Hooked With One Glance
Reel Them in + Keep Them Engaged
Ensure that once you’ve reeled them in with an eye-catching headline, your content captivates and engages right away. Learn strategies for crafting compelling headlines, providing motivation and giving context that holds readers’ interest.
Getting people to open, never mind read your blog post or newsletter, is tough! To stand a chance, hook them with a provocative or intriguing headline, tell them what’s in it for them right away so they might keep going, and give them the context needed to appreciate it – upfront. Read on and I’ll tell you how to do this.
See what I did there?
Did it Work?
A blog post headline or email subject line is a fleeting opportunity to draw readers in. Not just pause, but maybe click and read. Think about how many times you’ve received an email with ‘Newsletter’ as the subject line, or ‘Market Updates’ as a post title. How likely are you to click on it? Not very, because why should you? It doesn’t give you any hint of the genius or value that may be inside. It doesn’t say anything more than ‘This is just a communique you’ve probably seen a dozen times.’ Generate an enticing headline from the actual content of the piece: your top claim (frankly worded), an alarming statement, or even something funny. What do you think is important about it, what’s the new concept you are sharing? You can even twist words or say only part of an idea to create shock value. Find a great image to support it! You have spent time or money on a pro like me writing something you feel good about, and a weak headline or subject may as well say ‘Keep scrolling friend.”
What’s in it For Me?
Use your intro to state the purpose up front: either a clever subhead or a paragraph stating your supposition and super-brief reasoning. I have read or more likely abandoned several blog posts that start out with a long, meandering story or a long list of information that doesn’t get to the point until way after most people bail on it. Readers don’t approach a professional service expert’s blog with the same expectations they do the latest hot novel. They aren’t inclined to wade through 500 words of painting a picture without an idea what they will get out of the time invested, if it’ll even be useful to them. Incentivize readers to keep going with a promise of reward upfront: new tools to learn, prevention tips, insights on trends, etc. It’s easy in the five-paragraph essay style. If you want to tell it with a story, you’ll have to get creative in how you set expectations without giving away spoilers.
Joining a Conversation in the Middle
As the expert, you already know why what you are saying is important. And, you find it interesting because it’s your jam. Bloggers often don’t provide information the average person may need to understand or appreciate what you are talking about. It’s like joining a conversation in progress at a party and they are talking about something weird. A post with great info or tips won’t resonate if readers don’t see why they see how it might affect them or don’t have a foundation of knowledge from which to interpret what you’re saying they’ll bounce. It might mean adding some statistics, giving a little background or describing a potential scenario. For example, in this post from Kaos Group, a reader may not continue if they think interruptions are not an issue for them. So, the author includes how much time the average person actually loses before getting into her tips. Adding this context is regularly the first thing I do when editing a client’s post.
Do it Anyway
If your open or click-through rate is below average, you may benefit from working on enticement. First, make them look with an intriguing headline. Buy another two minutes of attention by sharing what they’ll get out of it. Then set the scene by briefly explaining why they should care. Readers are more likely to actually read and get a lot more out of your post, and pass it on! All this being said, the basic goal of content marketing is to make yourself top-of-mind for your services. There’s a benefit to your name popping up in feeds and inboxes, even if viewers don’t read the piece, so do it anyway. Then, challenge yourself to make the effort work harder for you by looking at your stats and asking yourself “Would I open it?”