Usually, when I write an article I worry about introduction in the end and think of possible headlines as I go.

The headline of this post had a few other alternatives:

• The One Thing Every Post Must Have To Attract Readers
• Do You Make These Five Common Mistakes With Your Headlines
• How to Increase Online Traffic with These Little Tricks
• A Dummies Guide to Engaging Headlines

I wasn’t happy with either of those because they were too general and didn’t reflect the rest of the copy. In the end, I picked “At last! Headlines that drive traffic your way” because it captures the reader’s attention at two levels:

• it’s tempting and
• targets specific audience.

First, your headline has to be tempting. “At last!” (with an exclamation mark) suggest that a dilemma (could be a complex, secretive, anything you can think of…) has been finally resolved. This naturally captures the reader’s attention and makes you want to read the rest of the post.

Second, add a piece of text that targets your preferred audience. In this particular example, I target people who want to learn how to write headlines that attract visitors’ attention and bring traffic to their site.

Use these two elements to target any audience. Let’s consider two examples important for affiliate marketing:

• At last! Experts uncover how SEO boosts sales,
• At last! Top achievers’ formula for killer keywords.

As you can see, the first part of both headlines is the same. The novelty is that I introduce authorities (experts and top achievers) in the second part to add more weight.

This is important because readers look for the best solutions of their problems. They are less likely to trust you than an established authority in the field. Leverage on this fact and create effective headlines that suit your purposes.