6 Secret formulas bloggers use to write headlines

The ever-quotable adman, David Ogilvy, once said “On average, five times as many people read the headline as the body copy.” He of course was referring to print advertising at the time, but in the digital age the divide is no doubt far greater. So how do you get people to click through to your content? Is there a magic formula for writing the perfect headline?

As it turns out, there’s more than one. Here now are the Top 6 formulas for writing the ultimate headline: 

#1 – Numbers + Adjective + Keyword + Rationale + Promise 
Lists. It’s one of the most common techniques in modern-day content headline writing, but does it work? Lenka Istvanova of Koozai Marketing conducted an analysis of the most clicked headlines and concluded that our first formula should be considered best practise. Bu if you need more proof, just visit Cracked.com, HuffingtonPost.com or Buzzfeed.com and see how list-style headlines can drive millions of page impressions a day.   

E.g. 7 Irresistible desserts you can make at home for under $5

#2 ­– [Do something] like [world-class example] 
Invest your money like a banker; bake like Nigella; blog like an all-star! Associating your brand with a successful and popular equivalent is marketing 101, and any high school English teacher will tell you a simile is the simplest way to do that. This formula, then, is hardly rocket science. Although Joanna Wiebe from Copy Hackers does suggest one addition to this formula: [Do something] like [world-class example] without [something unexpected or undesirable] 

E.g. Make a coffee like a barista without the expensive machine 

#3 – Find out [what/how] [others] are [doing] to [solve a problem] 

Social proof is the concept that people will conform to the actions of others under the assumption that those actions are reflective of the correct behaviour. You can see this technique in play when nightclubs make you line up outside, or a TV uses canned laughter. So by implying in your headline that others are already on-board with your content, you are creating instant desirability. Note: This is only one way to structure the headline – there are plenty of other ways to engage social proof, e.g. “Who else wants…”, “Join others in…” etc 

E.g. Find out how thousands of others are saving hundreds on their shopping bill. 

#4 – The secret of _____ 

 “Little known ways to____”, “The insider’s guide to ____”… no matter how you frame it, the result it always the same: Intrigue. People love secrets; especially if it relates to something they are interested in, so building this into your headline creates instant clickability. 

E.g. Little known ways increase your web traffic 

#5 – Here’s a quick way to [solve a problem] 

The benefit of this headline is clear – a solution to a problem that is quick and easy. People are time-poor, and a nice easy bit of content that will make someone’s life easier is just the ticket to drive those clicks. 

E.g. Here’s a quick way to keep the kids busy these holidays 

#6 – [Number] [solutions] [I/we] learned from ____ 

This approach is not only attention grabbing, but it also offers reassurance; it gives people the comfort of knowing that whatever the content is, it has worked for someone else. More than this, it says “we’ve done the hard yards so you don’t need to. 

E.g. 10 Ways to avoid a parking ticket I learned from my years as a taxi driver. 

3 Bonus pointers

[Headline] + [Subhead] – Never underestimate the power of a well-places subhead. A good subhead can do all the heavy lifting, letting your headline shine with all its simplistic brilliance. E.g. “Blog like a Huffington: 10 invaluable tips for writing a good headline.”

Talking of shining, KISSmetrics recommend the SHINE five-part checklist for every good headline; S – Specificity, H – Helpfulness, I – Immediacy, N – Newsworthiness, E – Entertainment value.E.g. “The Best Five Minutes (immediacy) You’ll Spend Today (entertainment): The Latest Tips (newsworthy) From .99 (specificity) on writing better headlines (helpfulness)” 

[Headline] + [A hook] – Basically, this technique involves giving the reader something extra to hook them in; highlighting something in the content which the viewer will feel compelled to look at.   

E.g. “7 Ways to cook Snapper you didn’t know. #5 will blow your mind!” 

This is obvious not an exhaustive list. Every blogger will have his or her own top tips for getting clicks. The best advice is simply to test, test, and test again. See what works; see what doesn’t work; and then try something new!

Website Upworthy.com famously write 25 headlines for their posts, test them all, then choose the best one (although that does sound a little labour-intensive!)

At the end of the day, you are your own best friend. Simply ask yourself, ‘would I click that?’

Do you have a formula you use? Tell us in the comments:

More formulas can be found:

Blogger Peter Sandeen’s 101 headline formulas

The Daily Egg blog’s 15 headline formulas

Copyblogger’s 10 popular headline formula

The 35 headline formula of John Caples

9 Game-changing additions to the New Zealand Consumer Guarantees Act you should know.

 

At the end of last year, in a rare display of bipartisan collaboration, the government pushed through major reforms to the Consumer Guarantees Act. Six months on these changes will take effect from June 17^th 2014.

Here is a quick summary of the changes that will ultimately effect retailers in New Zealand: 

1.   Online Retailing: All online purchases and trades are now subject to the Consumer Guarantees Act (including TradeMe Auctions & Facebook Shops). 

2.   Online Retailing: Professional online sellers will have to clearly identify themselves as "traders" 

3.   Online Retailing: There is also increased liability for traders whose goods do not arrive on time, or are damaged during delivery. 

4.   Online Retailing:  “Shill bidding", in which traders try to drive up prices on their own auctions, has been clarified to make it a specific offence.  

5.   Extended warranties: A new amendment will force retailers to provide a comparison of what additional "guarantees" or benefits their extended warranty actually has. 

