Podcast #1: How to Write Great Headlines in Under 10 Minutes
Podcast #2: Why Headlines Go Astray (and How to Fix Them)
Podcast #3: How to Write Powerful Headlines in No Time at All
I started focusing on headlines in 2001, just before we started Psychotactics. I used to be a cartoonist, so I wasn’t very good at writing to start with.
We started out with a website called millionbox.nz and at that point, Alan Weiss from marketingprofs.com and I spoke to each other. He asked me to send him some articles, and that became a regular column.
I probably wrote about 40 or 50 pieces for Marketing Profs over the years, and they now have over 350,000 subscribers – they’re a massive site. But even back then, they had 60-70,000 subscribers.
They were a portal as it were, in the days when you had Yahoo and other portals, and they started off with a big bang. The trick was that every week Marketing Profs would send out seven articles to their subscribers.
These were free articles, and 7 different people wrote the articles – and headlines. Then it was almost like Top of the Pops, where the headline that was clicked most often rose to the top.
So sometimes our article was placed at no.1, sometimes at no. 3, and sometimes at no.7. But no matter where it was placed, when our article was released, people would click on the headline and ours would rise to the top. So it was almost like an interaction, where you could actually see which article people were interested in.
What’s interesting here is that people could not read the article to start with. The only thing they could see were the headlines, so they could see 7 headlines in their email, and they clicked on one, which then caused that article to rise to the top.
What happened was that mostly our articles would become the top story, simply because of the clicks. That’s how we got to know we were doing something right – we were writing headlines that got people’s attention.
That’s when I started to figure out which headlines got attention and which didn’t.
It’s very hard. Let me clarify that statement. It’s very hard if you start to write a headline cold. If you haven’t had training, yet you sit down at your computer, write out a headline and right away it’s correct – that’s absolutely stunning.
The big mistake people make is to think the headline needs to be written first. Often, I won’t write a headline first. I’ll just put a placeholder in there. For example, this article is about something specific – the “Yes and Yes factor”.
Then I’ll start writing the article itself and realize: This article is how the Yes and Yes factor helps you increase prices by 10%! Now I’ve warmed up and that’s when I take that little insight and put it as the headline.
Let me give you three ways to start. There are 3 types of headlines:
So these are three types of headlines that you can start to work with.
If you write a headline which has a question mark at the end of it, it’s far superior in many cases to a headline that has a statement. For instance, a headline that says For Those Who Live In New York – that’s interesting. But when you put in a question that says Do You Live In New York? – well, what happens is that the question automatically irritates the brain. The brain needs to find an answer.
Question-based headlines are very powerful headlines. Here are some examples:
Do You Make These Mistakes In English?
Do you know where you fail in your marketing strategy?
Is Internet Marketing Driving You Crazy?
What’s happening there is that the brain is triggered. It’s forced to ask: Do I Make These Mistakes In English? – “What are they talking about? What are these mistakes?” The brain is forced to answer the question.
A question-based headline gets attention, versus a statement-based one, such as If You Live In New York Read This.
A closed question is one that can be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
An open question like the headline ‘How do you write headlines in under 10 minutes?’ opens up a whole gamut of thoughts in your head. But if you have a closed question, you’re always going to run into trouble, because the readers going to look at it and say yes or no straight away.
The purpose of the headline is to get the person to read the next line – that’s all it needs to do. It’s supposed to get readers’ attention and get them to read the next line. And the purpose of that first line is to get them to read the second line, the second line to read the third line, and so forth.
So if you have a closed question, it’s like having a conversation with someone at home – “Did you bring the milk?” “No.” Finished – end of conversation.
‘Curious’ headlines are headlines which have Knew which is “I know that” versus New, which is “what’s new about that?” To give you a few examples:
What’s really happening here? Why are these headlines getting your attention? They’re working because they’ve got two elements in them; one is ‘stuff that I know’, and the other is ‘stuff that I don’t know’.
So when we look at the headline again:
How the ‘Yes And Yes Factor’ Can Help You Increase Prices By 10%
What do you know? You know the factor of prices, you know that you can increase prices by 10%. So that’s kind of, yeah – I’ve heard the concept of increasing prices by 10%. So that’s Knew – that’s what I know.
