How to Write Headlines
How to Write Attention Grabbing Headlines
The key to writing an attention grabbing headline is to use words that will arouse the reader’s curiosity. You could use something completely outlandish such as ‘Red Pandas Kidnapped My Alien Grandson’ or something as simple as ‘Free’ or ‘How to…’. Whatever your choice your headline will appeal to a different group of people.
Most people are curious by nature so something along the lines of ‘Santa Claus bones found on moon’ are likely to draw immediate interest even if they don’t believe it for a second. The important part is to write the truth, as in How To Sex A Crocodile once you have grabbed your reader’s attention. This leaves tremendous scope for the imaginative mind. A marriage of ‘free’ or ‘how to’ with the outlandish or slightly outlandish cannot really fail as it will appeal to different aspects of the readers psyche. Practically any mention of making easy money will appeal.
There are dozens attention grabbing words and phrases. You only need to think about what grabs your attention during the day. If it worked on others then it will work on you too.
'The Truth', 'Warning', 'Easy', 'Guaranteed', 'Secret' ….all of these are sure fire ways to attract some people some of the time but perhaps not all of the people all of the time. This is because people are different and have differing needs and aspirations.
Sex Always Gets Peoples Attention
HubPages offers its writers the opportunity to change the Title (headline) of their hubs. Why not experiment by using one title for a month and then trying a new one for a month and comparing the number of page views received?
Of course the headline is not the be all and end all of any article you write. Search Engine Optimization is critical too. There has to be quality original content with keywords but choose the right title and you are almost half way to success. And ‘success’ is another attention grabber.