How to Write Diggable Headlines

The headline of an article or blog post is your “ticket” to win the reader on your side.
It takes the average reader 2 to 5 seconds to read the headline. Therefore, do your best during this short period of time to convince the potential reader to actually read your article.

This also applies to Digg headlines. People usually scan a page, reading only the bigger text (the headline, that is). If the headline is catchy, attractive and/or seems to provide the reader something useful, then you got his attention and he will click. Otherwise, he’ll just go further.

So first of all, let’s see what qualities a good headline should have.

• Be catchy

By “catchy” I mean something that draws immediately the attention of the reader. Brag a bit about what you give. Make an offer, say they’ll be smarter / better/ richer after reading your article - whatever appeals to the human mind. You’re human, you can use yourself as a prototype to test. Read the headline and ask yourself - would this article be interesting, telling just from the headline?

• Be sincere

Even if you use a catchy headline, that emphasizes your article, be sincere to your readers. If you promise they’ll win $1000 after reading your article and what they get is “how to be a better employee, in order to get a better salary”, they’ll be disappointed and most likely never return to your site

• Be concise

Concise is another way of saying “short”. Make your headline short enough for the average reader to be able to read it in 2 to 5 seconds (just as mentioned above). If the headline is too long, the reader might skip it - or you may drift away from the initial meaning. Keep it short and, going on to the next item … clear

• Be clear

Don’t use complicated or extremely long words in your headlines. Keep in mind that not all your readers’ mother-tongue is English, or even if it is, maybe they didn’t practise it very well. Anyway, use simple, but meaningful words, so that everyone can easily “digest” what you are trying to say.

• Be focused

If your article is a large one and covers several topics, you don’t have to create a headline that announces all these topics. Just focus on the best-written and covered topic in your article and make the headline refer to that. If you try to write a “jack-of-all-trades” headline, you may confuse the reader. Plus, this makes the headline too lengthy.

Now that you know what general attributes your headline should have, let’s see some specific, practical, quick tips for a better headline.

• Use numbers

Using numbers in your headline will give the reader a preview about the length of your article, how well it covers the topic and so on. Besides, using a specific number, rather than “lots” or “many” is like a promise to the reader - he knows what he’ll get by reading your article.

Example: 10 Ways to Be a Better Blogger or 25+ Extension for Firefox that […]

• Use questions

Asking the reader a quick question will most likely stir his interest and drive his attention towards your article. A question starts an indirect conversation with the reader. It activates his brain to think of himself.

Example: Do You Recognize a Phising Email?

This kind of question triggers the reader’s cognitive functions, making him wonder about the answer to your question, therefore drawing his attention.

• Use “How-To’s”

Basically, everyone wants to learn something new, interesting and useful, isn’t it? This headline is a guaranteed to work if your article presents a good tutorial or whatever “educational”.

Example: How to Make a Necktie Knot

• Use superlatives

When people search for something, they usually search for the best they can get (and most likely, at the lowest price). Even if your article isn’t the best of its kind (let the readers judge this, anyway), advertise it as being such. It will create a psychological impact on the reader - he will want to read the article, whether because he really “ate the bird” and believes you’re the best, or to prove that the article doesn’t quite reflect the headline. Either way, you just won another reader.

Example: Best Ways to Fold a T-Shirt

You learned some basic tips about how to write a “Diggable” headline. Why “Diggable”? Because the term appeals to “the audience” and because usually, a “Diggable” headline is a good headline.

That’s because new articles appear continuously on Digg, therefore the readers will evaluate an article mostly by its headline (then by its description, and finally, the article by itself). If you want success on Digg (and success in general) with your blog articles, go ahead, be creative and write a good headline.

If your headline passes the Digg test and your article makes it to the front page, you can rest assured that you came up with a great headline [and you can thank me for this guide by linking back to it ;-) - or whatever way you find reasonable ].

This is far by being an exhaustive list of suggestions. As I said above, these are basic tips, merely a starting guide to learn from. If you want to contribute to make this guide a better resource, share it with everyone in your comments.

Further reading: How to write headlines that work + all articles on Copyblogger about writing headlines.

 

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