How to write catchy headlines that draw attention & clicks?

Remember the last time when you decided to click on an article and read it all?

What made you click?

Most probably the "title" or the "headline" of the article. 

Right?

And that makes the headline of your content one of the most critical elements of your blog post or page.

Even if your blog is ranking in top search results in Google, if its title is boring, you are sure to lose some of you readers!

“Oops, that hurts!”

Yup, I know. 

Spending hours into creating amazing content only to see zero to no clicks is damn painful. 

And I’ve been there. 

A lot. 

After all, I started writing online in 2015!

Anyway, getting back to point.

And the point is that how many people will click on your article will depend on how you craft its title and headline!

So you better make your headline interesting and attention-worthy.

How?

Let me share a few tips to help you make it. Come with me:

Just KISS; I mean keep it short and simple!

Make your headline under 60-70 characters. That's a rule! 

And if you are creating SEO content, keep it max 60 characters. 

Why? 

Because Google abbreviates a headline beyond 60 characters and makes it look ugly with “...” at the end of your titles!

“Any example?”

Hell ya. Take a look 👇

In 👆Google Search snap, you can see how page title of Xeno got abbreviated in Google Search. Why? Because of it’s length going beyond 60 characters. 

While in the same snap, you see page title from “Due” and other brands are getting displayed in full length. Why? Because all those titles are under 60 characters in length. 

“Can you give me one more example?”

Yup!

Here - the article you are reading right now has this meta title: “How to write catchy headlines that draw attention & clicks?” 

That’s precise 59 characters!

I even did a video just on optimizing length of titles for SEO. You can watch here 👇

Make it emotional

You can tap into the emotions of your readers and make them click by using power words like:

• "achieve" [emotion: aspirational]
• "free" [emotion: interesting
• "why" [emotion: curiosity]
• "now" [emotion: urgency]

Caution: Do it sensitively. Don’t ‘play’ with emotions with evil intentions! Have goodness in your heart while crafting emotional titles. Add emotions, good and happy ones. Okay?

Now, of course, some examples 👇

✅ 11 Free Ways To Get More Facebook Shares

❌ 11 Ways To Get More Facebook Shares

Emotional word “free” is making first title 👆 look more attractive.

Try to include an odd number

Brain seems more receptive to odd numbers than even numbers. 

You can include an odd number in your headline to draw better attention. 

Example 👇

✅ 11 Free Ways To Get More Facebook Shares

❌ 10 Free Ways To Get More Facebook Shares

Add latest year to your title

To make your content look latest and up to date, you can also add the latest year to your title. 

Adding the current year in titles gives extra confidence to your readers that your content is not outdated and boost clicks. 

Example 👇

✅ 11 Free Ways To Get More Facebook Shares In 2024

❌ 10 Free Ways To Get More Facebook Shares

Capitalize first letters

You must write your headlines in "Title Case" format.

“What does that mean?”

That means you must capitalize the first letters of each word in your headline. 

Example 👇

✅ 11 Free Ways To Get More Facebook Shares

❌ 11 free ways to get more Facebook shares

[I am guilty here of not using the last tip on many of my own blogs! But why do I that? Well, some things are a matter of personal style as well! As a preference, I choose to go with “Sentence case” for my content headings!]

Go on and make yummy titles!

Using these tricks, start writing "catchy" headlines today and enjoy more people clicking and reading your content. Possibly becoming your customers, clients, or even better your fans! You never know. 🤞

That’s all for this one.

BTW, what tricks and tools do you use to refine your headlines. I'd love to know and experiment with your headline tricks.

P.S. I promised to keep Zero Penny Marketing editions short and crisp, so I could only share 4-5 tips here. There are like 100 more to make better headlines. Do you want a complete article or cheatsheet on that? If yes, let me know. I will prioritize this one in my content cal.

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