How to write webpage headlines to attract readers

Posted on May 18, 2010 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Trackback URL

One of my favourite headlines read ‘Headless body found in topless bar’. Now that’s an attention grabber, wouldn’t you say? Few who read this headline would have ignored the article that followed.

Good headlines are vital in newspapers and magazines. In fact, copy editors spend most of their waking hours pondering clever, witty and meaningful headlines to entice readers to read on.

You should do the same when writing your web blog posts and especially your email newsletters.

Don’t treat headings as an after thought. Spend time, think it through, rewrite, refine and polish up. Go for enticing, attention-grabbing and meaningful headings and subheadings rather than weak, mundane ones that do not inspire.

David Ogilvy, the advertising legend, said a heading is read by five times as many people as those who read the body copy. So unless you have a riveting heading, the sweat and tears you’ve put into your web page and article may be wasted.

So how do you write good web headings that will engage and involve readers?

The fundamental step is to target human needs. Write a heading that answers the question: What’s in it for me? We humans are self-obsessed. Sad but true. There are two things that motivates us to read an article, download a page and open a link, and that is to:

• Gain a benefit
• Avoid pain.

In other words, we focus on things that either help us or satisfy a need or solve a problem.

Take a look at these ten headings from a random selection of email newsletters I have saved in my inbox.

1. Mobile tech trends
2. Service providers: making the switch
3. Rethinking retirement?
4. The power of personal wealth benchmark
5. In November, get serious about sun care
6. Why you’ll love a Mac
7. Are you missing out on the investment of the decade?
8. Are you subconsciously sabotaging your investment success?
9. The new real estate trends that will drive price growth

Which ones would compel you to open up the web page and read on? Fair bet it would be the last four. Why? Because each of the last four appeal to either your desire for gain or fear of loss. They also offer a promise, appeal to your emotions and arouse curiosity.

The converse is true of the previous six, none of which inspire or engage. To transform a dull heading into a powerful one, you need to inject emotion and focus on the two key human needs: gain/avoid pain.

Using the first heading as an example, this can be rewritten to say: ‘Ten mobile trends that can help you win more business’. The second heading could be rewritten as ‘How to avoid pain when you switch mobile phone service providers’.