Like you, people are curious. They want to know secrets, tips, and the answers to their burning questions. You may have the best articles and blog posts in the world on your website, but if your title isn’t enticing enough to make people click on it, content doesn’t matter. That’s just the way it works.
Many writers don’t write titles to get clicks. It’s just not what we’ve been taught. We want to write for art and for beauty. Writing for clicks seems almost like a sell-out to the commercial gods that want to suck your art-loving soul. But it’s not.
In fact, writing titles with clicks in mind is what will save your blog, increase your traffic, and get you the numbers publishers are looking for. Instead of burying your content under a flowery title with vague references to the material, make it easy for readers to find the posts they are looking for.
Use one of these six magical words. You’ll start getting clicks and new readers.
Using “Who” in your title will help people get connected with the movers and shakers of the world–or at least the ones relevant to your topic.
- The 5 Agents Who Will Change Your Life
- Who is the Real Hero of the Election?
- Channel 9 Already Knows Who Will Win the Next Bachelor – Do You?
Your readers are curious. Give them the facts they want. They’ll give you the clicks you want.
- What To Do When Your Book Isn’t Selling
- What to Watch for During the State Of Origin
- What the Olympics Really Did to the British Economy
Are you covering time sensitive information? A sense of urgency will help compel people to click on the title and read your content instead of scrolling past it on the screen.
- When to Quit Your Job
- When the World Will End – It’s Closer Than You Think!
- When Will Reality TV Die?
If you are writing about a location, answering the “where” question is one of your best strategies.
Where will my next vacation be?
- Where to Get the Best Sushi in Sydney
- Where to Camp in the National Parks
- Where to Get Free eBooks
Do you know a six year old? “Why” is probably their favourite question.
Not much changes as we age. We want to know the root of a situation. We want to know the why.
- Why You Need to Pay Attention to Your Score
- Why Your Diet May Be Killing You
- Why No One Likes Your Book
We’re a DIY obsessed world. Follow up “how” with “to” and you have a dynamic duo that people will read and share with their friends. If it helps them, they’ll want to help others by passing it on. It all starts with the title.
- How to Write a Killer Book Proposal in 45 Minutes
- How To Make Money With Your Author Blog
- How To Keep Your Inbox At Zero
The magic is these words don’t have to do with any sort of spell. Their magic lies in the fact that they answer the exact questions your readers are asking. Knowing your audience and what they will be looking for will help you not only write clickable titles but helpful content. Write to get clicks. It isn’t a bad thing.
Your Bonus “Magical” Word: “Because”
The Ultimate Persuasion Technique:
Over the past few years, I’ve devoured a slew of books about traditional sales, marketing, and advertising. One of the best so far, in my humble opinion, is “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert B. Cialdini.
Cialdini distilled the thousands of sales, influence, and compliance-seeking tactics he observed down to a handful of techniques that he calls “weapons of automatic influence,” or the common denominators found in most of the methods he studied.
He claims that each of them is based on a human psychological principle that has the “ability to produce a distinct kind of automatic, mindless compliance from people, that is, a willingness to say yes without thinking first.”
Applying persuasion principles taps into the auto-pilot programs under which we operate every day — programs that enable us to make decisions quickly and survive a busy [and sometimes dangerous] world.
Given how many decisions we make in our lives (and have had to make to ensure our survival), it’s not surprising that we are conditioned to avoid over-thinking every single scenario we encounter.
In his book, Cialdini explores the most effective ways we can influence people to comply with our requests. He writes, “A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favour we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.”
The strategy itself makes sense if you think about it. We don’t like to be told things or asked to take action without a reasonable explanation.
So when you need people to be receptive to your thoughts or requests, always give a reason why. And the most effective transition word when giving a reason why is because. People are simply more amenable to influence with the addition of this simple word.
The ‘power of because’ has been well-documented by social psychologist Ellen Langer. Langer performed an experiment where she asked people queued for a copy machine to cut in line ahead of them.
Langer’s study illustrates the persuasive power of ‘because’
She tested three different ways of asking people the same basic question and recorded the results:
- “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”
Result: 60% said OK
- “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?”
Result: 94% said OK
- “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?”
Result: 93% said OK
By providing a reason — and using the word ‘because’ — Langer’s desired compliance rate improved dramatically.
More surprising perhaps is the fact that in case #3, it didn’t really seem to matter what specific reason was given (surely making copies is the most obvious reason to use a Xerox machine!).
The word ‘because’ triggered an automatic response in the participants and changed the outcome. This technique is well-known amongst direct marketers and ad copy writers.
Since all we’re talking about is adding the word ‘because’ and a reason to your online requests, why not test the theory out for your next campaign?
Test it in your email subject lines… or Web page headlines… or primary calls to action — basically anywhere you would like visitors to comply with your request.
If you want to persuade someone to buy your product or complete a task, give them a reason. Of course, a good reason will likely be more effective, but even if you think your reason is less than compelling, the research suggests that site visitors are more likely to comply than if you had given no reason at all.