Are you struggling to get your audience’s attention? In this article, we’ll be giving you 5 tips to ensure your voice gets heard!
1. Address Your Readers Directly
One of the easiest ways appeal to your readers is to directly address them by using ‘you’ and ‘your’. It’s impossible to target readers individually, however, you can speak to them directly. Doing this allows them to feel as though you are speaking to them personally.
Direct address can also be used to challenge your customers and their expectations. Here are two examples:
‘How to lose 2kgs in 2 weeks’
‘How you can lose 2kgs in 2 weeks’
The first one seems more like it’s telling you how to lose weight, but it doesn’t suggest that it’s easy. The second, using you, however, will make people believe that if they can do it, it will fit in with their lifestyle without too much disruption.
2. Create Curiosity
Nothing gets people interested in reading an article like curiosity. If you can write a headline that withholds a key piece of information that people want to find out, then you will gain a lot of hits. This is the method that is employed by clickbait and it is very effective.
3. Invoke Emotion
One of the best ways to make your headlines more engaging is to make them more emotional. You can do this by using adjectives to intensify one of the key nouns. For example, rather than just writing ‘5 ways to lose weight fast’ try ‘5 insane ways to lose weight fast’.
Using adjectives can give your headlines the little boost needed to generate better results. Be careful not to overuse them though, as this can sometimes seem forced. For example ‘5 insane ways to lose tons of weight fast’ is less catchy and detracts from the simpler, shorter version.
4. Be Precise
There are 2 ways in which you can make your headlines more precise. The first is that every word should carry weight. This means that you should only use words which are necessary. The ideal headline will be between 5-10 words long, with between 40-60 characters. Any longer and you’re probably including unnecessary information. Any shorter and you’re probably missing something.
The second way to make your headlines more precise is to give more defined and accurate information. For example, if you want to tell people that they can lose weight in weeks, tell them how much weight or how many weeks. Below are two examples:
‘Lose kilos in days!’
‘Lose 1 kilo in 1 week!’
5. Use Numbers
Research has shown that using numbers in your headlines makes people far more likely to click on them. This is because they let people know exactly what to expect. Plus, people also like lists as they are usually far quicker and easier to read and digest. Therefore, headlines like ‘10 insane ways to lose weight fast’ can be incredibly effective.