How To Make Awesome Headlines That Get More Traffic

As much as we like to think of our blogs as a creative outlet where we can run wild and free with our creativity and artistry, the reality is that if we actually want people to click on our posts and read them, then there are some rules we have to follow.

Creating your blog posts’ headline is all about psychology and data. It’s not about what YOU think is funny or interesting, it’s about what the wider public or your potential audience think and do and how you can get them to actually read your post.

This post is going to help you understand what makes people click and how to create better post headlines that actually make people want to click through and read your awesome content.

I love stats. Do you love stats? Hope so, because you’re going to get some!

Did you know that there are around 1 billion websites and blogs currently and this figure grows every year? That’s right, I said BILLION. With a capital B.

The number of bloggers is estimated to reach 31.7 million in 2020, according to http://impactbnd.com.

Holey. Effing. Moley!

On the WordPress platform alone, there are currently 75 million websites and blogs and more than 409 million people view more than 23.6 billion pages.

This isn’t including all the other blogging platforms out there such as Tumblr, Blogger, etc.

There has never been more content out there vying for our attention and it’s harder than ever to be seen amongst it all.

Now, earlier this year Blog Tyrant did a survey of 350 bloggers on their goals, demographics and blogging challenges and I noticed something interesting.

One question that was asked was “What are the 3 most important things for building a blog career?” 80.5% said the most important thing was writing amazing content.

Followed by growing a mailing list and posting regularly.

Oh, if only that were true.

THE number one, most important thing in having a successful blog is creating the best, most enticing, most clickable headlines possible.

In fact, writing an amazing headline wasn’t even in the top 10 that the bloggers said were most important.

Perhaps “writing amazing content” also included crafting a winning headline but I feel that it is a beast of it’s own and needs to be a carefully crafted step in your blogging process.

Yes, writing amazing content is important, don’t get me wrong. But if no one clicks your headline to read your post then your amazing content is totally irrelevant and a total waste of your time.

Here’s a scary fact for you – 80% of people never make it past the headline.

Pretty crazy, huh? Especially considering figures show we are spending more time than ever writing blog posts. All that time and effort and practically no one is even going to read it. Unless….

I believe that you should be spending as much time, if not more, on your headline as you do on your actual blog post content. Some experts say that you should spend 80% of your writing time on crafting the headline and the rest on the actual blog content.

The fact is that you need to gain your readers attention in the first place to get them to actually click on your post so that they can see all your amazing content.

Tests done on posts uploaded to Upworthy.com showed that traffic can vary by up to 500% based on the headline of a post.

Your headline needs to be powerful and clickable. You HAVE to convince them to keep reading.

If your headline is boring and weak, why would anybody expect to click through and get great content? They wouldn’t, they’d expect the content to be as boring as the headline and just move on without reading your post.

Upworthy.com receive 3 million unique visits per month and say that you should write AT LEAST 25 headlines before actually coming up with one worthy enough to go live on your site.

So, what exactly is it that makes people click on a headline? What makes them enticing and clickable?

Let’s get into that now!

TIPS FOR WRITING AMAZING HEADLINES

CLARITY

Be as specific as you possibly can. People like to know what to expect, they don’t like uncertainty. Get straight to the point.

The headline should tell them exactly what they are going to get by reading your post. Don’t try to be all creative by coming up with some intriguing, vague, confusing headline thinking it will make people want to read your post. It won’t.

Also use clear, easy to read words. You might be a wordsmith but the majority of people out there aren’t. If your headline is full of big confusing words they don’t understand, they’ll just move on.

For example: The Top 11 Mistakes To Avoid As A New Blogger

Very clear, concise, specific and straight to the point. The reader knows exactly what they are going to learn by clicking on this headline.

EMOTION

People lead with their emotions. Use powerful words that fuel those emotions. How do you want them to feel and how are you going to help them feel that way?

For example: 11 Easy To Follow Tips For Better Blog Post Writing 

The emotional word there is “easy”. When starting out as a blogger there is already so much to learn and so much information out there, it can get so overwhelming.

