A thousand words down and you finish writing another post. You’re about to hit publish, but hold on a second.
You forgot to title it.
“Oh no, this is going to take forever. I hate this part.”
Writing headlines can be intimidating and time consuming. You want to figure out the best title for what you made because you know people are more likely to click on a link in their email or on social media if their interest is piqued, but you don’t want to go overboard with a Buzzfeed style headline.
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So what do you do?
In this video Leo Babauta, founder of Zen Habits (one of the most popular single author blogs online), shares how he has come up with headlines for his site over the past eight years.
If you often struggle to choose a headline for what you make, in this video you’ll learn:
- 3 things a good headline should do
- When you should write the headline
- What Leo thinks of so-called “headline formulas”
- Whether or not the headline should stay true to the content underneath it
(If you don’t see the video above, you can view it on YouTube.)
“Writing headlines can be frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be. This simplifies things.”
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Is your content not getting the response you’d expect?
Learning to create effective and engaging content is one of the greatest skills you can bring to your business. Anyone can create content, but very few people can actually create effective content that creates true fans and customers.
In this two-hour Fizzle course with Leo Babauta of Zen Habits, you’ll learn exactly how to make your content more effective, more engaging, more sharable and more valuable.
How do you come up with your headlines? What kind have you had success with and which haven’t worked?
Let us know in the comments below this post.
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The Top 10 Mistakes in Online Business
Every week we talk with entrepreneurs. We talk about what’s working and what isn’t. We talk about successes and failures. We spend time with complete newbies, seasoned veterans, and everything in between.
One topic that comes up over and over again with both groups is mistakes made in starting businesses. Newbies love to learn about mistakes so they can avoid them. Veterans love to talk about what they wish they had known when starting out.
These conversations have been fascinating, so we compiled a list of the 10 mistakes we hear most often into a nifty lil' guide. Get the 10 Most Common Mistakes in Starting an Online Business here »
Well for our blog over at http://pitchforkmarketing.com it seems that longer headlines work best. We started out using simple “How to xxx” headlines. Then we tested longer headlines similar to those found found on upworthy and clickhole. Our data shows that we do best when our headlines are between 14-20 words. I’m not exactly sure why but in our case its a #fact.
Leo is the man! A great example for all bloggers/writers.
Timely as I get back on the (occasional) blog post train. Thanks for the concise vid guys!
Leo Babauta on headlines! Now there’s a true blockbuster headline.
And as always, awesome stuff. Thanks.
This is an area I struggled for 4 years with until I found some tools, Headline Generator, they really have helped me get better at writing headlines. They certainly can make a difference too.
I love what Leo says about formulas–they they can be a good place to start. But let’s not overuse and there’s always room to break the rules. It’s hard to think of more a more succeful blogger with a more original voice than this guy so, well, big fan here so thank you for all this! Now I can quote the man on the rare occasions others don’t believe me. :-D