How to Write Amazing Headlines to Grow Your Eco-Friendly Business
You’ve selected your blog idea, nailed down what keywords you wanted to focus on, thoroughly researched the topic, wrote it, edited it, and hit publish!
Cue a little happy dance, popping open a bottle of champagne, and cheering yourself on.
But then when you check back later to see how it did...turns out no one read it.😬
What happened?!
Even if your blog is completely search-engine-optimized so it shows up in results, you still need to get people to click on the link to read it.
That’s where a great headline becomes integral to the success of your blog.
What is the purpose of headlines?
Headlines serve as the front line of your copy. They tell readers what your article is about and intrigues them enough to click and keep on reading. 80% of people read a headline and then keep scrolling. If this is happening to you, it means that your headline isn’t doing its job.1
When it comes to Google search results, the reason you want to be on the first page of the search results is that most people won’t click onto the second page to keep searching. It’s really the top ten results they’ll look at. But even if you’re in the top ten results, if your headline doesn’t encourage people to click, they’ll cruise on by to another search result that seems more interesting (or like a better solution to their problem!)
You want your headline to entice the reader to continue reading. Your headline is a huge sign that says “I have amazing information to share with you! I can change your life! You GOTTA read this!” So your headline needs to be good enough for them to read the following sentence and that sentence needs to be good enough for them to read the next sentence, and so on and so forth.2
Why Headlines Are So Important for Eco-Friendly Businesses
A perfectly stirred martini in hand.
Your best going-out attire on.
Turn Me On by Norah Jones plays over the speakers in the bar.
As you sip from the glass, you look up and lock eyes with the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen. They give you that little half smile and your heart skips a beat, your cheeks flushing red.
The start of a romance movie? Okay yeah probably, but it’s also the feeling that your customers should have when they read your headline.
Whether it’s the title of your blog or the copy that brings attention to your product, you want to create that feeling in your readers’ gut that everything falls into place, feels right, and they just can’t stay away.
It’s more important than ever to stand out. As an eco-friendly company, you’re leading the way in a new generation of companies that care about more than just how much money they make. You’re making a difference on several levels.
Yet it can be hard to get your footing when you’re competing against giant companies that people have known for years, have a strong ranking in Google, and offer super convenience at the price of pollution.
Making headlines a priority will make a huge difference in your website’s traffic. The more people find you, click through to your website and read what you have to say, the more people that stay informed about your business and are ready to put their dollar behind you.
When that happens, you can stress less about running ads, save time on outreach, and see your business grow the way you want it to.
How to Write Attention-Grabbing Headlines for More Clicks
Okay first things first, stay away from cliches and false promises. Clickbait will only hurt you and your website’s standing. If your headline seems to promise something or discuss something that the following article doesn’t connect to, people are going to jump ship – which will tell Google that something is wrong with the content on your website. It can hurt your ranking.
Plus, people are a lot savvier when it comes to advertising nowadays. They’ve been thrown ad after ad for years and they are more careful about what they give their attention to and what they might think is a scam. So you want to be honest with what the article is about.
Really great headlines:
Have personality
Show off a benefit
Are engaging
Writing headlines doesn’t have to be this boring process. It should be fun! It’s like solving a puzzle to figure out the perfect piece that fits in with the rest of the image.
Personality
Don’t be afraid to add in your brand’s personality to the headline.2 It’ll make the headline stand out from all the other boring ones. Playing around with slang is a good move here.1 After all, you want to connect with your audience, and using familiar vocabulary can establish that connection quickly. When people feel that kinship, they’re more likely to trust you, engage with your content, and stick around for a while.2
Show Off a Benefit
The first thing copywriters learn is identifying the difference between a feature and a benefit. The features are what makes your product or service so cool and unique. Think: sleek design, made from recycled materials, compostable, lab-grown diamonds, etc. Too many people highlight these aspects in their copy, without realizing that that’s a mistake.
Sure, people might be intrigued by your bag that is made from recycled materials, but consumers always want to know what’s in it for them? That’s where features come in and take the spotlight. This is the “so what?” moment for your features. How do these features directly benefit your customer? Think: eliminating the guilt of using plastic bags, feeling confident that they’re wearing a ring that didn’t contribute to mining or humanitarian abuses, saving time because they don’t need to run to the dump anymore – they can throw it into their compost bin.
The benefits highlight how you solve problems for your customers and make their lives better and easier.
Engaging
Headlines are a game of words – how can you convey an idea in the most precise and engaging way? Word selection is both the fun part and the frustrating part of writing a headline and sometimes it’ll take a few tries to get it just right. It’s an important step though, because a single word in your headline can directly impact how well it does. According to Quicksprout, a single word change in an email subject line increased clicks by 46%.2
That’s a lot! So tap into words that best convey your message. Add emotional words or powerful words to stand out. Mix your brand personality with the benefits of your product, service, or article and you’ll end up with an engaging headline.
Tools to Make Writing Headlines Easier
Coschedule Headline Analyzer
The number one tool I always go to when figuring out a headline is Coschedule’s Headline Analyzer. It’s free and simple to use. You type in your headline and Coschedule gives you a score and a breakdown of your words. Anything over 70 is great! They’ll look at how many emotional, powerful, common, and uncommon words you use in your headline and will point you in the right direction on what needs to be improved.
Look at Other Headlines
Looking at other articles that are on the same topic can help you get some inspiration as to how to write your own. You can gain insight into what words the top results are using, how they’ve structured their headlines, and what they’re highlighting. It’ll help get the juices flowing so you can draft out headline ideas.
Keep Writing Headlines
Speaking of drafting out headline ideas...one of the biggest pieces of advice you’ll find on the internet is just writing out a bunch of different headline ideas, because your first idea probably won’t be the best. The idea is to get it out of the way so you can get more refined headlines as you go. It can be tedious and annoying, but it’s always worth it so you can push the crappy stuff aside and get into the gold!
Killer Headlines + Engaging Blogs = Eco-Friendly Business Success
Headlines are always part of the service delivered when you hire me for blogging. I make sure everything is optimized to work with google and that we have a killer headline that’ll get you clicks.
If you just don’t have the time anymore to do it yourself, or you hate drafting out headline ideas, schedule a call to see how I can help you out!
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