That headline is aiming to reduce a reader’s anxiety and overwhelm by telling them you know an easy way to help them.

BE USEFUL

Tell them how you will help them, how much better their life will be once they’ve read your post, how you are going to solve their problem, how you are going to make them happier, healthier, a better mom – whatever it may be.

People want to know what’s in it for them. As with everything you provide on your blog, your headline should be benefit driven.

For example: How To Quickly Start A Blog For Beginners

The reader knows that if they click this headline they are going to get a useful guide on the quickest way a beginner blogger can start a blog. They will not be left wondering what this post is about.

FOMO

You need to create a sense of urgency. You want people to read your post immediately.

Don’t let them think it’s ok for them to come back to it later otherwise in a few minutes they will have forgotten all about your blog and moved onto the next thing they have to do in their busy day.

Make them feel like they just can’t do anything else right this second but click to your post and read it.

Make them fear missing out.

For example: Gain 500 Instagram Followers In Just One Week With This Simple Trick

500 followers in one week?! I need to know how to do this RIGHT NOW so that next week I can have 500 more followers! That’s what your reader is thinking and why they’ll click on this headline.

THE BEST TYPES OF HEADLINES THAT CONVERT

There are studies that show that certain types of headlines convert much better than others. As you go through, you might start to recognize some from your favorite websites that you regularly visit.

NUMBERS AND LISTS

People love lists. Our human brains love numbers. Creating a numbered list headline is a great way to get people to actually click through to read your post.

It is extremely clear and concise in what the reader is going to get from your post – you won’t be leaving them wondering what your post will be about.

Check out Buzzfeed. They use these types of headlines constantly and for a good reason. They are by far the most popular types of post – they get lots of clicks.

And the trick here is to use a numeral, not the word. So use 5 Ways To…. Instead of Five Ways To…

Also, oddly (see what I did there), odd numbers perform better than even numbers.

For example: 10 Inspiring Income Reports That Will Make You Want To Start A Blog

HOW TO’S

People have problems and they want them solved in the easiest and quickest way possible. How To posts are one of the most popular types of posts and makes your headline very enticing.

You can vary this headline by using any of the following:

The Best
A variation of the How To Headline because when you are searching how to do something, wouldn’t you rather just know the best way to do it right away?

The Easiest
Aren’t we all just looking for the easiest way to do something? We don’t want to know how to do it the hard way, we want to know the easy way, every time.

The Quickest
We’re all short on time, right? So we’d prefer to know the quickest or fastest way to do something.

For example: How To Explode Your Instagram Following In One Month!

POSE A QUESTION

Asking a question helps draw the reader in and (hopefully) they want to know the answer, which they’ll find in your blog post.

For example: I was driving down the freeway today and an ad came on for our local newspaper and it was advertising today’s headlines. One of them was:

“Beating Back Pain: Is Surgery A Mistake?”

If this was a headline for a post on your blog and a reader who suffers from back pain saw it, they are pretty much guaranteed to click on this headline.

TOOLS TO HELP YOU OUT

A great tool that I like to use is CoSchedules Headline Analyzer. Pop your headline in here and it will give you a score based on things like the types of words you used, how many words make up your headline and whether you use powerful words or common or uncommon words.

I’ll usually go through around 10-15 variations with this tools to see which one ranks the highest. It isn’t the be all and end all of whether your headline is going to make people click on it or not but it can help you make tweaks if you are having some trouble putting a compelling headline together.

There is a science behind writing your headlines and if you follow these easy rules you’ll be able to drive more traffic to your blog where more people will get access to all the amazing content you have to offer.

Once you get started with crafting your formula for successful headlines, you’ll start to notice what really resonates with your audience.

Eventually, you’ll get to know your audience well and what headlines speak to them and you’ll be able to start to see what headlines work best for you.

You should then regularly go back through your old posts to find which posts and headlines drive the most traffic and copy that particular style to continue creating headlines that drive the most traffic.