If you want your website to stand out in a sea of information overload, then it all starts with your headline. Sure you need a great article that offers “value” and yada yada yada, but people won’t read it unless you grab them by the cahoonas and force them to pay attention.
This is where your headline comes in, and make no mistake, it needs to be good.
Fortunately this is a good thing. With the Internet being what it is, people are all too quick to spout off their success stories, and by doing this they give people like us valuable information absolutely free of charge. We can piggy back off other peoples tests and use them to get a foot hold on our own. Nothing beats actual testing for yourself, and this is something you should be doing. But if you need a head start and can mine through all the stones and pebbles, out there in cyberspace there is pure gold just waiting to be found.
I’ve done some mining of my own and found 10 killer headlines that you can start using today. Take them and do what you will, but remember where you heard them first, and give this little article a share. It’s a new website, I need all the friends I can get.
1) Numbers and Lists
I thought I’d start with this, because this very headline was used in this article. People love lists. It allows them to compartmentalise things. It makes them manageable, easy to remember and allows people to fly their eye down a page and take or leave what they want. It’s been proven by science that numbered lists are shared more on social media, so is a great headline to start with.
Examples:
- 10 Ways To Stroke Your Cat
- 15 Steps To A Perfect Life
- 101 Reasons To Love A Skunk
Questions
Ask a question that will pique someone’s interest. Humans are curious creatures and we all love to answer questions. There’s a reason why quiz shows are so popular, because we love questions. Studies have shown that questions in headlines can increase clicks by up to 5 times! If that isn’t reason enough to try it out, I don’t know what is.
Examples:
- How Did My Cat Make Me A Millionaire?
- What Made My Life So Perfect I Almost Committed Suicide?
- Why Is My Skunk More Intelligent Than Me?
2) The Only Way To..
The “only way to” headline makes people think they are going to find the definitive answer to their burning question. Hopefully they are, but they’ll have to click the link to find out. With headlines like this you should always add a quantifier, because there is never usually only one way to do something. So add a quantifier such as ‘The only way to XXX without having to XXX’. This way you’ll have a plausible way to back up the claim of your headline.
Examples:
- The Only Way To Feed Your Cat Without Making It Fat
- The Only Way To A Perfect Life Without Spending Money
- The Only Way To Handle A Skunk Without Getting Sprayed
3) Do Something In A Period Of Time
These type of headlines are great if you can give someone something that saves them time. Time is the one commodity we will eventually run out of, so is precious to us all. If you can save someone time, or they can see how long something will take, then it is a sure way to get them to click your ad.
Examples:
- Teach Your Cat To Sit in 20 Seconds
- Change Your Life In Under 5 Minutes
- Getting Rid Of Skunk Smells – 1 Minute Trick
4) Negative Headlines
Believe it or not, negative headlines seem to have higher click through rates that positive ones. This may be through conditioning as we are all used to positive headlines promising us the earth. Flip it on it’s head and give it a negative spin and you might just see your clicks increase.
Examples:
- Never Feed Your Cat On This Harmless Substance
- How Not To Suck At Life
- 6 Ways Your Skunk Is Betraying You
5) Surprise or Shock
Everyone loves surprises, and if it’s a shocking surprise it’s even better. The horror film industry makes a fortune out of surprising people and we always come back for more. Why? Because we love the thrill. The same goes for headlines. If you can offer someone a surprise or a shock, their fingers will be clicking your ad before their mind has even had a chance to think about it. Well maybe not, but you get my point.
Examples:
- 10 Surprising Things Your Cat Does To Get Attention
- A Shocking New Way To Improve Your Life
- I Couldn’t Believe What My Skunk Did Last Night
So you see, it’s all in the headline. If you have a great article, and you’ve researched and spent hours writing, then don’t be a chump and write a sappy headline. Write a headline that is going to get clicked! I’ve given you 5 crackers to get started with so there’s no excuses.
You think you have some better ones? You think I’m talking garbage? Then drop me a comment, I dare you!