It takes much more than a few words thrown together to write blog headlines that get readers to your blog — even if it seems like a simple task, crafting an effective blog headline takes a lot of thought.

When your blog headlines work, your blog post gets more traffic, shares and can even go viral.

With this guide, you’ll learn how to create engaging headlines for your blog posts, while making sure they trigger emotions, are shareable, and tick all the technical boxes.

Why are Blog Headlines So Important?

When you write blog headlines, you’re not just writing any sentence.

Even though we keep preaching – don’t judge a book by its cover, everybody does, just like people judge articles by its headlines.

Well-crafted blog headlines can help you:

• Increase traffic from searches
  
• Get more readers to your blog post
  
• Convert readers into customers and increase profit
  
• Go viral and get a ton of shares

It won’t matter how fantastic your article is if your headline is sub-par.

Potential readers simply won’t click on it.

Consider this scenario; you want to learn more about making money blogging.

So, you type in your search box “tips making money blogging,” right?

How many results do you get?

How will you choose which ones to read, when you only have so much time on your hands?

Chances are, you’ll decide based on the headlines.

Writing effective blog headlines can be the difference between your blog’s success or failure.

Types of Highly Shareable Blog Headlines

One of the most significant advantages to writing crafty blog post headlines is their potential to be shared.

When you write blog headlines that go viral, you can kiss anonymity goodbye.

1. Listicles (List Posts)

When it comes to getting shares on social media, list posts are probably one of the most popular headline types.

We’ve all seen the “10 ways to do this”, “5 hacks to be more”, “7 reasons to” and the many other examples out there.

In fact, creating lists is how Buzzfeed became so well-known around the internet.

2. The “How-to”

Posts like the “how to” posts are highly successful because people are online looking for information 24/7.

You are reading one right now.

There’s something for every niche to learn and teach.

“How to” blog headlines catch people’s attention, and if it’s valuable to them, they might share with their friends.

3. Useful Resources

If you want to create shareable content, make sure you create a resources post and headline.

These are posts filled with curated content from other websites put together to solve a problem.

Let’s say the subject someone is looking to start a business.

As a blogger, you can create a post that puts together all the tools and applications that can help the person get started.

4. Questions that Resonate

If your blog headline is a question that the readers have already asked themselves, you will get more traffic to your blog.

Everyone will be curious to see the answer.

Most importantly, they will share it with their network if they know others are going through the same thing, or they just want to seem cool, but we’ll talk about it below.

5. Heartfelt

When a blog post has a heart-felt headline topic and copy, your chances of getting shares are high.

As humans, we can’t help but click that link and learn about the “11 truths you never shared with anyone.”

Knowing Your Audience

Without a doubt, the most important thing to write blog headlines that work is to know your audience and what resonates with them.

Ask yourself this question:

What are the Problems Your Potential Readers Face?

If you have a clear idea of who your audience is, what content they seek out the most and what they like to share, you’ll be able to write blog headlines that bring in a lot more readers.

Also, knowing your audience is vital to creating blog headlines that tap into the emotional triggers we’ll discuss below.

Emotional Triggers to Write Blog Headlines that Work

Though we would like to think that we make decisions logically and rationally, in reality, our emotions are usually in the driver’s seat.

You decide to click on a blog headline because your emotions were triggered.

Here are some of the powerful emotional triggers you can use to write compelling headlines:

1. Fear and Anxiety

Though fear and anxiety are seen as negative emotions, they can drive potential readers to take action.

Creating a fear-based headline can help you get more traffic to your blog, but, make sure your blog post also brings a solution to solve the problem you’re describing as the next scary thing.

What is your audience afraid of and how can you help them avoid it or fix it?

Example: “How are your blog headlines destroying your ranking on Google and how to make it right.”

2. Awe

Deliver bold statements, grant your audience their wishes, or bring something unexpected to the table, to leave them in awe.

Personal stories and unlikely comparisons can be highly effective.

Example: “How to write blog post headlines that makes you go viral.”

3. Shock

This emotional trigger can be seen as positive or negative, but either way you go with it, the conversions will be high.

When your headline is a statement that shocks potential readers, they will, most likely, click to read it through and see why you wrote that title, to begin with.

To shock your audience, you can:

• Contest conventional beliefs
  
• Find common enemies

It’s important to keep in mind that, there’s a fine line here between getting more readers and annoying your audience.

So, tread lightly.

Example: “8 reasons you should use Yahoo over Google” (okay, this example might be a bit too shocking.)

4. Joy and Surprise

Positive emotions, arguably might not be the most potent emotions to reel the reader, but they might be more shareable.

How can you bring some joy to your audience?

Well, you can give them a scapegoat to something they feel bad about.

A headline that tells them “It’s not your fault,” can help them feel better about themselves.

Example: “How Google is driving people away from your website? (And how to fix it)”

Another way is to put them at ease.

Create a headline that addresses something your audience worries about and they shouldn’t.

Example: “How to start a blog even when you are not an expert.”

And you can help them save time as well.

Time is our biggest asset and anything that helps us save time, we’re in.

Example: “How to start a side hustle putting in one hour a day?”

5. Scarcity

Us, humans, try our hardest to minimize losses.

If your blog headline indicates that the readers are already losing, they might as well click on it to learn how to turn it around.

You can talk about mistakes they are making or could make and the impact on their lives.

Example: “Why is your blog losing readers?”

6. Time-sensitivity and FOMO

The fear of missing out (FOMO) along with time-sensitivity play considerable roles in our decision to click on a headline.

Whenever you have a topic that has a limited timestamp on it or a specific time frame, you can use it to generate more traffic to your blog.

Example: “How to create a profitable blog in only 33 days.”

When you know what your audience wants, crafting blog headlines is much easier.

You can get through to your audience in many different ways.

The same blog post could have a scarcity-based headline or a headline that brings readers joy and puts the blame on someone else.

It’s crucial to test and find out what works best with your potential readers.

The Technical Side of Efficient Blog Headlines

Every day, bloggers test new titles and find out different ways of creating blog headlines that increase their traffic.

Here are a few of the tried and true techniques to get more readers to your blog.

1. Keywords

Make sure your blog headline and the whole article are targeting the right keywords.

Check out the competition on a search for that keyword, read their headlines and make sure yours is unique.

2. Length

Very long titles won’t show up entirely on the screen, especially since many people are on their phones.

If you write a long title, make sure its key idea is expressed in the beginning.

3. Numbers and Statistics

Adding numbers or statistics to your blog headline can help you massively increase traffic.

Many bloggers have noticed that, when the headline starts with a number, people are more likely to go to the article.

4. Characters and Parenthesis

Also, adding hyphens, dashes or parentheses can get you more readers.

It drives their attention to a section of the headline they are most likely to be excited about.

Before You Go Work On Your Blog Headlines…

It might seem like a lot of information to take in just to write one sentence, but believe me, it will have a significant impact on your blog.

The willingness to try different titles, analyze your results and optimize, will help you thrive in the online world.

Before posting your next article, write a bunch of options for your headline and go through this guide a few times.

You’ll be able to create engaging and exciting blog headlines to get more readers to your blog.