likely to put them off. What makes this content special? Now you’ll want to revise a few words from your original headline: Custom-tailored headlines for your content We started this exercise with the headline: The final result is: If you’re a marine biologist with a tendency to procrastinate, which headline would you click on?
Writers are communicators. If you’re proud of your ideas, you want to be able to communicate them clearly and precisely.
And headlines are your first opportunity to present your message to the audience you want to reach. The language you use should appeal to those people and make them want to find out more.
A guide to finding the right words
Once you’ve written a draft of your headline and article (or you’ve recorded a podcast episode or video), use the questions below to ensure your headline is the most effective it can be:
- Who will benefit from this content?
- How do I help them?
- What makes this content special?
The answers to these questions most likely won’t produce the exact headline you’ll use.
Rather, they’ll help shape your headline draft into a persuasive message that reaches and connects with the people you want to attract to your content.
To keep the process of infusing your headline with meaning and fascination simple, I recommend answering each question in one to two sentences.
If you need to write more, it’s a strong sign you should fine-tune your goal for the content before…
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