Dennis and I were having lunch with as luck would have it, a friendly competitor.  I am not sure which was more surprising to me…that they asked us to help them market their goods or the fact that they admitted that like a lot of our customers, their content and approach was letting them down.  At any rate, they are now a customer and we are always thrilled and grateful for the opportunity.

Not unlike many of  our regular clients,  they wanted what we all want: to drive more traffic to our sites thorugh article marketing, correct? Heck, that is why we take the time to write them in the first place isn’t it?  So since I didn’t go to the lunch with the idea of making them a customer, I told them I would review what they were doing, since it had been awhile that I had been to their site.

So I sat down and reviewed their blog.  Actually, the content was pretty good.  It was lacking something else.  And this is something that happens to a lot of folks when they do whatever their specialty is, they forget about the basics.

It is something that when you get started writing articles, you probably put more thought into than you may do currently, since you have cranked dozens and dozens of articles out over the last 5-6 months.  Right?  Remember Technoratti’s State of the Blogosphere said that successful blogs post 7 times more than the average blogger.

But as usual, I digress.  There are a myriad of posts and articles that come at us these days.  Let’s be real, you just don’t have the time to read them all (even if you wanted to…except of course for this blog…lol) 

How do YOU determine which articles you read and which ones you either delete out of your email or just let fall through the twitter stream?  In other words…

What is the first thing that potential readers like yourself see?

That’s right…the title.  The headline.  If it doesn’t captivate us, we move on.  And why shouldn’t we?  If the title isn’t going to draw us in, the post behind the headline can’t be all that great we reason.

You want a headline so bold that people not only have to read it, but that they will share it with their friends.  The result of a dynamite headline is that you get more traffic to your site.  More traffic gets people talking about you, more opportunities and thus sales come your way.

So, the question becomes…

How do you write a dynamite headline?

There are several things to look for.  But here is one thing that you will need to do.  You need to be honest with yourself as you go through this list.  It is what it is.  If you look at one of your more recent articles and the answer to the questions below is “I suck at this!”, acknowledge it and decide to do it better next time out.

So, let’s begin:

• Is it addressed to the right audience?  Whatever niche you operate in, there is a jargon that goes with it.  Intuitively, we resonate to issues within that niche with terms that either address or provide solutions.  Be sure you know what you are talking about.  But if you are truly a subject matter expert, a great headline will get their attention!
• Is the headline an attention getter?  Obviously you are going to need great content to back up the headline, but guess what?  If you don’t have something that grabs a potential reader’s attention, the great content that you created just went for naught.  Don’t let that happen to you!
• Does it generate a lot of interest?  It may take a noisy headline to make people wonder enough what is on the inside of the article.  Create a headline that sparks a potential readers inquisitiveness.  Give them a reason to want to read more.  Headlines that leave you on the edge are a perfect example of this.
•  Does the headline feel like it is shot with a rifle or a shotgun!  This is basic marketing here.  When you quote a particular service, which is going to draw more interest?  $475 or $457.61?  It seems to the audience that there was a lot more thought put into it.  As such, they kind of want to know how you got there.  $475 seems like you just threw out a number.  Do the same thing with your headlines….”Using our product will give you 53.76% better results than any of our competitors!  You don’t have to believe it…but it does work!
•  Is there a powerful “WIIFM” in the headline?  At the end of the day, that is what all readers want to know…Let me know my WIIFM?  Because we all care about WIIFM?  What’s WIIFM?  (What’s In It For Me?)  See, it worked….you read all this way didn’t you??

So, how did you do?  Are your headlines worthy enough?  Do they match the content in that if people do read the post, they come away knowing that you are the “go to” person in your niche?  If not, work on them.  You are good at what you do.  Don’t let the headline let you down.

This is part 1 of a 2 part series about headlines.  Be sure to read part 2.

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Finally, those are my thoughts from high atop my 2nd floor office above my garage. What I want to hear are YOUR comments.  Please leave one now.

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