How the ‘Yes and Yes factor’ – that’s where your mind stops. You think, “The ‘Yes and Yes factor’ – what’s that?” Automatically, the curiosity level goes up. What happens is that you’re looking at what you know, as well as what you don’t know. It’s the combination of the two which creates curiosity.
Let’s look at the next example, which is:
Why The Mandarin Formula Will Help You Win Chess Tournaments
Now, I understand the concept of winning chess tournaments – but Mandarin Formula, what is that? I don’t know. Again, when you combine the two factors, the New, like Mandarin Formula, and Knew, which is ‘win chess tournaments’ – you’re creating curiosity.
What if both parts of the headline are curious? Like:
Why The Mandarin Formula Will Help You Win The High Bad Symbiosis
Now you’ve completely confused the reader, because you’ve taken a completely new thing and put it with a new thing, which is New and New. So I’m not curious about it anymore; I just feel confused.
Let’s see what happens if you take something which is non-curious, for example:
Why The Space Shuttle Goes Into Space
You’re telling me about the Space Shuttle, which is something I know about, and you’re telling me why it goes into space, which I know about. There’s nothing interesting in there. When I combine New, which is brand new, with something I already know, that’s when the curiosity level goes up.
So, we’ve looked at question-based versus statement-based headlines, and curious versus non-curious headlines. That takes us to the third type of headline.
Often, when we’re working with headlines, we try to bring out a solution. Because all our training is about bringing out the benefits. That’s why many people tend to write headlines that are solution-based.
The thing is, solutions don’t get our attention as much as problems do. So if you’re going to write a headline that’s solution-based, you should turn it into a problem-based headline. Newspapers do this every single day.
So what does the problem headline look like? It looks like this:
Here, you’re isolating the problem and driving it home in your headline. The solution-based headline on the other hand, tends to be flat – it doesn’t get your attention. Take this headline, for example:
Is Your Computer’s Lack Of Speed Driving You Crazy? Here Are 3 Tips To Fix The Problem
Whatever the headline is, the point is that you automatically start to read it because there’s a problem embedded in it.
You recognize the problem – the headline has done its job and got your attention. Now it’s going to keep your attention throughout the rest of the article.
That’s the only job of the headline. The headline is not supposed to be a work of art – it does only one job, which is to get your attention and move you to the next line.
How to create a good headline in under 10 minutes?
You can work on a question-based headline. You might say, let me write 25 question-based headlines. Or 25 problem-based headlines, or 25 headlines with a combination of NEW and KNEW. And there you have it – you start to have a whole bunch of headlines in a very short time.
Is it better to have question marks at the end of a headline?
Not necessarily. You can also have statements like How The Yes And Yes Factor Can Help You Increase Prices By 10%. There’s no question mark there. Or Why The Mandarin Formula Will Help You Win Chess Tournaments. There’s no question mark there either.
Here are three reasons why headlines fail:
Let’s take a close look at each of these possible failures:
Not enough detail
This means that you have a headline that doesn’t give the reader enough information to help them decide whether or not to read your article. The headline must have a certain number of elements to make the reader feel they need to read it.
Let’s take an example of a headline which doesn’t have adequate detail, and let’s turn it around:
Why Article Writing Is The Key
The first thing the reader wonders is “is the key to what?”
Because if you just put in, “why article writing is the key”, I have no clue what you’re talking about.
What we need to do is add in a specific. So we say:
You’re just adding one more element – you’re adding a specific, which is, “why article writing is the key to – something”. Why article writing is the key to dancing salsa, or the key driving dinosaurs down the plane. It doesn’t matter what it is – you’re adding a specific, which is going to get my attention. That’s the first step.
The second step is to put in an adjective. This is the next little element, and the result reads:
Why Article Writing Is The Key To Getting Active Strategic Alliances
You’ve taken a very boring headline, and put in a little bit, and then put in a little more, and you’ve made it more interesting. We’re not expanding the headline endlessly – we’re just putting in tiny little bits.
Let’s take more examples. Again, for “why article writing is the key”, we add in a little bit more which is “why article writing is the key to getting clients”, and the third is, “why article writing is the key to getting higher paying clients”.
Now we can go any way – “why article writing is the key to getting less grumpy clients”; “why article writing is the key to getting Fortune 500 clients” – it doesn’t matter what it is.
