In today’s fast-paced digital world, a piece of content’s headline is often the only chance you get to grab a reader’s attention. Whether you’re writing a blog post, an email subject line or a social media post, a catchy title is essential to ensuring your content gets noticed. But what makes a headline great?
Below, 14 Forbes Communications Council members share some of the best tips for crafting attention-grabbing headlines. From focusing on the “so what” to considering your audience’s perspective, these tips can help you create headlines that capture eyeballs and drive engagement.
1. Make Clarity And Simplicity Top Priorities
Clarity should always trump cleverness. Often, we want to use puns, alliteration and other fun copy tricks to grab attention. But while those are fun, they don’t always land with the reader as well as you had initially hoped. Clarity and simplicity should come first—this also helps when creating copy that will be served to different cultures in different languages. - Rekha Thomas, Seismic
2. Put The ‘So What’ In Your Headline
Take the most important “so what” from the content and put it in the headline. Why should people care about this topic and what you’ll be telling them? So much content sounds the same that you need to make sure the value is clear at the top and that you deliver on that promise within the content itself. - Tom Treanor, Snipp Interactive
3. Write In A Style That Matches The Buying Audience
Know who your audience is and write in that voice. We recently ran two versions of the same campaign, with headlines written for each buyer group. Executives got a “be the numbers person” headline, while marketing buyers saw “goodbye hunches, hello results.” It’s all about understanding how to deliver a strong message but in the style that matches the buying audience. - Esther Bonardi, Yardi Systems
MORE FROMFORBES ADVISOR
Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
4. Focus On What Makes Your Story Different
Hone in on what makes your story different from what has previously been said on the topic. Whether it is a press release, blog post or bylined article, your headline will be among a sea of other content, so if readers do not immediately recognize the unique value in what you have to say, you have already lost their attention. - Karen Parisi, CentralReach
5. Consider The Image As Much As The Headline
Since the average attention span is short, we must think of what makes an impact. Our subconscious mind will see an image and decide if a brand or company really knows us or not. Our analytics work shows that when we use the wrong image, likes, comments and other forms of participation greatly decrease. Think about the image you use as much as the headline you write. - Bob Pearson, The Bliss Group
6. Choose Words That Make An Impact
The most significant factor lies in human psychology. Even though the main ingredients should include strong keywords, conversely, the combination of words needs to provoke one of the senses, trigger certain emotions and stimulate the reader’s curiosity to “click and read more.” I wrote an article titled “My CEO Is Better Than Yours,” and guess what happened? The click rate exploded. - Dora Hrkac, Esyasoft Technologies
7. Make Headlines Clear And Concise
Focus on making headlines clear, concise and captivating. Use strong action verbs and specific language to convey the essence of the story. Utilize emotional language to appeal to the reader’s curiosity and create a sense of urgency. Consider using numbers, lists and questions, and ensure that the headline accurately represents the content of the article to avoid misleading readers. - Tony Liau, Object First
8. Tap Into The Audience’s Emotions
Winning headlines convey emotion and use numbers, primary keywords, verbs, symbols and punctuation marks. Make sure you know your target audience, and write in small, digestible chunks of information. If you can accomplish all of this and deliver WIIFM (what’s in it for me), you will be hooking readers’ attention from the start. - Jennifer Gaier, Elwyn
9. Avoid Misleading The Reader
Attention-grabbing headlines need to be factual and not mislead the end user. Draft the headline, let it simmer and go do something else. Then, come back to it. Does it still feel as swanky as it did when you first wrote it? If there is unnecessary connective text, cut it out. Aim for short, snappy, memorable and not misleading. - Kimberly Osborne, UNC Greensboro
10. Use Artificial Intelligence For Inspiration
Come up with a handful of potential headlines to seed your preferred AI writer. Then, use the “rephrase” or “explain it to a 5th grader” option to create a few dozen options for your headline within minutes. Use tone and topic options in tools such as Jasper to provide even more creative options to consider. Finally, either use your wisdom to pick one or iterate on a few. - Kurt Uhlir, eXp World Holdings
11. Make An Intriguing Promise
People need to invest their time in an article, and getting them to do that starts with the implicit promise that lurks within the headline. Use the headline to highlight the benefits the reader will receive from reading the story, especially as it relates to a problem the reader is facing. A headline that promises to solve a problem is much more likely to be clicked. - Patrick Ward, Rootstrap
12. Understand The Audience’s Life Cycle Stage
Understanding the needs and customer life cycle stage of the target audience is important. By understanding their pain points, desires, frustrations and more at that particular time in their customer journey, you can create a headline that focuses on either providing value or connecting on an emotional level. - Luke Marsh, Innago
13. Use Active Verbs And Humor
A great headline is like a first impression—it sets the tone for what’s to come and can make all the difference in capturing your audience’s attention. Keep it short, simple, clear and concise, and use active verbs and powerful language. And don’t forget to inject personality and humor! - Brittany Garlin, Vista Social
14. Bounce Your Headline Ideas Of Of Others
Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. Remember that even though a subject line seems effective to you as a marketer, it may not resonate with a member of your target audience. Do your best to put yourself in their position, and focus on grabbing that person’s attention. If possible, run your subject line ideas by people who are similar to your target audience and gauge their reactions. - Tom Wozniak, OPTIZMO Technologies, LLC
