How To Write An Article Headline That Compels Readers to Take Action!

Written by Andrew Rondeau in Internet Marketing Advice | 9 Awesome Comments - Add Yours?
hard writing

So hard to start writing...

Anyone can write a 500 – 800 word blog posting (article) and submit it to an Article Directory.

But a badly written article can cause you and your reputation a lot of damage. You have probably read some badly written articles.

How does that make you feel?

It doesn’t inspire you to take further action, visit the persons website, does it?

A badly written article may even drive people away from your blog / website rather than drive people towards it.

You want your article to be read and you want the reader to think, “I like this person, they know what they are talking about. I wonder what else they have to say”. And the next thing they do is click on the link to your site.

Writing a blog post or article can be scary, especially when you think thousands of individuals may read it. But the best thing to do is to break down the actual writing of the article like so:

1.    The Headline

2.    The Introduction

3.    The Main Body

4.    The Conclusion / Summary

5.    Your Resource Box

Tackling each of the 5 parts in turn will make the actual writing of the article much easier and after just a little practice, you’ll be writing great articles in no time.

So let’s start with:

1. The Headline

This is the first and most crucial step.

Why?

Because if your headline doesn’t capture the visitors attention, then the rest of the article will just be ignored.

Your article content may be the most thrilling, exciting information ever, but if your headline sucks and doesn’t grab the readers attention, all your efforts are wasted.

Powerful tip:

Want to know where to get great inspiration for headlines?

Magazines. Look at the front cover of all those magazines. Don’t some of them make you pick the magazine up and start reading inside?

That’s what you want to happen with your headline. The reader can’t wait to read the rest of the article.

As well as studying magazine headlines, here are some excellent phrases which will help you get started:

“Get Rid of … Once and for All”

“Get Rid Of Your Panic Attacks Once And For All With These Simple Ideas”

“Get Rid Of Writers Block By Simply Using This New Found Technique”

“What Everybody Should Know About …”

“What Everybody Should Know About Bad Breath: 6 Things You Are Doing Wrong”

“What Everybody Should Know About Completing Their Annual Tax Form”

“What Everybody Should Know About Creating a Resume That Gets You The Interview Every Time”

“Here’s a Quick Way To …”

“Here’s a Quick Way To Write A Blog Posting In 15 Minutes”

“Here’s a Quick Way To Improve Your English”

“Here’s a Quick Way To Remember Facts And Figures”

Other examples of Headlines include:

“Who Else Wants…”

“Here Is a Method That Is Helping…”

“Now You Can Have …”

So do spend time on your heading. It’s the heading that ensures the rest of your article gets read.

Now let’s move onto:

2. The Introduction

Your Introduction only needs to be 2-5 sentences.

You simply want to introduce the problem and then just “tell them what you’re going to tell them” in the next section, which is the main body of the article.

Powerful Tip: When you submit your article to the Article Directories, a summary will be created and the visitor can ‘click here to read more’. Your introduction is often used to create the summary, so make sure the introduction is a summary of what the reader will “discover” by clicking on the ‘read more’ link.

In the next posting in this “How To Increase The Traffic To Your Website With Blog Postings” series, I shall share my experiences and advice on writing the The Main Body, The Conclusion / Summary and how to Write An Effective ‘non-selling’ Resource Box that makes visitors click through to your website.




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9 Responses to How To Write An Article Headline That Compels Readers to Take Action!
  1. Jeremy

    I think this is a very important thing to consider. A moving header is a great way to ensure to raise the goals and conversions on your site.

    Reply
  2. Jane "Shiloh Street"

    That’s true, the headlines really catch the attention of the readers. Then, second the Introduction or summary of the content. I’m a reader too, but I want to create my own article, but it is really hard for me to start writing.

    Shiloh Street

    Reply
  3. Michiel

    Great examples of headlines there; may I also contribute a few:

    - Is X better than Y?

    - The top X of Y (e.g. The top 10 films of 2010)

    - X things you never know about Y

    - The world’s hottest X

    - Secrets of X revealed

    Reply
  4. Andrew

    Hello Andrew, In my experience, I found that this headline “What Everybody Should Know About …” works to catch attention, simple as that.
    Andrew recently posted..Top 10 Kindle Accessories- The Most Popular Accessories for Kindle ListMy Profile

    Reply
    • Andrew
      Twitter:

      Andrew

      That can be a good headline. Only problem with that approach is that whatever you will be talking about will be the keyword phrase and it will be at the end of the title rather than the beginning.

      Andrew
      Andrew recently posted..WordPress 32- You ReadyMy Profile

      Reply
  5. Robert Doebler

    The headlines you shared from the magazine is so compelling that if the headlines directed to a link I’d have clicked right away. First, it is very important to work on a very, very catchy title or headline. Whether the article has quality or not one thing is sure, someone at least clicks and views the page.

    Reply
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