According to a survey conducted by Orbit Media Studios, bloggers as of 2020, spend an average of 3 hours and 55 minutes writing a single blog article. And remember, this doesn’t take into consideration the time and resources also needed to plan, research, format, create images, or promote that article. 

Image credit: Orbit Media Studios

Point is, writing articles is not a small task so to maximise the ‘return on investment’ on each article you write, you don’t only want to ensure that you’re writing quality content, but also that people actually are actually clicking to read it in the first place. 

One of the key factors to increase the chances of achieving a higher click through rate on your articles? A catchy and clickable article title, of course!

The headline’s job is to indicate to the viewer what benefit they’ll get out of reading your article - and it needs to do this in less than a second. That said, upon first glance, a blog post’s headline needs to clearly articulate what you’ll be covering in the article. Remember that a vague article headline won’t intrigue or captivate anyone, so be specific. The more specific your headlines are, the more likely a visitor will be to click into it. 

Unclear and vague headline: Write Articles For Your Business’ Blog

Clear and specific headline: How to Write Effective Lead Generating Articles For Your Business’ Blog

2. Know your audience and demonstrate value to them 

You should know your audience better than anyone else. This means, you know exactly what they want to achieve as well as their pain points. When writing articles, make use of that knowledge. Better yet, once you’ve written the article, use that knowledge again to develop smart and strategic headlines that capitalise on those pain points. 

Essentially, you want to explain to readers throughout headlines, in just a few words, why your article is worth reading to them.

3. Use numbers and digits in headlines for listicles

Readers are naturally attracted to headlines that point to a listicle. This is because, the same way the human eye is drawn to contrasting colours, we’re also drawn to the juxtaposition of digits besides text. Listicles are also appealing to people browsing the web for content because they set expectations about the amount of content within the article. They are known to be quick and scan-friendly reads - a quality that busy individuals and those with short attention spans love and need.

4. Ask a question 

When crafted well, question headlines can be highly enticing because they lead readers to wonder or seek answers - this creates interest and intrigue in the readers’ mind. 

There’s another benefit of question headlines that you can ride on. Typically, when people want answers to questions, they’ll resort to search engines such as Google. In the search bar, they’ll type out full questions beginning with phrases such as “How do I…” or “What is…”. By using questions in your blog article headline, you also help search engines to connect your content with readers more effectively. Plus, when people find articles in the search results that address their exact question, they’re most likely to click on it. 

Ideas for great headlines don’t simply pop up in your head in the midst of your article writing process. We recommend allocating some time to jot down a bunch of headlines before picking the one. 

For any article, write out 10 (or more) article title options. It might sound like a lot, but once you get a few options going, more ideas for variations of the same title will start to flood in. Finally, get the opinion of others to help you decide on the most catchy and clickable one. 

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