There are literally millions and millions of websites on the
World Wide Web not to mention the BILLIONS of content that all of these sites
hold.
Now take a second and try to visualize and put it into perspective.
Have you ever thought to yourself just how are you going to make YOUR content
stand out among this mass sea of information?
To be more specific, how can you convince people that your
content or material is in fact worth taking their time to read?
There is one effective way to do so. And not to worry, it's
legal.
Here’s how you can do this… you bait them using headlines.
Yes, with the right headlines, it can be a click magnet, and
the good news is that you usually have total control on how to design your
headlines.
The only bad news is that you have the power to make or
break your headline.
According to SEO experts, it is said that Google has taken a
web page's bounce rate into account now. If a page has a high bounce rate
therefore it does say something about a particular page. This is not good.
And to how much degree does this actually affect ranking I
personally do not know, but it is enough to tell me that coming up with awesome
content headlines to entice readers to stay and read it is now more important
than ever.
So here are some tips to help you design a better and
“baiting” headline:
Couple Your Headline With Something Good
From young we are always told that if we ever wanted
something, we have to work hard for it. For example, if we would like to buy a
nice car, then we have to work our behinds off to earn enough money to buy it.
Alternatively, for those who would like to have that perfect
look, they would go under the knife and endure painful surgeries just to
achieve that desired look.
That is why headlines, which promise something good will
come out of another thing that is excellent will catch many people by surprise.
In most cases (if not all) headlines such as this will certainly pique the
interest as readers will feel compelled to find out more.
There was an article a few years back where the headline
reads “Man lost weight by eating Twinkies”. Lose weight by eating something
totally not diet-friendly? How is that possible?
After reading that headline, I was totally enticed. I was
compelled to know more. I just had to click to find out.
Here's another example: “Look Like A Million Bucks… For Less
Than A Hundred" is also a great headline to entice people to click and
find out more.
So try to design your headlines by coming up with a positive
and then couple it with another positive and you will have a winning headline
on your headlines.
Happy Endings
Many people suffer from chronic or recurring problems, which
are constantly plaguing them to the point that they feel they cannot take it
anymore.
When they are pushed to the edge, desperation takes place
and this is when they would try (or even buy) anything to get rid of their
nagging problems.
Take, for instance, tinnitus (ringing in the ears) many
people are suffering from this problem for many years. Don't you think that
they will be more than curious if you come up with a headline that reads, “Cure
Your Tinnitus FOREVER"?
But of course, you must be ready to back up your claim
because misleading headlines can be even more damaging than lousy headlines. So
if you claim something in your headlines, then you better be ready to back it
up.
The Unconventional (But Simple) Method
This is another method of designing headlines in the hopes
of arousing the curiosity of its readers.
Here's another example:
The Unconventional (But Surprisingly Effective or Simple)
Method To Get Rid Of Acne
Or...
"The One Weird Secret To Have You Swinging Like A
Pro-Golfer”
These kinds of headlines make readers really curious. They
will keep on wondering to themselves what that one thing that can make such a
world of a difference is. It will continuously play in the mind of the readers,
and eventually it turns into "I JUST HAVE TO KNOW".
One reason why these headlines work as well as they do is
because it's usually involves just 1 or 2 methods, and yet it can make a whole
world of a difference. That suggests the method or secret is very powerful
indeed.
Emotional Benefits
In many cases, many people only buy what they want and not
what they need.
When they say they need it, chances are they actually want
it in the first place and saying that they need it is just a way of justifying
their wants.
And with the proper headlines, you can generate that “want”
or “need”.
SO what drives a person to want something to the point that
they think that they NEED it?
You can do this by providing benefits.
However, you cannot provide just any kind of benefit, but
you need to provide an emotional benefit. And if you can find and attach this
emotional benefit to anything, such as a product, it WILL sell.
Take for instance, a product which aids weight loss.
If you state just the obvious benefits such as “helps you to
lose weight”, “makes you feel more energetic”, “feel healthier overall”, these
are just the same common traits of all weight loss products.
Not only does this not set you apart from the tons of other
similar weight loss products, the weight loss product here just has no real
unique point about it.
However, if you were to change your headline to "A
Weight Loss Product That Will Have You Looking & Feeling Like The Sexiest
Hollywood Stars"...now that really speaks out especially to the female
audiences.
It is the same product but because of your headlines,
suddenly it becomes more valuable, and becomes more of must-have because you
have associated it with an emotional benefit.
Emotions are a very powerful motivator. So learn how to stir
emotions using your headlines. Depending on what your content is, the emotion
can either be humorous, sad, anger, happiness, inspirational and more.
It's up to you to decide the appropriate emotion to the
headline which matches the tone of your content.