11) Headlining and Sub-Headlining Effective Content Pieces
Article titles (headlines), as well as subheadlines, are one of the first things a reader reads.
In this discussion, we will understand effective strategies to write headline titles as well as subheadlines to these titles.
Some general tips include:
-
Avoid long article titles: try to fit the title within 62 characters or limit it to 5-7 words.
-
Consider using “What”, “Why”, “How”, or “When” as these are catchy and add to curiosity.
-
Use Numbers - numbers ensure the availability of organized information, and are generally liked: using Odd Numbers in the title has helped in terms of SEO. Remember to write the number itself (5 instead of five).
-
To add specificity, consider using “the” before the number.
-
Provide an answer to why people should click and read your content: words like “tips”, “strategies”, “facts”, “reasons” all help provide a rationale.
-
Include the word “Guide” where applicable.
-
Consider using emotional adjectives that describe the topic. For example, “essential”, “free” etc.
-
Consider outlining Negative aspects - spin this to meet mental health content goals. For example, The 5 Essential Things You Did Not Know About Depression.
-
Use common words to ensure people understand and grasp the topic while finding the title simple
-
Consider using a “Things I Wish I Had Known” approach to content if applicable.
How to test your headline as being unique:
Copy and paste your headline with quotation marks into the Google search bar. (e.g. “The 5 Essential Things You Did Not Know About Depression”) - if the results come back as “no results found”, your headline is unique!
Helpful Resource: Useful Title Capitalization Tool
Note: The bottom line to success in terms of marketing and content is to ensure that your content body reflects the great headline/title. It might be worth considering to write final titles after the content body.
Subheadlines: Effective subheadlines summarize the content body while also linking it to the title.
Activity
Using the knowledge attained through this discussion, propose a new article title as well as a subheadline for this published article at 7 Cups.
Reply to at least one other student’s response and share your feedback with them
(Edited by @SoulfullyAButterfly: 12/2/2021 to clarify "subheadline" instead of subheading)
-
This post is brought to you by the Content Development and Marketing Program, find out more information about the program here
@amomtessa
Tessa, those are a great Title and subtitles. The headline is clear, it engages, it is well-balanced. Headline appeals equally to people's intellectual, empathetic, and spiritual spheres. Also great job with avoiding passive language. It is also a nice number of words, however, you might increase the number of characters to boost your rankings and click-through rate. Next time you may try adding emotion and power words to increase clicks. People react more actively to things that make them feel something. The subtitle is a very good fit. It explains the title, names the benefit and reflects the content of the article. Fantastic work!
