How to Write Strong Headlines Your Freelance Writing Clients Will Love

Your keyboard is on fire. You’re putting the finishing touches on the article you’re writing for a new client. And it’s mighty fine. Your verbs relay so much action, they’re practically superheroes. And your modifiers, far from dangling, are like oaks firmly planted in the ground.

But now, it’s time to write the blog title, and you’re stuck. Your mind is in a frenzy. How do you write blog titles that get opened? Take a deep breath. We got you. In this article, you’ll learn how to write smashing good headlines that keep your clients coming back.

Begin With the First Rule of Marketing: Understand Your Audience

Understanding your audience is your first step to writing a title that gets opened. When you understand your audience, you know their demographics, their search interests, and, most importantly, their pain points.

Write a title that acknowledges your target audience. Targeting your demographics within your title is how you make sure your reader knows your article is for them.  For example, an article about budget-friendly vacations written for young families will be much different than one written for retired couples. A reader won’t click through if your headline doesn’t reassure them that the article is written for them.

Blog titles that get opened reflect the reader’s interest. Your reader’s interest is the question or problem they are trying to solve. A reader looking for budget-friendly travel destinations will have an interest in a specific type of travel. That interest becomes your article’s angle, and it reduces the scope of the article. Your blog title is more likely to get opened if the reader can tell that your article addresses their core interest.

Writing a headline that expresses their pain points is how you earn readers’ trust. Your readers’ pain point is a problem to solve, an obstacle to overcome, or even an underlying anxiety related to their interest. They are more likely to click a headline if it addresses both their interest and its accompanying pain point. Consider the title “Take Your Dream European Vacation Without Draining Your Nest Egg.” It speaks to the perennial problem in retirement: making your money last.

Use Your Primary Keyword

Making sure your article shows up in search engines is key to getting more clicks. That’s where SEO comes in. In addition to solid SEO techniques within the article itself, you should include your primary keyword when you write your headline.

Consider this tweak for our article about budget-friendly travel destinations for retirees, “Budget-Friendly European Destinations That Won’t Drain Your Nest Egg.” Now, the search engines, as well as our readers, can easily tell what our article is about.

Stand Out From Other Blog Titles

Standing out is often what gets one blog title opened while the others languish. It’s not easy to do, and that’s why knowing how to write headlines that pop also distinguishes you from other writers. Clients look for clients like you who can write blog titles that readers love. So, how do you write blog titles that stand out? We have some good blog title samples below.

• Use a numbered list when you write your headline. Listicles are the crème de la crème of high-performing internet titles. According to Semrush, listicles get 80% more traffic than other articles. Our brains love listicles because they’re organized, tidy, and easy to read. For mysterious reasons deep in our evolutionary DNA, we love odd-numbered listicles the most. Our natural preference for listicles means that Google will almost always include at least a couple in the SERPS.

• Use splashy descriptive words. Would you rather read an article about the latest home décor trends, or would you rather read an article about “brilliant” or “jaw-dropping” home décor trends?

• romise (and deliver) an encyclopedic treatment of the subject matter. Use phrases that describe the comprehensive nature of your longer article, such as “Your Complete Guide…” or “Everything You Need to Know About…”

More Tips to Write Blog Titles That Get Opened

Write blog titles that are 50 to 70 characters long. Generally speaking, your title will get cut off in search results if it’s longer than 70 characters. That means you need to deliver your article’s value within 70 characters to reach readers. Titles shorter than 50 characters don’t get as many clicks, likely because they don’t adequately address readers’ demographics, interests, and pain points.

Write headlines that accurately describe the articles’ content. We know you don’t engage in sleazy click-baiting practices, and you make an honest effort to write accurate titles. Still, sometimes your research sends your article in a different direction than you had planned. Always revisit the blog title you write to ensure it matches the article’s content.

Brainstorm 5 – 15 titles. The more blog titles you write, the better you will get at writing headlines that get opened. For each article, write 5 – 15 blog titles. Doing so will help you land on the best one for that article and give you plenty of practice for future articles.

Woo New Clients with Your Ability to Write Great Headlines

Potential clients love freelance writers who know how to write catchy blog titles that get opened. Too few writers understand the secrets to writing titles. There’s an art to understanding your audience and incorporating keywords with catchy wording into your titles. Once you’ve mastered this essential freelance writing skill, you can crow about your click-through results and rake in more clients.

Are you ready to take your career to the next level and start earning real money freelance writing? The Pajama Writer can give you the support, tips, and coaching you need to jumpstart your writing career. Let’s get you writing!