We are still fairly new to Steemit and still haven’t quite understood all the inner workings of this community, how posts get noticed related to Steem power, why some posts that add no real fundamental value are widely successful while others that add tons of actionable value do not, but we are learning.

However, having spent years working with marketing documents, brochures, promotional items and advertising text we have learned that certain marketing ideas are immutable. People’s emotional psychology towards marketing script has not changed that much over the years. Certain ideas, words, images seem to resonate over and over. Therefore one of the more powerful tools in marketing is the headline.

Writing effective headlines can be the KEY to effective marketing. Headlines are used everywhere, on Internet websites, blogs, online classified ads, ezine ads, banner ads etc. The importance of a good headline is represented by the number of good copywriters that are hired by large companies in order to find that great headline that will resonate with their readers.

Studies show that once your webpage is loaded, you've got about 7 seconds to capture your prospect's attention. So if you open up Steemit, you will scan down the page and something in those few seconds will catch your attention and provoke you to open it. Once it is opened, it is your responsibility as the author of the content to provide the reader a reward for opening the post.

There are differences however in news headlines and ad copy. News headlines want to attract the reader's attention to read the story whereas ad copy wants to attract interest and provoke action. There are lessons from each that can be used interchangeably.

Here are the lessons for writing a great headline

Determine your target audience

If you are writing about travel then people who care about travel are going to read it, so write directly to their wants and needs.

Become the customer

You write, but you also read. When writing your post, you have to remove yourself mentally from being the merchant. Imagine you are your target customer. Think like them. Then read the post, as if you were the customer.

Did the headline grab you? Or is it no different than every other headline you’ve seen this week? Did the headline at least make you want to begin reading the post? Next, read the post, was it a good post? Was it credible? Was there too much hype? Did you get offended or turned off by anything in it?

Questions

Questions are powerful in the brain because they prime our curiosity. Just seeing a question mark starts to stimulate your brain; whereas if you already know what you’re going to get from something like a headline, your curiosity might be over before it can even start.

The Power of Words and Phrases

Both your headline and your posts should incorporate power words and phrases.

FREE, DISCOVER, POWERFUL, EASY, GUARANTEED, YOU’LL LOVE THIS, MONEY, HOTTEST, NEW, IMPROVED, PROVEN, RESULTS, REVOLUTIONARY, STATE-OF-THE, ART, FANTASTIC, SAVE, BEST, FOR A LIMITED TIME, ONLY, SECRETS, THE BEST KEPT SECRET, UNBELIEVABLE, MUST SEE TO BELIEVE

The twelve most powerful words in the English language, according to Yale University researchers are the following:

DISCOVER, EASY, GUARANTEE, HEALTH, LOVE, MONEY, NEW, PROVEN, RESULTS, SAFETY, SAVE, YOU

Negatives

Superlatives – words like best, biggest, greatest – can be effective in headlines. But it turns out that negative superlatives (like worst) can be even more powerful.

In a study of 65,000 titles, Outbrain compared positive superlative headlines, negative superlatives headlines and no superlative headlines. The study found that headlines with positive superlatives performed 29% worse and headlines with negative superlatives performed 30% better. The average click-through rate on headlines with negative superlatives was 63% higher than with positive ones.

How to

Most people don’t want information. It sounds contrary to what we always hear, but it’s true. People are drowning in facts. What people really want is a sense of order and predictability in their lives. We want to feel a sense of power over our world. Therefore, we seek out the secrets, tips, hints, laws, rules, and systems that promise to help us gain control and make sense of things.

Numbers

Numbers can help by providing that expectation management for us, so we know exactly what we’re getting into. Those might be some of the reasons that a study by Conductor found that audiences prefer number headlines to almost any other type. This is why we see so many list headlines. They tend to work over and over, even if some of us have become sick of them

Keep it short and be direct

This seems obvious; headlines are by nature short. But when space limitations aren't a consideration (as on a blog, for instance) writers sometimes get verbose with their heds. Shorter is better.

Headlines aren't the place to be obscure; a direct, straightforward headline gets your point across more effectively.

Write in the present tense

Even if most posts and news stories are written in the past tense, headlines should almost always use the present tense.

Analyse other headlines and posts that are working

Before writing your post, review other posts in different areas, including those writing on the same subject as you. Determine which of these posts are successful. Finally, consider incorporating elements of these successful posts into your own.

Test

Many times changing one word, or wording your headlines can make all the difference. You have to test and see what headlines are capturing the most attention.

The Power of Emulation

In the beginning, you don't have to recreate the wheel. After you've written 25 to 50 good headlines or opening statements and tested them, picking out the best five that have made an apparent impact on the reader. If you only do this with and create 25 to 50 trial headlines and choose the best five - one of those five will out produce the posts that have been lagging by 35% to 1,000% or more.

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