Hey ,

Headlines are one of the most important components for your copywriting, and they are used across many of your business' touchpoints.

They can be found in email subject lines, landing page headers, blog article titles, social media post titles, brochure text, and more.

Last week, I shared some statistics around what great headlines can do for you, as well as 3 ways you can explore writing better headlines.

This week, I wanted to share a few more ways to improve your headlines. These 3 additional tips relate to your tone of voice.

4. Use your active voice

Use an active voice in your headlines to make them more powerful.

For example, “How to Learn Spanish in 12 weeks" is more active than “Spanish Learned in 3 months.”

The active voice is more direct and concise, and it’s also easier to read and understand than the passive voice. So when you can, use active voice in your headlines.

5. Use emotion to engage your reader

Your headline should evoke an emotional response in the reader. We often make decisions based on our emotions, and not only with logic. If you can tap into the reader’s emotions, they'll become a more active participant for you.

“Learning a language should be fun and relaxing.” is an example of a headline that evokes an emotional response. The words “fun” combined with "learning a language" seem contradictory. When it's applied to what many of us attribute to being very challenging, it makes you want to read more.

When we feel an emotion, it triggers a chemical reaction in our brains. This release of chemicals can motivate us to take action. So if you can make the reader feel something, you’re more likely to get them to do what you want.

Note: please remember our example from above; it's not evoking an emotional response to be deceiving, rather to be helpful.

6. Share the transformation you offer

When you share the transformation that your product or service can provide, it helps the reader see what’s possible. This can be a powerful motivator to take action, and is often a great way to use emotion with intention.

For example, “Learn Spanish in 3 Months: A Beginner’s Guide to Speaking Conversational Spanish for Travel” is a headline that shares the transformation that’s possible with a guided learning path that's provided by your business. You can even add your "before and after" knowledge of the Spanish language to be more impactful, sharing with the readers that this is actually possible.

We'll cover more helpful resources in future editions. What did you learn today? 

Have questions? Reply and let me know what's on your mind.

Enjoy,

Matt