I’m going to tell you through my super simple
A 3-step formula to writing H.O.T. headlines.
So, what are headlines?
They are strategically written attention-grabbing statements used in marketing and copywriting with the sole purpose of getting your reader to engage with you.
Whether it be to click an ad on Facebook or to continue reading a sales offer or, yes... even picking up that magazine in the checkout line at the grocery store.
Now, I'm not talking about clickbait.
For those of you using clickbait in your marketing, seriously stop it. You're lame, you're ruining the internet for the rest of us.
If you don't know what clickbait is, it is similar to the headlines I’m talking about.
Except, in this case, they are written for the sole purpose of getting a click and don't add any value whatsoever.
I’m sure you've seen clickbait while you're scrolling around the internet...
Usually, there will be a blurry photo or gross hyperbole, or a controversial topic that leads to virtually nothing...
An endless cesspool of lame shit that nobody cares about.
What I'm talking about is writing effective headlines for your valuable content.
Content that adds educational value, entertainment value, or inspirational value.
Now, ironically, even though headlines are the very first thing that your customer will read...
As a copywriter, they are actually the very last thing you should be writing…
And that is because they are the single most effective and important part of any sales message. Whether it be a blog post, a Facebook ad, or a sales offer, your headline decides who stays and who goes, who clicks, and who keeps scrolling.
Your headlines need to be precise, personalized and provoking, and often...the shorter they are, the harder they are to write.
As I like to say, the right phrase pays so really take the time to get this right. Practice writing headlines and whatever you don't get too attached to.
Always, always, always test your headlines.
I cannot tell you the number of times I've written a headline that I think is pure gold and then we test it and it flops.
So, write many, write often, and just keep, keep, keep, testing your headlines.
Now, of course, headlines aren't the only part of an effective sales message, so if you're considering starting your own copywriting business, or if you want to use copy to scale
your business, make sure to hit subscribe because coming down the pipe will be plenty more videos on copywriting basics like how to find a hot niche and how to create fierce brand loyalty through copywriting.
So, tell me if this has happened to you, you’re on Facebook or Instagram, you're checking out your friends stuff you're clicking around and next thing you know you've gone so far down the rabbit hole and you end up on one of those listicle sites like Buzzfeed or Bored Panda...
And next thing you know you're reading a blog post titled "The 17 Questions I Have For People Who Like Cilantro".
Yeah, well that happened to me this morning, and I know I can't be the only one, if this has happened to you, like this video below.
Guys, don't leave me hanging. I know the rabbit hole is deep and a lot of us get trapped down there frequently.
Like, do you even notice how offensive this flavor is?
Why would anyone ever pay for something so yucky?
Why do you not get pissed off when the giant stringy mess shows up unexpectedly on your food?
Okay, so if this has ever happened to you chances are you have fallen prey to a killer headline.
Now, as a marketer or business owner, just think of the possibilities of what you could do if your website was able to garner that many clicks.
Lucky for you, the formula for writing a H.O.T. headline is simple enough, and with practice
I promise it will become second nature to you as a copywriter.
Websites like Cosmopolitan, Buzzfeed, and Bored Panda are absolutely killing the headline game.
So if you want some inspiration, just scroll through those sites and see what kind of headlines
they're writing. I do this all the time.
And I have a favorite tool that I use for checking the most popular headlines trending on any given topic. If you want to get your hands on that just comment below and
It's something that I use every single day just to see what’s hot, what’s culturally-relevant today.
Moving into my 3 step formula for writing a H.O.T. headline.
Step one, a Hook.
So in copywriting and marketing a hook is any concept or idea that grabs the user's attention.
It often provokes an emotion or promises some sort of benefit.
So common emotions that drive clicks would be fear, joy, the classic "us vs them," the fear
of missing out.
In fact, I just read a study that blew my mind. It was written by Chris Tolls who is the CEO
of Topix, an entertainment company, and he developed a strategy where he was able to
drive 20-30 billion (that's with a B) page views to his website by creating content that played
off of only 4 human emotions.
And he only has 6 full-time writers.
That's 20-30 billion page views. And he describes those 4 emotions as history or nostalgia, so like ahh I remember that...
You know you always see those posts, like "how to know if you're a 90’s kid" and you're
like, oh yeah totally.
Humour, that's a pretty obvious one, pride of knowledge so that emotion when you know
you were right about something, and then the fourth one is called schadenfreude.
Now if you don't know what schadenfreude is, neither did I, I had to google it. It’s actually a German word that means pleasure derived from other people's misfortune.
So suddenly sites like Dog Shaming and F My Life make so much more sense.
And now moving on to step 2 of the H.O.T. headline formula, and that is
you must create an Open Loop.
So in marketing, an open loop is any concept or idea which actually forces the brain, naturally forces the brain to seek out some sort of conclusion.
So if you were writing a headline that opened a loop, the following content should then
close that loop. It piques curiosity and one can not help, it's like a cliffhanger, one cannot help but click
or continue reading in order to close that loop that's been opened in their brain.
So one of the most common ways to create an open loop in a headline is through specificity.
I'm sure you've seen this all over websites like Buzzfeed and Bored Panda because they
use this so well. They include numbers in their headlines...
And that's because people love learning in sets. If they know there are 5 steps or 4 tips or ONE technique you must learn...
It's going to naturally increase their odds that they're going to click on that headline. And like I said, scroll through Buzzfeed you will see a million headlines written like this, and it's brilliant. They've done it so well.
Now, of course, you don't have to use a number in a headline to create an open-loop... It's just one of the simplest ways to do it.
You can just be very good at storytelling. So for example I just read a headline the
other day that said, Gisele Bündchen finally opens up about why she and Leo broke up.
So you know that's a typical sort of tabloidy type of headline but you can see why it creates that open loop. It obviously implies that by clicking that headline, you're going to
find out what she said.
Okay now moving on to step 3 of the H.O.T. headline formula.
You must speak to your Target Audience.
So a really effective headline will always call out the reader, either by using the word
“you” or by play of the reader's sense of belonging or identity.
I read a headline the other day, "20 Trivia Questions That Separate Millenials from Gen Z-ers.".
That headline is brilliant because obviously, it speaks to those two groups, and everyone
loves learning about their favorite topic, themselves.
This is exactly why quizzes and personality type tests and all of that do so well no matter
how ridiculous they are. You want to know what Hogwarts house you belong to or what magical fairy you are.
So make it clear who you are speaking to.
Remember, if you try to appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one.
So how can you see why I was so hell-bent on the cilantro headline?
It checked all of the boxes. It had a clear "us vs them" hook. I've heard somewhere that you either love cilantro or you hate it, so no matter what group you fall into those are
two extremely powerful emotions that are going to get clicks.
Two, it had specificity, 17 questions, even though every single question was basically
a version of, why are you crazy?
Why do you like cilantro?
I still had to know what they were. And then number 3 it had a Target Audience.
So this is such a brilliant headline because if it truly is true that you're either someone
who loves cilantro or someone who hates cilantro then that headline simultaneously spoke to
everyone but also was extremely self-identifying because you're either in one group or the
other.
Which makes me wonder, which group are you in?
I personally love cilantro and think that people who don't like cilantro are kind of
nuts.
So get to work writing those H.O.T. headlines.
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