"This looks interesting."
We've all been there at one point or another. You sit down at a computer to accomplish a specific task. Moments later, you're on the web reading an article or watching a video. Five or ten minutes pass before you realize you've gotten sidetracked. You had no intention of wasting time when you sat down, but somehow you were persuaded to drop what you were doing. How did this happen? It's all in the headlines.
Most marketers know the power of a well-written headline. It can grab attention and direct a reader toward a specific action. It's the difference between click and no click.
To see headlines in action, just look at Yahoo.com and MSN.com. These two sites are hugely successful at pulling readers in. They seem to have an unending supply of relationship advice, fashion trends, job tips, and little known facts. In reality, both sites are running what I call "green articles." They're "green" because they are made up of 85% recycled material. I can't even count how many times I've seen some variation of "How To Know if He/She is Cheating." Some of their topics have been used for at least five years. The content varies each time, but there's only so much you can say before you run out of material. At that point, they make an article appear fresh by using different stock photos. How's that for eco-friendly?
What can we learn from Yahoo and MSN?
Lesson #1 - People are interested in the same things now as they were 10 years ago.
We may have new technology, new music, and new memes, but the things that appeal to us remain unchanged. People still like gossip, conflict, and bad news. People like learning little-known facts so they can feel smart. People like finding a bargain. We're motivated by the same things as we always have been, and an effective headline will appeal to those motivations.
Let's pause for a minute and apply this. We'll practice with a press release.
Decent: "BizCorp to offer affordable cable internet."
Better: "BizCorp" to help save Seattle internet users hundreds each year.
Assessment: It might be tempting to talk about your new technology, but it will be more effective to talk about something people have always cared about—getting a deal. Before you write your headline, imagine your target customer asking you: "What do I get out of this?" The first press release doesn't answer that question. The second example addresses the question by telling people they will save money. They don't care how the company was able to lower prices. They don't even care if the company is losing profit. They just want a better price on their internet service.
Ok, now let's try an Adwords campaign:
Good: "Make your grass greener."
Better: "Get the greenest lawn."
Assessment: The first ad isn't bad. It states exactly what the customer gets, and is probably quite relevant to the searcher. The second is much better though. It appeals to the competitive nature we all secretly have. I mean, honestly, how hard would people work on their lawns if they didn't have neighbors?
Lesson #2 - Statistics matter.
Celebrity gossip is definitely alive and well. Personally, I don't consider celebrities to be any more special than the rest of us, and I rarely pay any attention to them when they show up in the news. On one of those rare occasions, I found myself clicking on an article about some celebrity feud. I wasn't even interested in the people involved. Some sort of morbid curiosity just overtook me, like when you slow down to look at a car accident. After reading the article and feeling thoroughly unfulfilled, I turned to the comment section to find something more interesting. One person remarked with disgust, "...When will they stop writing about this?" If I were the comment-leaving type, I would have replied, "When you stop clicking on it."
The moral of the story is click data. Yahoo and MSN know what people are clicking on, and they respond by giving readers more of what they want. It's a simple formula for success. So, don't underestimate the usefulness of your traffic data.
Lesson #3 - Content matters too.
In many cases, the headline is the best part of an article. You see an eye-catching headline and think, "Hmm, this looks interesting." After reading the article you realize it wasn't nearly as interesting as you thought. The headline may have even been a little misleading. This is where Yahoo and MSN occasionally fail. It's true that it all starts with the headline, but it shouldn't end there.
One story from CNN Money donned the title "More people look for love at Wal-Mart." Because I couldn't imagine anyone putting on their nice clothes so they could find a date at Wal-Mart, I had to read the article. As it turns out, that title was inaccurate. The story was based on a study done on Craigslist. The study showed that Wal-Mart was the most likely place for someone to spot an attractive stranger, and then try to find them online afterwards. While that story does say a lot about people, it definitely does not say that they "look for love at Wal-Mart."
Think back on the last time you read something that didn't live up to its headline. Were you happy about it? Misleading your readers can damage your credibility, and all you get in return is a couple extra clicks.
If you've never learned anything useful from a "Did you know...?" article on Yahoo, hopefully you've been able to find a few helpful tidbits in this post.
One last little tip: try paying attention to headlines that get your attention, and then ask yourself why it appealed to you. You're bound to learn a few valuable tricks that way.
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