Headlines play a significant role in determining the success of your website.
If you want people to visit your website and read your content, you should ensure that your headline stands out.
Coming up with a good headline may be an easy task for experts. However, for beginners, writing a good headline can be pretty difficult.
But, don’t worry! In this blog, I have explained in detail how to write a headline for your website.
Let’s get started!
3. Basic Steps to Write A Headline
A headline can make or break your website. If your content is top-notch, but if you didn’t focus on writing a good headline, all your efforts can go down the drain.
Below, I have listed the three basic steps to writing a headline.
Step #1: Gather Ideas
Gathering a set of ideas is the first step to writing headlines.
To get headline ideas, you should find the topic for your content. You can use online tools like SEMRush Topic Research to get topic ideas.
Once you finalize the topic, you can search for it on Google to know what headlines your competitors use. Using all the data you gathered, get an idea and write down how you want your heading to look. Make a list of multiple heading ideas.
Step #2: Choose the Right Keywords
Including keywords in your headline can help in SEO optimization.
So, once you come up with a list of heading ideas, perform keyword research using SEO tools like SEMRush.
Here’s how you can perform keyword research.
- Enter a list of seed keywords in the tool. The seed keyword can be related to your website’s or content’s topic. For instance, if I’m going to write a guide about Google Ads, I can enter the seed keyword “Google Ads Guide” in the tool.
- The tool will give you a list of keyword ideas. You can go through them and analyze their metrics.
- Choose the keywords with high search volume, low keyword difficulty, and consistent trend (interest-level).
- Choose the best keyword from your research as the focus keyword. You can add the focus keyword in your headline. Speaking of the other keywords, you can add them to the content when relevant.
Step #3: Make the Heading Short and To-The-Point
If you want to make your heading appealing, you should ensure that it’s short and to the point. Generally, it’s better if your headline has lesser than 6 words.
Also, try adding some appealing words in the headline to increase the Click-Through Rate (CTR). I’ll explain more about this later.
Here’s an example of a good headline.
- The Best Guide to Google Ads
As you can see, I have included the focus keyword “guide to google ads” in the headline. Also, I have made the heading short and concise.
Tips to write a Headline for Your Website
As you know, headlines play a significant role in making people click and visit your website.
All successful websites have ensured that they have well-written headlines.
Similarly, if you want your website to attract many visitors and become successful, you should write great headlines. Below, I have listed the tips you can use to write a great headline for your website.
1. Be Unique
Nowadays, people spend a lot of time on the internet. So, if you go for a common headline with boring words, there’s a high chance for people to have seen it elsewhere.
If people have seen a similar heading elsewhere, they won’t click and visit your website. Do you agree with me?
So, come up with a unique and creative headline to make your website stand out. Also, ensure that your headlines can hook your target audience and potential customers immediately.
I suggest you create a set of headline rules unique to your brand. When you publish content on your website, make sure all of them abide by those rules.
2. Use Power Words to Increase Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Using power words in the headline can increase the Click-Through Rate (CTR) as it’s attention-grabbing.
When ClickFlow conducted a study, they found that power words can increase the Click-Through Rate (CTR) by 13.9%.
Here are some examples of headlines with power words.
- The Best Guide to Google Ads
- An Ultimate Guide to Google Ads
- Google Ads Guide (Proven Results)
“Best,” “ultimate,” and “proven” are the power words in the above examples.
There are many power words you can use. You can choose one that will suit your website’s headline and topic.
3. Keep Testing
If it’s your first time writing a headline, you can write a few headlines and share them with your family and friends to see what they prefer.
Also, if you’re a beginner, I suggest you test multiple headlines to know what’s working the best for your business.
Once you perform a good number of tests, choose a headline with the highest Click-Through Rate (CTR) and page on time.
As you gain experience, you’ll automatically be able to figure out headline types that will work the best for your business. Till then, keep learning by testing different variations of headlines.
4. Don’t Use Technical Words
If you want to increase traffic to your website, you should avoid using technical words in your headline.
You can be an expert in your niche. But, the same won’t be the case with your readers.
If you use technical words in headlines, you can attract visitors with a good amount of knowledge in your niche. However, if someone is new to your niche and wants to learn more about it, you won’t attract him as he won’t understand the headline.
5. Use Brackets or Parenthesis
According to a study done by HubSpot and Outbrain on over 3.3 million paid links, they found that adding brackets to headlines can increase the Click-Through Rate (CTR) by 38%.
So, if you find that adding brackets to your headline will be relevant, go ahead and do so.
Here are a few examples of how you can add brackets to your headlines.
- The Best Guide to Google Ads (Step-By-Step)
- The Best Guide to Google Ads (2022)
- The Best Guide to Google Ads (With Examples)
Note: When adding brackets to your headline, ensure the headline doesn’t get too long. I suggest limiting your headline word count to about 10 words, even with a bracket.
6. Evoke Curiosity
We humans can’t tolerate curiosity!
So, when you evoke curiosity in your headline, there’s a good chance for people to check out your website.
To evoke curiosity in your headline, you can give a glimpse of something in your content and not reveal it entirely. By doing so, you’ll make people curious, wanting them to know more.
Here’s an example of how you can evoke curiosity in your headline.
- 7 Steps to Boost Your Conversions from Google Ads
In this example, I revealed that the content contains 7 steps to increase conversions from Google Ads. But, I didn’t reveal the steps. So, to know the steps, people will check out the content.
You can also ask questions in your headline to evoke curiosity. When you ask a question, the people who want to know the answer will check your content.
Here’s an example of how you can evoke curiosity by asking a question.
- Do You Add These 3 Elements to Your Google Ads?
Bonus Tip: Write Sub-Headlines
Last but the least, you can add sub-headlines to make it easier for people to read your content.
If the sub-headlines are attractive, there’s a good chance for people to read the content within it. When they do so, you can get the conversions you expect.
If you don’t add sub-headlines, a chunk of paragraphs will appear, which can bore people and make them skip reading.
Conclusion
The primary purpose of headlines is to engage and inform your audience. When you understand this and create headlines, you can come up with engaging and effective headlines that will help drive traffic and increase conversions for your website.
Also, since headlines are one of the significant factors that determine the success of your website, it’s essential to make them stand out.
The tips discussed in this blog can help you come up with great headlines. So, make sure to implement them on your website.
