80 Percent of What Makes People Read Your Article is in the Title.
A title needs to attract the attention of the reader and make people curious of what's next. The rest of the article just needs to be interesting enough to keep the attention of the reader. So how do you write titles that grab the attention?
To do this you have to understand how the brain works. Would you say the brain is predictable or unpredictable? Get ready because I'm going to reveal just how predictable the brain can be.
When a balloon floats towards your hear, you'd try to catch it, or you might not pay much attention to it at all. But if a brick flies towards your head, what do you do? You duck, jump out of the way, avoid it hitting you at all cost, right? Do you have to stop and think about it? No, your brain recognizes the danger and reacts to avoid it.
This is called your survival instinct. Your brain is constantly scanning of danger and problems than can hurt you physically, emotionally, and financially. It does this non-stop 24/7. It's obsessed with finding problems and solving them.
So how do you get someone's attention? By presenting them with a problem - make them aware of the need they have.
Why should they read what you have to say? What will the consequence be if they don't read it? When you make the reader aware of a problem or pose a question, they will read on to find a solution and answer to this problem or question. Our brain simply can't resist.
Recent Comments
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Titles are a major part of your approach. 100% agree
SEO in 2015 or...
10 Reasons Why You are doing SEO wrong in 2015
Wonder which one a user is going to click..
They will be much more likely to click on "10 Reasons Why You are doing SEO wrong in 2015" because it makes them aware of a potential problem they might have overlooked.
Even if you are an expert at SEO you'll still look, if only to see if the author is right.
Thanks for your feedback
It was a rhetorical question but yea.. I would click both articles just to see what the authors had to say.
To answer that question properly I should write another post - and I will be soon. What may help you with that in the mean time is the article about practical marketing on my website: http://workanywhereanytime.com/marketing
The important thing is to be very very specific both in the problem you're addressing and who you're addressing. I can't stress enough how important specificity is.
I have a lot of information that I can post here on WA but I can't cover everything at once. Please be patient with me. I'm still too new to create a training, but as soon as the restriction is lifted I'll be doing something there also.
John,
From here on you will have me looking for flying bricks. You are a bad dude. You made a good point. Call it attention grabber. Good post, Thanks
Thanks for your feedback. I hope the titles you write will be virtual flying bricks that catch the attention of your readers.
Great information here John. I like to create my titles using phrases like "How to ..." or form them in a way I would google a topic of interest. Unfortunately, there is some truth to judging a book based on the title! lol. Best wishes to you!
Sal
That's good Sal. The "How to..." titles are reversed questions and are effective in the same way for the same reason. The same applies to your Google search type because they are also focused on the problem or question someone has.
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I like your idea that presenting your audience with a problem that need solving is a way to create headlines. Good one!
Thank you for your feedback.