How to Write Headlines without Paying a Professional

So you’ve decided to start your own online business, but now you’re trying to figure out how to market and sell your products. Whether you are selling a physical product, helpful service, or affiliate subscriptions, you need to know how to write headlines that performs well, right? Of course, because the purpose of building a business is to provide an income. But, how can you create a long-lasting business if you don’t know the first thing about writing a captivating headline for your social media posts?

 In this article, you'll learn simple and effective ways to write headlines with these popular techniques:

How to Write Powerful Sales Headlines Even if You are Not a Professional Copywriter

I hope you know that you are not alone. There are plenty of businesses that aren’t good at writing amazing headlines, and there are others that overlook it entirely. If you are just beginning your online journey, then these terms might seem like a foreign language to you. 

Don’t fret, even foreign languages are learned with proper application, time, and practice. However, learning how to write an attractive headline is much easier to learn. Let’s dive right in.

Little Known Ways to Creating Headline Copy on Your Social Media Business Pages

There are different techniques for writing sales copy, but sticking with a simple formula is the quickest and easiest way to start writing compelling sales copy today. That’s right, there are ready-made formula’s that you can reuse over and over.

I found this information on a written course published by Thrive Themes and authored by Jay. If you’d like, you can skip over to their University page. But if you don’t feel like clicking onto another page, no worries. I’ve summarized some of the key points here. Let’s discuss the different types of headline copy.

Let’s start by creating the “How to” headline.

Creating the “How To” Headline

The How-to headline can incorporate a desirable outcome, as well as an obstacle. This is one of the most straightforward headlines to recreate. Think about how often you’ve searched for how-to articles or videos. Take a look at this screenshot from a Bing search.

In this example, you see “how to lose weight without exercise,” which includes a desirable outcome (lose weight) coupled with an obstacle (exercise). 

Creating The Ultimate Guide Headline Copywriting

This century has produced a lot of DIYer’s. That’s because guides are available everywhere online. Be the expert in your niche, and write an ultimate guide of how to perform well in that niche. Suppose you are an affiliate marketer, then write a guide about affiliate marketing. Do you have a dropshipping store selling sushi roll makers? Then write an ultimate guide on how to use your products. All you need to do is write “The Ultimate Guide to (your topic)” and input your topic.

Check out this image below. It is a screenshot of a random YouTube search results page. Look at the different ways publishers have used the words “Ultimate Guide.” Even the History Channel uses it in its headline to market its’ episodes. Here are some examples of catchy headlines examples shown in the image below.

Creating a List Building Headline Copy

There are several ways to prepare your headline format to include a list, but you don’t want to simply list all the things that you are offering to your audience. It will, however, include an “X- number of” things that are relevant to your content, but you’d want to say why it is applicable. Combine your list with a desirable outcome, obstacle, unpleasant result, or a topic. 

For instance, these attention grabbing headlines examples include:

• 5 Things that are Keeping You From Success (X-number + Obstacle)
• 3 Tips to Increase Your Income (X-number + Desirable Outcome)
• These 3 Mistakes are Killing Your Product Sales (X-number + unpleasant result)
• 10 Things to Know about Dropshipping (X-number + Topic)

In the image below, you can see the keyword phrase, “what do I need to know about college.” All of the results included X-number of items in a list. Some were combined with the methods just mentioned.

Some prefer to keep their list small when writing copy headlines for social media. When using a numbered list in blog posts, use jump links (aka anchored links) to provide readers with a quick way to navigate the post. This helps them quickly scan the document to see if it’s relevant and takes them to the exact information they are looking for. 

 How to Raise Curiosity in Your Headline

The fourth way to write headline copy is by raising the interest of your readers. Have you ever heard the saying “curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought his (butt) back?” Many times we are motivated by curiosity. When you read headlines the say:

• Discover new methods…
• Uncover the secrets…
• Want to know how to cook like...
• She lost 35lbs and you can too, here’s how…

People want to know how she lost weight, or how to cook like a culinary chef or the secret that others don’t know. It’s enticing and it is natural for us to want to know more. In the next example, I searched for “how to get rich” and in the results, you’ll see the things we’ve previously talked about. You also see the term secrets being used in one of the headlines. That’s a good example of raising curiosity.

The Time Frame Headline

You can also set expectations on how long it will take to get something done. People like to know what they should expect before reading any further. If I said “learn how to lose weight” versus “learn how to lose 10lbs in 5 days,” you would be more likely to click the second headline because it sets proper expectations. In other words, let your readers know what they can expect to achieve and how long it will take them to achieve it. Here are some examples of headline writing that combine the desired outcome with an amount of time:

• How to gain 500 followers in 7 days. (desired outcome + amount of time)
• Discover how you can make engaging videos in minutes. (curiosity + desired outcome + amount of time)
• Create an eBook in minutes or your money back. (desired outcome + amount of time + desired outcome)

How to Write Headlines | Key Takeaways

Use these key takeaways for your next headline writing exercises. Don’t forget to combine different building blocks, such as desirable outcomes, curiosity, obstacles, and timeframes. 

1. “How to”…
2. The “Ultimate Guide”…
3. Creating a “List”…
4. Raising “Curiosity”...
5. The Time Frame...

Now that you’ve reviewed these eye catching headlines examples, you are on your way towards knowing how to write headlines and creating social media headlines that convert. Remember these five ways to write headline copy for your product or services.