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Headlines are the first thing that your audience see, it’s the first impression your reader will have of your content. It’s the attention-grabber that determines whether someone will continue reading or move on. A well written headline sparks interest, and persuade the reader to engage with the rest of your message. If your headline doesn’t capture attention immediately, even the best content can go unnoticed. That’s why mastering headline writing is key to your marketing strategy.
Creating compelling copy often begins with understanding the power of imitation and adaptation. While the idea of “creating from scratch” may seem like the ultimate goal for a copywriter, there’s tremendous value in learning from what already works. In fact, some of the best writers and marketers start by drawing inspiration from existing successful copy, and then evolve it to fit their unique voice and audience. This process of imitation isn’t about copying, it’s about refining and adapting.
In this article, we’ll walk you through a proven six-step method to help you write powerful headlines that grab attention but also drive your readers to take action. These steps will give you the foundation you need to create headlines that resonate and convert. Let’s dive in and learn how to master the art of headline writing—one step at a time.
Step 1: Write the objective
First, you will need to write a brief description of what you want your reader to gain from reading your copy, and what they should be inspired to do by the end.
Example: My objective for this email is for the reader to be inspired to register for a webinar that’s selling my course on ABC, I want them to see the pitfalls that befall those who don’t take ABC action.
Step 2: Research
Now, you can visit popular websites like digg.com, reddit.com, medium.com, buzzfeed.com etc and search for headlines that attract your attention
Step 3: Formulate
Next, rewrite the headlines of trending topics imitating the style of the headlines but use your subject matter.
Example: “The Man Who Perfected The Laugh Track”
Structure we can imitate: “The [noun] Who Perfected The [topic]”
Step 4: Develop
After spending some time analyzing “why” the headline works and whether it stoking curiosity? Is it confirming a belief? Is it opening a loop in our readers mind? What is it that captured our attention in the first place?
“The [noun] that perfected the [topic].” Works on a few different levels. First it’s a strong statement to say something was perfected, most of us would be interested in learning how it was perfected; especially if it’s in our field of expertise. We may be skeptical but interested enough to see if the writer can justify the claim.
The underlying action the headline encourages is a desire to investigate a significant assertion. If the rest of the content effectively supports this claim, then the headline has succeeded in doing its job.
Step 5: Adapt
Next, we want to adapt the structure around our own topic. For this example, we will use an audience of real-estate agents, and a product about short selling properties, specifically we’ll be leading them to a case study where our agent increased sales 4x.
- What it says: “The Man Who Perfected The Laugh Track”
- “The [noun] Who Perfected The [topic]”
The ‘noun’ becomes our target audience, our ‘topic’ reflects our product we’ll be introducing to that audience.
- “The [Real Estate Agent] Who Perfected The [Short Sale]”
Step 6: Expand
Now we can expand upon the topic, adding a bit more spice and BENEFIT to the topic. It’s important here to think about our reader, what’s in it for them (benefit) if they continue on reading our material?
Meet The [Real Estate Agent] Who Perfected The [Short Sale], and Learn How it 4x’d His Agency’s Profits in 6 Months”
What’s in it for them if they continue on reading our material? Modifier = End Result + Time Frame
