How to Write a Great Headline for your Blog Post

You may have the best blog content in the world, but what difference does it make if nobody reads it? The success of your article can stand or fall on the strength of its headline. 

Here are five tips for crafting compelling headlines for blog posts that draw readers into your site: 

1 . Find an Angle 

A clear angle will attract readers. Find the most interesting nugget of your story and use this as the basis for your headline.  Another tactic is to think of how to summarize the overall message of your post—tell the story of your article in just a handful of words.  

Whatever you do, have your headline take a stance.     

2. Do your Research 

Draft a headline and run a search on it. What is ranking on the first page results?  Take inspiration from what you find. Make sure your headline is different from what’s already out there though. 

3. Keep it Brief 

The power of a headline is in its brevity. State less, tease more, and increase the chances of a click. Need we say more? 

4. Be Clear 

Choose plain words over complex ones. Simple terms will make your point just fine. Go back to your headline and count the syllables in each word. The more short words, the better. 

5. Use a Power Word 

Pick one word (or phrase) in your headline that shouts out above the rest. Words that incorporate emotion or a state of mind tend to do well. They speak “human.” 

Draft several versions of your headline . Which might your ideal reader actually click on? Look at headlines that have worked well for you in the past and borrow from their formula.

Final Tip - Remember you can always change your headline after publication, but it is not so straightforward (or, for reasons of search engine optimization, wise) to change the article’s permalink.

Instead, opt for a custom url that both captures the gist of the article and gives you the latitude to change the headline at a later point without making the url look out of place.