What we had was “why article writing is the key”. Then we said “why article writing is the key to getting something”, or ” “doing something”, and then eventually we added an adjective, which is – higher-paying clients.
Here’s a second example. Let’s start with our boring headline and change it to “why article writing is the key to getting paid”, and then “why article writing is the key to getting paid in advance”. Again I can go any way – “why article writing is the key to getting paid in 30 days”, “why article writing is the key to getting paid millions of dollars”.
Add a specific and a bit more description – and you’re done! You’ve got a great headline in a matter of minutes, and you’ve got adequate detail. So now the reader knows: if they’re interested in strategic alliances, and active strategic alliances, they have to read this article.
It’s almost like you’re painting. A master painter can paint very quickly, but often, master painters do what amateurs don’t, which is, they create in layers. They always create an undercoat, then the second coat, then the final painting.
The amateur tends to try and do everything at once. The layers will help you see how the headline is building. You’re only putting in one piece at a time, so you don’t get into the second problem, which is too much detail.
Why too much detail drives your reader crazy
When you write a headline, you should start thinking ‘how many thoughts are running through this headline?’ For instance, someone asked me what I thought of this headline:
Is Your Personal Service Business Struggling To Get Enough Clients Because You’re Making These Classic Mistakes With Your Best Clients?
For most of you, this would have gone right over your head even as I said it. But when we break it up into thoughts, we see there are two thoughts running through that headline. Firstly, “are you struggling to find enough new clients?” Secondly, “are you making these classic mistakes with your clients?”
Even if you do end up with a headline that has multiple thoughts running through it, separate the thoughts. When you separate them, you get two different headlines. So the first one is:
Are You Struggling To Find New Consulting Clients?
The second one is:
Are You Making These Classic Mistakes With Your Clients?
When you separate them, you’ve got two different articles, and you’ve got two different problems to solve.
Whereas when you had “Is Your Personal Service Business Struggling To Get Enough Clients Because You’re Making These Classic Mistakes With Your Best Clients?“, you have a problem headline that no-one seems to understand or is totally confusing.
But that’s not your only problem. You’ve also got a problem article because as you start to write it, you’re going to be in misery because you did not have a single thought. When your thought isn’t singular, your article will combine several thoughts and become extremely confusing – even for yourself.
So from a writer’s point of view, your headline has taken you down the path of a bloated article. A bloated headline often leads to a bloated article.
A good way to avoid the bloat is to ask ‘what am I really writing about?’ Write it on a piece of paper.
For example, if you’re writing about getting new clients , put that piece of paper in front of you, and make sure that whatever you write depends on that piece of paper.
Getting new clients? Stay with getting new clients. Don’t start to put ‘classic mistakes’ or whatever you think of on the spur of the moment. Just stay with that single thought. Once you stay with that thought, it’s difficult to bloat a headline because you become focused on that one thought.
The Breath Test helps to define how long or short a headline should be. Many people aren’t really sure whether a headline is too long or too short.
What is the Breath Test? Try saying the following headline aloud:
Is Your Personal Service Business Struggling To Get Enough Clients Because You’re Making These Classic Mistakes With Your Best Clients?
That was a deep breath, ok? That’s not the way we normally speak. I would almost have to take two or three breaths in that sentence.
Well, if a headline means you need to take two or three breaths then that headline is way too long. Your headline should be able to go from one end to the other end in a single breath. For instance: Why Headlines Go Astray And How To Fix Them – single breath. How To Write Powerful Headlines In No Time At All – single breath. Why Headlines Fail And Why They Succeed – single breath.
You shouldn’t have to struggle for your breath every time you read a headline – so read your headline back – if you have to struggle and you have to take another breath – then that headline is too long.
Let’s look at some examples. Here’s a really bad one:
How To Recognize 6 Difficult Tell-tale Signs Of Disinterest Or Lack Of Motivation In Your Student Or Customers
That’s too long! Long headlines often lead to posts that have too much detail.
Let’s look at some alternative headlines that follow the One Breath rule:
How To Win Friends And Influence People
Do You Make These Mistakes In English?
