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6 Principles That Helped Me Write Effective Headlines

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Over 2 million people clicked on my headlines after I improved them using these techniques

Photo by 43 Clicks North on Unsplash

If your headline isn’t good enough, no one will read your articles. Your content can be perfect. But you drive the audience into your writing through the title.

No one clicked on my articles in early 2020.

My headlines were as shitty as “The digital gap is increasing — we need to act now!” and “Out of your head and into your body in less than 5 minutes”.

I didn’t think of the reader when crafting my headlines, and I believed recycling older, but well-performing headlines is a great idea. I didn’t put time and thoughts into crafting the heading. Hence, almost nobody clicked on my words.

If you ever want to be a successful writer, you need to start working on your titles. Because if no one clicks on your heading, you’ll always have zero readers.

The good news is headline writing is a skill you can master.

Once you understand the components of successful headlines, you can create your own engaging titles.

But consistently writing headlines that make people click is more complex than you might think. It requires continuous practice and re-learning.

And yet, there are a couple of components that will help you craft titles that make people click. The following tips helped me reach 2 million readers in less than two years.

Considering just half of them, you’re already better off than 90% of all online writers.

Write clearly for the benefit of your readers

Online readers don’t have much time. They need prompt satisfaction and quick solutions.

That’s why great headlines focus on the reader’s benefit. They specifically answer the question: What’s in it for the reader?

If readers click, they’ll get something out of the article.

This seems trivial, but when you look around, you’ll see that most articles neglect the reader’s benefit. They read like journal entries and lengthy life stories where the reader’s benefit is hidden.

How you can apply this:

Every time you write a new story, ask yourself: what’s in it for the reader?

Provide your readers with a specific benefit that can bring transformation to their lives. To give you some concrete examples, the reader’s benefit is crystal clear in these headlines:

You can be explicit and use the word “you” to state that the article will be about the reader. As an alternative, you can guide the reader through an experience of your life that can help the reader as well.

Find an angle that attracts a broad audience

I love writing about education.

Yet I’m aware that if I write about Estonia’s education system, the article likely won’t go viral. There are simply not enough people who’re interested in the topic to such depth.

If you’d like to attract a broad audience, contemplate the breadth of your writing by considering what other people might find interesting about your chosen topic. While the title should be as specific as possible, it should also appeal to a large audience.

How you can apply this:

When crafting your headline, answer these questions: Why would many readers care? Who is this relevant for? Is my topic broad enough?

These articles appeal to a broad audience:

While, in my case, Estonia’s education system can’t appeal to a broad audience, I can still write about education in a more inclusive way. People want to remember everything they read, and they’d also like to read books from which they can learn.

People only share specific kinds of articles

Would you share an article titled “How I Overcome My Emotional-Insecurity” on your LinkedIn or Facebook profile?

People only share stuff on the internet that makes them look smart or helpful.

If your article has the shareability quality, it’s more likely to go viral. Because if people share your work, more people will read it, and more people will share it.

How you can apply this:

Think about: Which angle is share-worthy for your readers in your article?

To make your readers look smart and/or helpful, craft headlines where you solve a specific problem for them. If the solution is useful, they’ll happily share it with their friends and colleagues.

You don’t need to solve the biggest life challenges of the readers. It’s enough if you can help them declutter their mailboxes.

These articles, for example, are broadly shared on the internet:

Don’t copy the past. Share your spiky point of view instead

The reason why re-using old headlines most of the time can’t work is the lack of novelty.

What went viral last year won’t be popular this year. People want to read stories from angles they’ve never seen before.

To avoid repeating what has been said before, add your spiky point of view to the title.

As Wes Kao explains, a spiky point of view is someone’s unique, slightly controversial perspective that others can disagree with. It lays outside of the mainstream and brings fresh ideas to the conversation.

You can think about your spiky point of view as the unique way you see the world.

How you can apply this:

To discover your spiky point of view, ask yourself:

  • What is something I strongly believe but others might disagree with?
  • What do most people like but I can’t stand?
  • What is something that I stand by but isn’t (yet) accepted by the society?

You could also use structures such as:

  • Most people think X, but it’s actually Y
  • How I got Y (desirable result in your industry) without Z (conventional advice)

These headings did a great job at adding novelty to the conversation:

Build on other people’s credibility

If readers recognise well-known names in a title, they’re more likely to click because those people already have expertise in their fields.

Readers didn’t know me when I had my first viral article, but they were for sure aware of Bill Gates. The advice came from him and not from me.

Yet, if you have a unique experience that can be useful for others, you can also add “self-proof” to your heading. Whether you built up a career, skipped coffee entirely, or just learned how to meditate and stuck to your practice for years, you can add self-proof to your work.

How you can apply this:

Rely on well-known names, or add self-proof if you’re an expert in the topic you write about.

To help your thinking, here are a few examples:

You’ll write great headlines if you do this one thing

People also click on a headline if it awakens emotions in them. Whether it’s curiosity, anger, or joy, if you can make others feel a certain way when they read your headings, you can also make them click.

This component is tricky, though. Be aware that half of your readers won’t like what you share if you’re controversial. Prepare that they won’t return and might leave angry comments under your work.

Feelings are powerful. Be aware of which emotions you want to transmit.

How you can apply this:

Use power and emotional words in your headings, such as:

Source: Coschedule

To give you some concrete examples, these articles awaken emotions:

What to Keep in Mind

Writing great headlines is complex. Unfortunately, you likely won’t get it intuitively right; you need to learn about titles, and then you need to practice writing them.

And headline practice requires a lot of practice. That’s why we spend an entire 1.5-hour live session on headline practice in my online writing course.

To refresh your memory, these are the six components that make people click a headline:

  1. Reader first
  2. Breadth
  3. Shareability
  4. Novelty
  5. Social proof
  6. Provoke emotions

Don’t feel overwhelmed. Even though it’s challenging, headline writing is also a skill you can master.

For a start, focus on 1–2 components depending on what you write about. You got this.

Ready to accelerate your writing journey and build an online audience?

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