You may be familiar with the term “lead” if you’re reading this, but did you know exactly what it meant?
In online marketing, a lead is a person or company that’s potentially interested in your product or service. When you have leads, you can use various techniques to get them to interact with you.
As a copywriter, it’s your job to craft compelling headlines that will engage readers and convince them to click your content. While you may sometimes write about unrelated products or features, a good headline should still make your main point clear to the reader.
So what is the difference between a copywriting headline and a lead? Let’s take a look.
Key Takeaways
A lead is simply a person or company that’s interacted with your company in some way (i.e., visited your website, subscribed to your newsletter, or taken some other action that you’ve initiated).
You can use various techniques to identify leads, ranging from simple to complex algorithms. Whatever method you use, make sure it’s scalable so you don’t end up with incomplete or erroneous data.
A copywriting headline is the words or phrase that will be used to capture the attention of your readers.
A compelling headline can help you gain more social media followers, gain access to higher-quality content, and land featured articles and campaigns on major media publications.
What Is a Good Headline?
A good headline is one that concisely and effectively encapsulates the key takeaway(s) of your content in a way that makes compelling sense to the reader.
It’s not always easy to craft a good headline, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience. That’s why you need to be realistic about your expectations. Just because your favorite headline writer created a headline for a brand you love, it doesn’t mean that their strategies will necessarily work for you.
To help you find the right words for your content, we’ve compiled a list of 20 essential tips on how to write a headline that will make your content stand out.
1. Keep it Short
Although you may occasionally get away with a lengthy headline, for the most part, you should strive for a concise yet comprehensive summary of your content.
If you want to engage with your audience, you should keep your headlines short and snappy. Longer headlines are often associated with less trustworthy brands. If you want to go the extra mile to prove that your brand is reputable, try for a headline under three sentences.
2. Include Keywords
The SEO (search engine optimization) world has changed a lot in the last few years. Back in the day, users would land on your website, browse around, and then leave without seriously engaging with your brand. In today’s world, your customers are online searchers who expect to find what they’re looking for quickly.
To ensure that your website shows up when potential customers search for your products or services, you should incorporate keywords into your headlines. You should also check for specific search terms in the body of your text to ensure that it’s relevant to people who are searching for it.
3. Match The Type Of Content They’re Most Used To
Depending on your content type, you may need to adapt your headlines to fit the mold. For example, if you have a food blog, you may want to highlight some of your unique recipes and offer advice on healthy eating. If your blog is on money management, you may want to write about the benefits of budgeting or how to lower your monthly bills.
Some people prefer reading an engaging narrative in the form of a story. If you’ve got a storytelling blog, you may want to take a cue from traditional publishers and use interesting, accessible language that will draw in your audience.
While other people may prefer facts and data in the form of a list. If that’s the case, you may want to consider using bullet points or creating a data-driven narrative to hold their attention.
4. Be Creative
If you want to write an engaging headline, you should be willing to experiment to find the right blend of words that will make your content stand out.
The headline is one of the most important parts of your content because it will determine how people find and find out more about your content. To grab the attention of your readers, you may want to try using a mix of words or a word that’s a blend of two or more words.
For example, if you have a clothing blog, you could write about the most recent popular fashion trends or introduce a product that will become a summer staple. Some people might read your clothing blog to get fashion tips or inspiration, so you may want to experiment with some creative phrasing to attract and retain your audience.
5. Use Suitable Images
An image can make or break a good headline. A stunning image or a funny anecdote paired with a well-written headline can draw in and keep the attention of your audience. When it comes to attracting customers, visuals are almost always worth a thousand words.
If you want to write an engaging headline, don’t hesitate to use a combination of images to grab the reader’s attention. Some brands will even create collages of images or memes to highlight a theme or message.
Memes are now a popular way to engage with customers and share important information. To write a headline that will get people talking, you could highlight a funny meme or quote and back it up with a witty explanation or opinion.
6. Be Vivid
In today’s world, people are constantly bombarded with information, so your headline should catch and keep their attention by being both eye-catching and interesting.
Eye-catching headlines that are interesting and informative can help you gain a lot of support from social media users who are interested in your content. If you want to write an engaging headline, make sure that your phrases are interesting and that you use unique words and characters. Vivid headlines are often used in sensationalist or tabloid media publications, so while they can work for certain types of content, they can also break the narrative of a more reputable brand.
7. Craft The Perfect Timing
If you want to write an engaging headline, don’t just pop up with an idea whenever you have a free moment. Instead, plan out the perfect timing for your headline. Think about when your audience is most likely to be interested in your content. If you have a food blog, you may want to write about diet tips or recipes at the beginning of each month. On the other hand, if your blog is about fashion trends or style tips, you may want to write about them at the end of the month when everyone is thinking about the summer vacation.
If you want to write an engaging headline, make sure that your timing is right and that you’re not wasting your efforts. Just because a headline was successful at one point in time doesn’t mean that it’ll work for your brand now. Rewrite your headlines as often as necessary until you find one that consistently works for your content.
8. Be Actionable
While people will be interested in your content if it’s relevant to them, you’ll only get the most out of your headline if it’s also actionable. If your content is valuable and you can do something with it, even if it’s not exactly what the person reading the headline expects, they’ll likely benefit in some way from reading it. So make sure that what you’re writing about is something that will actually help the reader.
To create a sense of urgency, you may want to use verbs such as “can,” “will,” or “should.” For example, if you’re writing about a product that can reduce stress, you might want to write, “This product can reduce your stress.”
If the intended action of your headline is not obvious, you can use the body of your text to clarify what the reader should do. For example, if you’re writing about a new diet product, you might want to write, “Try the diet plan found in this article to lose weight.”
9. Make It Succinct
As we mentioned before, not all long articles will provide the reader with the most useful information. To write an engaging headline, make sure that your article contains only the essential points needed to get the job done. Avoid offering excessive details about the subject matter that may not be relevant to the viewer.