On average an Internet user spends only a couple of seconds previewing an article or a blog post. During these crucial seconds the user scans through your article to decide whether it is worth a read.
When the users scan through your article they are essentially looking at 3 main elements in the article. These elements are heading, sub heading and bullet points. These three elements give the user an overall idea about your article.
In this post, I look at Headings and provide you with 3 simple tips to write a catchy heading.
Tip 1 – Question style headings
Write your heading in the form of a question that can be easily answered with either a “YES” or “NO”. For example, “Are you making a six figure income from your blog?” Not every one makes a six figure income by blogging so the reader will be curious to read your article.
Tip 2 – Fear of being left out
Many people in this world behave like a herd of animals. They feel comfortable in doing what others are doing. In a herd, if one animal starts to walk in a particular direction the rest follow the leader. As humans we always want to belong to a group and we feel secured while we are with the group. The moment we feel that the group is leaving us, we try to catch up as quickly as we can because we do not want to be left alone.
You can use this basic human behavior to write attractive headings. For example, “9 out of 10 drivers in California have a GPS system, do you own one?” In this heading you are capitalizing on the fear of being left alone. When people realize that they are the only ones who do not have a GPS system, they decide to buy one.
Tip 3 – Creating a fantasy world
There are lot of day dreamers among us and they have their own fantasy world. Some want to live in a house beside the beach and others may dream of owning a Lamborghini. By creating a headline that fits their fantasy world you can easily grab the attention of the reader.
For example, consider the heading “Picture a 4 hour work week for the same pay”. Many of us are sick and tired of our 9 to 5 jobs and dream to work few hours and get the same pay. The above heading will catch the attention of those folks who dream about achieving financial independence without working too hard.
These are my tips for writing a catchy heading. Do you have more tips? What is the best heading that you ever wrote? Feel free to share in the comments section.
I have a lot of success when I’m able to use something that is a little funny or makes you go, what? I recently posted two articles:
Natural Marketing: Or Why You Should Always Take Your Chicken To Town
about how my mom, an uneducated housewife, sells without selling
and
The Trans-Canadian Adventure: Or Three Broke Wannabes in a Greyhound Bus
about a crazy 3 day bus adventure across Canada.
and these got a lot of views because people wanted to know what they were about.
Questions are good, too, but you have to make sure they’re not a question that everyone sees everyday. I like to kind of shock people out of their surf trance and make them pay attention.
Hi Leighann, Thank you for your comments. Titles like the ones you wrote always make a reader curious to know what the article is all about. Great work!