They Laughed When I Sat Down At The Piano. But When I Started To Play…
Some people think, wait a second – that was two breaths! And yes, you can have a headline with two breaths providing you have something called punctuation. So – They laughed when I sat down at the piano – full stop. But when I started to play – dot dot dot. That’s how the headline is written. Here’s an example:
How to Write Great Headlines In Under 10 Minutes (Question Versus Statement-Based Headlines)
When you use punctuation, the reader stops. This means they’re not taking in a mass of information. Why Headlines Go Astray – And How To Fix Them seems almost like two headlines. In fact, they are two headlines – that’s why you use punctuation, brackets, commas, semi-colons, and full stops. If you use punctuation, your headline will not fail the breath test – despite being longer.
It’s important not to stray too far from the point. For example, when you say “why headlines go astray and how to fix them”, you’ve got the classic example of a problem and a solution in one headline. Why headlines go astray” is the problem, and “how to fix them” is the solution.
So you can write long headlines, but as long as you’re using punctuation, you won’t fail the breath test.
But if you’re writing headlines like,”‘How to recognize 6 difficult tell-tale signs of disinterest and lack of motivation in your student and customer”, well – you won’t be able to get through that in one breath. Your readers won’t tolerate headlines like that.
The optimal length of a headline is not determined by the word count, it’s more about the ‘thought count’.
It’s important that the thoughts in your headline – if you use more than one – are closely related. For example, ‘Why headlines go astray’ is one thought, and’‘how to fix them’ is another, closely related thought.
Let’s take a look at how to create good headlines fast.
The easiest way to construct headlines is to use How and Why. Most people understand How and Why; they’ve seen How headlines and Why headlines. I tend to write a lot of How and Why headlines – more than any other kind of headline.
So how does it work? You have ‘How’, you have a subject, and you have something you want to say. Let’s say your subject is dinosaurs. You’ve got two things – ‘How’ and ‘dinosaurs’. What else are we going to say?
Let’s say:
All these headlines are very interesting, or very curious, simply because they have this factor of ‘How something’, and whatever else you add to it.
You can use the same concept for ‘Why’, and you get:
‘How’ tends to show you steps – 1, 2, 3, and so on. As soon as you write a How headline, it gets my attention because I’m expecting steps, some kind of system that you’re going to roll out.
‘Why’ is more dedicated to my curiosity. So you can take a topic, which is “increase your prices by 10%”, and you can just add ‘How’ or ‘Why’.
Once you’ve got the subject matter and you add ‘How’ or ‘Why’, you’ve got a great headline.
So for the topic “paying too much tax”, let’s add a ‘How’:
How To Work Out If You’re Paying Too Much Tax
Say you have a topic like ‘cleaning products’, you say:
How A Bottle Of Distilled Vinegar Can Replace Most Of Your Cleaning Products
The topic “freelancers who find themselves on the wrong side of the law” becomes:
How unwitting freelancers find themselves on the wrong side of the law
So we’ve taken a thought – which might be keep your diaries clean, or keep your cupboard clean, or keep your house clean or keep your garden tidy – and we’ve just added ‘how to’.
These are the simplest headlines, but they will still get attention. They seem so simple that you think no one’s going to read them, but they still work.
The same goes for ‘Why’ headlines. Take a look below:
We can take anything – for example a pen from my desk – and express in the headline that this pen writes longer:
So I don’t really have to think much about it when I have the subject matter in front of me, and I have some clarity about the topic.
Again, it comes down to thoughts. If you have that thought on a piece of paper – like I was thinking about the pen in my hand – then I just have to add ‘How’ or ‘Why’ and I’m done. That’s a lot better than what a lot of people do.
So is this the best way? No.
As I’ve said, there are headlines with the new and knew, there are question headlines, there are problem-based headlines, and there are headlines with paradox. There are 15 -20 different ways to write headlines. But the point is, when you’re stuck, use How and Why.
How and Why lead to different posts
It’s useful to start off with a headline before writing your post, because a ‘How’ or ‘Why’ headline leads to a different post. Actually, most people don’t get their blog posts or articles right because they don’t have their central thought right.
The headline reveals the clarity of your thought. If your thought is clear, it’s going to be out there in the headline. If your thought is unclear, there are going to be two or three different thoughts, and it’s going confuse the reader.
If I write “Three ways to go from here to New York”, the thought is very clear. Of course we can improve that headline, but the thought is clear. It’s the preliminary headline – a starting point – and you can improve on it, but the thought is clear.
That’s the basis of great headlines.
Author: Sean D’Souza of psychotactics.com