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Writing great titles and headlines is, in my mind, one of the most important skills that an SEO should possess. They are used on everything from web page design to advertisements and link building (articles, blogs, etc.). Once you achieve that high ranking, you need to have a solid headline to draw traffic to your site.

Your headlines should interrupt and compel readers to focus on you material through all of the surrounding clutter. Creating an effective headline, however, can be a particularly daunting task when you consider the fact that most of the obvious/catchy headlines are already used by your competitors.

After giving it some thought, I have come up with a list of what I consider good qualities that every headline or title should have.

1. Headlines should interrupt the reader. Using powerful words such as: free, bonus, extra, automatic, and easy can effectively bring scanning eyes to a halt and interrupt reader’s train of thought.
2. Headlines should be concise. Get to your point as efficiently as possible. Everyone is in a hurry and they will not take the time to read long, wordy headlines.
3. Headlines should tempt and tease the reader. Regardless of the scope of your writing, use an idea that a specific group of individuals will react to positively or negatively. Your article may be unbiased, but a biased/narrow minded title will provoke individuals to read the rest of your message.
4. Headlines should cause a buyer to desire more. Arouse their curiosity and they will continue to read through your material.
5. Headlines should offer benefits as opposed to features. Create titles and headlines that offer solutions or rewards. Whether it is an answer to a question or a discount, it does not matter as long as the reader feels like they are gaining something extra. Try to suggest that they are getting some kind of a payoff.

The quality of your headlines and titles will directly affect the amount of traffic that your website receives. So spend some time creating them because they are the invitations to your websites.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 15th, 2006 at 8:11 pm and is filed under Marketing, SEO Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.