Headline Tricks That Need To Die…You Won’t Believe Which Ones!
Remember when headlines were just headlines—the title of the accompanying article— and nothing more? Now they have to be everything—a marketing pitch, a call to action and a pitch to “click me” instead of another link. And worst of all, a readily made template to just plug and chug without any further thought.
The demand for headlines to fulfill all of these requests has resulted in a dozen or so formulas that hope to generate tons of traffic. These tricks [“One Tweet Perfectly Explains Life” or “The Truth About X, Explained in 100 Charts”] are not going away anytime soon, especially on social media. In an an age where referral traffic from social media accounts for nearly a third of traffic, writers and editors must write for social media platforms. With a finite character limit, this writing is highly headline driven.
The problem with this is that everyone is writing for social media in the same way. Everyone’s using the same dozen or so formulas. First of all—how boring. Seriously. Where is the voice of the publisher? You’d think that in the age of personalization, publishers would have mastered writing headlines that aren’t cheap Upworthy knockoffs, but rather a statement that encapsulates not only the article, but also their vision and brand. Instead that’s all we see. The reason why those hyperbolic formulas worked in the first place was because they were different. They screamed, “pay attention to me!” and people did.
Almost like a domino effect, publishers started writing clickbait or clickbait-lite. What’s curious about this decision, though, is how much clickbait hate is documented. The Atlantic writes in Why Internet Headline Writers Hate Themselves,”Writers are caught between the commercial instinct to maximize attention to articles that they’ve spent lots of time writing and the aesthetic instinct to not hate every fiber of their very being after they write the headline and press the publish button.” ReadWrite reports that Facebook knows you hate clickbait but the data is so darn convincing (aka successful) that it continues to exist.
Don’t be that writer. Don’t be that publisher. Don’t succumb to the clickbait craze. You’ll hate yourself and people will hate you (not to be dramatic). That’s not to say you shouldn’t use headline templates. Just use good ones. Copyblogger suggests 10 sure-fire headline formulas that aren’t irksome. Blogger Michelle Schaeffer offers 43 headline templates to experiment with, all of which are clickbait free. You’ll want to pick headline templates that match your publication’s voice and style. And now, we offer 6 tricks of our own.
Tips to Stop Headline Fatigue
- Add some irony. It’s worked for Clickhole. Adding humour to the mix can bring self-awareness and irreverence to your work, for the better.
- Go negative. For the last several decades, people’s media diets have consisted of negative and/or sensational journalism. It’s carried over to the internet age. How else do you explain the success of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People?
- Make them curious, but not resentful. There’s a fine line here: too little information and vague phrasing can create clickbait (and audience resentment) whereas too much information in the headline destroys an incentive to stay and read; at best, it creates a skimmer who leaves the site too soon.
- Keep your voice. The most sinful act in the headlines war is adopting a headline that takes you off brand. If your publication isn’t likely to exaggerate and is not doing it in irony, don’t use that method.
- Decide on length. A recent trend has headlines acting more like sentences. Is that appropriate for your publication? For example, New York Magazine does an excellent job of packaging very long, sentence-like copy because it fits in with its trendy, irreverent voice.
- Use similes instead of superlatives. A simile is a comparison using the word like or as (not a metaphor). Using a comparison in a headline is helpful because it gives a frame of reference instead of an unfounded exaggeration. Will it actually blow your mind? No. Use a simile.
Is your headline looking like one of these? Abort mission. Check out these tips instead. Rinse, lather, repeat.
10 Simple Tips to Craft Compelling Headlines
By Emily E. Steck
If content is king, then headlines are the keys to the kingdom. No matter how good the content publishers make is, the reality is that a reader’s first assumption about the content is its headline. And with so much content out there, a good, tweaked headline can reap benefits.
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Write 25 Headlines for Every Article
By Emily E. Steck
Not only does a headline make a first impression for your reader, but it's also the gatekeeper for your content. A bad headline can keep people out; a good headline can let people in. [Twenty-five is the magic number for headline success](https://blog.quiet.ly/industry/why-25-is-the-magic-number-for-headline-success/) and this principle is known as the"Upworthy Effect." For every post Upworthy publishes, the editorial team writes a minimum of 25 headlines before choosing the best one. It's a great exercise to develop new concepts and ideas and also to work through multiple drafts of your headlines.
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Offer Help and Solutions
By Emily E. Steck
Content is supposed to inform, educate and entertain, but often the best content helps a user. If you type in "headline writing" into Google, the highest results will offer _solutions_ to headline writing. (Not unlike this embed.) Focus your headlines, then, on helping solve a problem rather than telling about something. So spin a news item into what to do about it. Instead of "Here's What You Need to Know About X", frame it as "What to Do Now That This Happened".
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Share Experiences
By Emily E. Steck
Both B2B and B2C brands can benefit from the "What we/I learned" headline framework. By speaking to your readers from your experience, you instantly create trust, authority and a promising solution with your headline. Think articles like "We Overhauled Our Email Strategy and Gained 10,000 Subscribers in 6 months" or "What I Learned from Contouring my Face Everyday". They instantly make the articles more personal.
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Promises and Calls to Action
By Emily E. Steck
What will happen to your reader if they read this piece of content and not others? Where's the promise that their life will be better/different/easier? Make promises in your headlines that call your readers to action—just as long as you can keep them. Instead of something like "Building Your Personal Brand", frame it with a promise like, "How to Build Your Personal Brand and Score Your Dream Job".
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Include Data and Quotes
By Emily E. Steck
Include information that makes them want to read more. Usually, this is in the form of data (like numbers and facts) or quotes (like those from a celebrity or well-regarded expert). Statistics and quotes are even better used when they seem difficult to believe. B2B brands love to employ this tactic, as it furthers their case for credibility. Something like "How We Boosted Our Traffic by 40% in Just Three Months!" can do the trick.
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Listify Content
By Emily E. Steck
Lists offer structure within your content and your headlines. Lists give an idea of what an article is about, how long it is, etc. Really, they’re perfect for headlines. The good headline of “How To Build Your Personal Brand & Score Your Dream Job In The Digital Age” can shift to “10 Steps To Build Your Personal Brand & Score Your Dream Job In The Digital Age.” We now know how long the article is and what to expect.
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Consider Your Audience
By Emily E. Steck
A headline has to fulfill a promise to your audience, not trick them into reading something. After all, you don’t want to lose their trust. Think to yourself: Does this answer a question my readership might have? Am I speaking in their language? Craft your headline for an audience of just one person so that the content resonates with them.
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Align it with Your Content
By Emily E. Steck
Content should always have a purpose, otherwise it's just content for content's sake. Your headline should reflect the angle of your content and why you are creating content. Always ask yourself: What’s the point of this content? Better yet, ask what is _the most important_ point of this content?
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Lean Positive or Negative
By Emily E. Steck
Statistically, readers like superlative words in their content aka either extremely positive (best, easiest, greatest, ultimate) or extremely negative words (never, don't, stop, avoid). If you want your content to get attention, your headline must be on either end of the spectrum; otherwise, it won’t catch anyone’s attention.
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Avoid Clickbait and Headline Fatigue
By Emily E. Steck
We all know what clickbait is and we've all been guilty of clicking on it. Don't be guilty of creating it. Avoid creating headlines like “One Tweet Perfectly Explains Life” or anything that sounds misleading, desperate or falsified.
Image Credit: Helen Haden via Flickr