Qualities of a Powerful Headline
Successful headlines may vary in their appearance, but they all can be classified by one or more of the following categories. Look at some of the articles posted in article directories and focus on their headlines. Not all of them are Powerful, but some of them will "jump out at you." These are the ones you want to pay special attention to. Keep in mind the following criteria and you will begin to develop your own Powerful Headlines.
No Fluff
Words like: best, greatest, powerful, and even a, an, and, the, of, for are all fluff words. They take up space and have no purpose in the eyes of search engines. The space they occupy should be used for keywords, which actually add to the power of your headlines. Another piece of important information: Fluff words associated with marketing and sales (Such as the word FREE) are not looked at positively by search engines and will actually reduce the rankings for your articles.
Use Keywords
You MUST include website or product- specific keywords in your headlines. For example, if you are offering a golf training DVD's to help someone with their drive your headline should look something like:
"Longer Drives" Golf Tutorial DVD
This is why your article's focus has to have relevance to the site link in the resource box. Relevant one-way links are what you get as payoff for writing a successful article.
*More about the placement of keywords in your articles is mentioned later in this chapter.
Shorthand / Use Sub-headlines
Use shorthand in your headlines. Shorthand is a way of writing without making complete sentences to get the idea across. For example, in the headline above there are no filler words just the subject and a call to action. You only have so much room for a headline so you have to make it count. Every word you use must have a purpose.
Another rule to follow while writing your article: (Something you can also add in once it is finished.) Use sub-headlines in your articles. This means use headlines which describe the paragraph or section throughout the document. As you can see, I am using sub-headlines throughout this document. This aids the reader in identifying relevant material and also presents an easier way of finding the section for later reading.
Additional Headline Construction Tips
Place Your Headline in Quotations- This technique does improve an article's rankings as long as it is used correctly. If you are going to use quotation marks, make sure you are quoting a phrase, not just a subject" For example:
"Driving Like the Experts" NOT "Golf Training DVD's"
Another quality, mentioned earlier, is not including any Fluff Words. The words, "like", and, "the", should be removed from this headline since search engines do not pay any attention to them. Instead, an improved headline would be:
"Expert Drives" Golf Tutorial DVD
Make Your Headline in the Form of a Question- This is a good form to follow for writing article headlines, but keep this in mind: Many Question Headlines are currently being used and you may be using a headline which has been already submitted numerous times. For example, headlines beginning with "How to..." are used quite frequently. In order to have high rankings for a headline beginning with "How to..." you must not only have a well-optimized article, but you must also place some additional keywords in your headline. i.e.
How to Make Longer Drives: Golf Tutorial DVD
Show Benefits- Mention the benefits in the headline. Now I'm not saying that it is ok to abuse the word, "FREE", but you can say exactly what you are offering. The key idea to use here is: Be Subtle. The word, "free", you can use very sparingly in the resource box, but refrain from using it in your headline. In fact, if you can avoid this word altogether please do so. If you are not sure about where to begin, do this: List the features of your product or service, then along side that list write down how each feature benefits the consumer. Use these benefits to add to the level of interest in your article.
Identify Your Target Reader- By writing a headline which deals with the problems your target market faces, you will gain their interest and only their interests. You do not want people who are not even interested in your product or service following your link because then you will have a large amount of people visiting only for a short time. This is bad for rankings in the eyes of Google. A headline like:
"Finding Time to Golf" A Work-a-holic's Guide
-will apply to most people who play golf. The average person is very busy and barely has time to use the bathroom. By identifying with their problems, you are pulling your target reader out from the crowd.
Quick and Easy- Any reference to a quicker, more efficient technique of doing something a reader already takes care of is bound to gain their interest. This is a great format for an article as long as the article is about a more efficient technique. People are always interested in saving time.
Use Commands- Calls to action usually work as long as they are not too aggressive. Using the command, "Try...", or, "Find..." at the beginning of a headline can be quite effective. For example:
Control Your Swing! Golf Driving Tutorial DVD
This is just a sample of the Manual you can download at No Charge from The Website Solutions Manual. To continue and read 'The Most Powerful Free Traffic Secret' visit http://www.websitesolutionsmanual.com and download the Manual from the window appearing in the middle of the screen.
About the Author
Neil Morrical- SEO Consultant and Super Affiliate