Writing a compelling and click-worthy headline for a blog post is a fine art. As a blogger, I feel torn between making the headline compelling and clickable, while also to-the-point and have that desirable “SEO appeal”. In Twitter, you just have a few seconds (and not many more characters) to get that immediate click. Here are some examples of headlines that can help you take your blogs or social media posts from blah to brilliant.
1. “How to” Blog Headlines
It is easy to make an enticing promise by simply adding the words “How to” in front of a statement or a typical blog headline or tweet. Doing this makes it more actionable for the reader.
Examples:
How to Turn your [blank] into [desired result]
How to [Increase/decrease] [blank] in just [time frame]
How to make [Activity] a Breeze
Here is a quick way to [overcome a challenge, solve a problem]
2. “Everyone Else is doing it” Blog Headlines
These are blog headlines that give proof that the industry experts, your neighbors, or “everyone else” is doing it.
Examples:
How [person, company, group] Mastered [Activity, trade]
A Simple Method to [achieved goal/outcome] that Worked for [person, customer, group, company]
The [book, website, product, idea] that [Everyone, group of people] is Talking About
What [expert, industry, group] Thinks about [Idea, product]
3. “List it” Blog Headlines
If your blog post includes a list (or even one solid point), you can make a headline out of it. It is a way to tell readers what to expect in terms of the quick-read or more in-depth content included in the post.
Examples:
[1 or low number] Simple Method to [Reach goal]
[Number] Things you Probably Forgot when [Doing a task]
[Number] FAQ’s Answered About [Topic or person of interest]
[Number] Little Known Ways to [Desired goal or outcome]
4. “Reach New Goals” Blog Headlines
These blog headlines promise that you will reap great benefits by taking the desired action. On the flip side, the headlines could also be about taking action to avoid a certain consequence.
Examples:
[Secrets, little known ways] to [achieve goal, solve problem]
If you can [do this 1 simple thing], you can [enjoy this benefit]
How [you, your company] can achieve [huge success, milestone] by/with [minimal effort, little cost]
Imagine [desired outcome or scenario] with/in [minimal effort or money, time frame]
Now that I gave you some ideas for giving your next blog post a compelling headline, what is stopping you? Go ahead and start writing your next blog post, or finish that post that you started a while back. These ideas could also be used to compose some enticing tweets to give older blog posts some new life.
