How To Write Compelling Headlines That Get Articles Read - part 1
by Brian Cotsen

The secret ingredient to all successful articles is writing a great 'Headline'.... Whoever your reader is:

Website visitor

Robot web spider

Other website owners

 

All great articles that are optimized for your website have one thing in common.

A great Headline!

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1. What is a Headline?
2. Why is writing a great Headline important?
3. How do you write great Headlines?
4. Some simple rules to follow

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What is a Headline?

• It's the bulletins that open up the news on the radio or TV.
• It's what's written on the front of the news stand.
• It announces the content of the article.

Headlines are used to pull the eyes to the page, compelling the reader to read on... If they have searched for a specific word then, if your headline contains that word, they will be drawn to it.

Why is writing a great Headline important?

In a world of news, reports, sounds & pictures we suffer information overload - Headlines help focus the readers attention - grab their interest & give a reason for them to spend time reading your article. You do write your articles to be read, don't you? I know that some write articles just so that they include their website links or affiliate links, but these empty, badly planned articles are not the most successful on the web.

How do you go about writing a good Headline for an article.

Consider the following:

• Learn the secret formula to .....
• I made the fatal mistake ......, make sure you don't!
• Why ..... & ...... grab your customers attention.
• The last word on ........
• Cash in on ....... before others do.
• OH NO... Bush has done it again!

Didn't they all say 'read me' I have something important to say? Didn't they all indicate the nature of the article to come? Didn't they all have an element of curiosity about them? Didn't they all have impact?

Writing a compelling headline for an article is an art that one gets better and better at.

Follow these simple rules which will help you supercharge your Headlines:

1. Appeal to your readers biggest desires

• Make money.
• Get healthy.
• Loose weight.
• Achieve more.
• Look ten years younger.
• Find love.
  

Readers are often looking for solutions to their problems. If your Headline is the answer to their problem then they will read on.

2. Acknowledge their fears.

• Avoid making this costly mistake.
• Act now ... don't loose out!
• The terrible truth about 'X' and how to avoid it.

Sometimes readers haven't acknowledged a problem or are only just becoming aware of it. By suggesting that you know the problem and can help with the solution will get them to read on.

3. Ignite their emotions.

• Why we all hate our boss!
• No more Monday morning blues!
• Throw away your glasses forever.
• Why rubbish is YOUR fault!

Sometimes you need to grab those readers and compel them to read your articles by raising their emotion levels. Sometimes you are actually challenging them to argue with you.

4. Appeal to their curiosity.

• How 'X' & 'Y' made a million from 1 simple widget.
• Double your Adsense income overnight with this one simple strategy.
• What New Year resolutions did Madonna make this year?

Make sure that you use your Keywords, that you've based your article on. Those looking for information on the a particular subject, for example 'How To Write a Great Headline' will likely choose your article to read over another that doesn't use the keywords that they searched on. Look at my headline and you see that it includes 'writing', 'headlines', 'write', 'read', 'articles'. I have a good chance that both the human visitors will use these keywords when searching for information on 'how to write a good headline' but I am also including information so that the search engines might give a high value to my article too.

In How to write headlines - writing headlines that get your articles read - Part 2 I look at more strategies to get those time poor internet readers choosing your article to read.

Brian

Author Bio
Brian Cotsen writes articles and reviews tools to help you succeed with your website or online affiliate marketing. Visit www.simplewebsitemarketing.com

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Keywords used in this article: how to write a headline, how to write headlines, write great headlines, writing headlines, writing a headline, headlines for articles, writing compelling headlines, writing a compelling headline,

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• How to write headlines that get your articles read - part 2
• How to write articles that get back links
• How to write good website content that converts visitors to 'action takers'.
• Do your customers trust you? How articles build trust with your visitors.