9 tips for writing magnetic headlines right away

Do they entice people not only to come hither, but stay awhile?

If not, you may be missing out on a golden content marketing opportunity.

Online as well as in print, people look to headlines to decide if the accompanying content is worth reading.

In other words, if you can’t attract your target audience with your headlines, you’ve got a lot of content that’s going unread. Because of these high stakes, writing effective headlines can be challenging—but not impossible.

Consider incorporating one or more of the following suggestions into your headlines:

1. Use numbers

Research shows that blog posts with headlines containing numbers bring in more traffic than those without numbers.

Use numbers to illustrate what the article is about. For example:

Better headlines in 8 steps

Numbers can also give an indication of the length of the article—and potentially the amount of time required to read through it, thereby managing readers’ expectations.

2. Speak directly to the reader