One of the greatest skills you can learn as a marketer is how to write a compelling headline that inspires the reader to take action.
Whether you’re creating a video on Facebook live or an opinion piece for the New York Times, the headline is the first thing people see. And, it’s often the only way they can tell if your content is worth clicking on.
If you want people to engage with your content, then a powerful headline is a must.
But sometimes the headline can sum up the idea so well that people feel like they don’t even need to read the article.
One study based on science publications found that 70% of Facebook users only looked at the headline before they commented on posts. That’s great for engagement on social, but bad if you want people to actually click through to your website and buy something.
You may think that this phenomenon is a product of our digital age, but it has been around for decades. In 1963, David Ogilvy wrote:
“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
Again, this is fine for a newspaper ad where the goal is simply to make the product memorable, but in any situation where you need the click, it’s not enough.
So how can you improve your chances of getting people beyond the headline and onto your website?

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