6.   Extended warranties: Customers will also now have five working days to cancel the warranty (get a refund). Or, if the retailer did not disclose the differences to you in the first place, they can get a refund at any time. 

7.   Advertising: An update to the Fair Trading Act (FTA) means businesses will not be able to make claims about a product or service if they do not have evidence or "reasonable grounds" to do so. Obviously exaggerated claims, and puffery, will still garner some leeway. But serious claims, which could be as simple as "all gumboots half-price", have to be accurate. 

8.   Door-to-door: Customers will now have five working days to cancel any uninvited direct sale made at home or work. And it does not matter whether the sale is over the phone or in person; if you did not initiate the transaction, you can back out.    

9.  Gas & Electricity: There is a new acceptable quality guarantee in the Consumer Guarantees Act that specifically applies to the supply of electricity or gas. From 17 June 2014, if you supply electricity or gas to consumers, you must ensure your supply is: safe, reliable (to that particular place); and of such a quality that it can be consistently used.

It should also be noted that there are now tougher penalties. Those who breach the rules will receive more than a slap on the wrist, with fines for misleading and deceptive conduct having been increased by at least 300 per cent under the reformed laws.   

Can't touch this: The one thing online shopping can't replace.

You’re in a shop, you’ve spotting something you want to buy, what’s the first thing you do? Whether it’s a plant pot, a new pair of shoes, or even a garden shed – the chances are the first you’re going to do is touch it. Is it heavy? Is it itchy? Does it feel solid or does it feel flimsy? We humans are tactile creatures, programmed to interact with our world by touching things. Quality is often hard to assess by simply looking at something; we need to “feel the quality”. So as the world of retail continues to head online, does the lack of a tactile sense influence our purchase behaviour? A recent study by Australian online retailer, Sneaking Duck, suggests that it does.

From the day we are born, we interact with the world around us through physical interaction; we touch things. To see this for yourself, try walking through a mall with a toddler; they simply have to touch everything they see. Why? It’s biological mechanism. Through the simple act of touch we can tell if something is hot or cold, solid or hollow, sharp or dull, food… in fact we can tell any number of qualities about an object. And as we get older that doesn’t change - we use touch as a way to gauge the qualities, and quality of products.

But when it comes to online shopping, we do lose this ability to touch.

It had been thought that by building the quality message into the brand itself, retailers could mitigate peoples’ concerns over not “seeing something in person.” However when one online retailer put this to the test, they found this hypothesis didn’t hold true.

Australian-based prescription eyewear retailer, Sneaking Duck, recently undertook a series of trials to test their customer’s attitudes towards their products. They surveyed customers who had simply purchased glasses online; customers who had chosen to try their free, no-obligation home trail first; and customers who has done neither.

The results showed that those who didn’t purchase, and those who purchased WITHOUT touching the product first had very practical concerns – the fit, the quality, and the size. On the other hand, for people who had touched the glasses (via home trial), these practical concerns evaporated. And it wasn’t just buyer’s confirmation; even those who had tried-on glasses at home and still decided not purchase did not cite the practical (physical) concerns as the reason.

So what does this mean for online retailing?

The story is not all doom and gloom. Around 47% of offline sales started online (Roy Morgan NZ & Gov Stats 2013), which goes to demonstrate that online and offline continue to work in tandem. And it’s this combination approach that will see retailers continue to succeed.

Reviews and ratings are one such method that many online retailers already use as a way to combat lack of trial. It’s long been known word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful sales tools, and research show that customers put a lot of stock in online reviews. This could be further amplified through a friend-get-friend approach. Not only do customers get the recommendation of a trusted friend, but in many cases can view the product first hand at the friend’s house.

Another approach retailers could consider is to allow customers to experience via home trial. It’s interesting to note that in recent times infomercials on TV have started offering customers a chance to try products for 30 days for $1. The idea being that once the customer has the product in their hands, they are more likely to follow through with the purchase. 

And, of course, nothing beats stores-with-door. Online retailers benefit from the lack of overheads that accompany bricks and mortar retail outlets. However there are low-cost temporary solutions, such as pop-up showrooms, where customers can experience their products first hand and share their experiences with others.

As technology gets more intuitive, we need to remember that at the heart of every purchase is a human being who operates under basic psychological principles. There is no doubt that online retailing will continue to grow, and technology will continue to offer new and exciting ways for retailers to get customers into the sales funnel. The key, however, is to ensure that as things move forward we still retain a grounding in reality.

Content is king… but there’s a catch.

It’s been the mantra of digital strategists for the past couple of years: “Content is king”. But simply posting content isn’t enough to engage with customers. In fact, bad content can actually be more detrimental to a brand than posting nothing at all. It appears that in 2014 the mantra needs to be re-written: “Content is king, as long as it’s relevant.”

Content Marketing is defined by Wikipedia as “any marketing format that involves the creation and sharing of media and publishing content in order to acquire customers”. But, author and SEO specialist Jeff Cannon better describes it as “content [that is] created to provide consumers with the information they seek.” There is subtle but incredibly important difference. Successful Content Marketing is providing customers with information that they actually want.

Too often brands get caught in the trap of producing irrelevant content for their emails, websites, blogs or social networks simply because they need to fill a gap in their content calendar. But irrelevant content is by definition unwanted content. It’s noise; it’s unwelcome; it’s spam. With so many brands out there fighting for customers’ attention, brands simply cannot afford to be seen as spamming even once. In the digital age, there are no second chances.  

Last week, web-based food-ordering service Eat24 posted a humorous open letter to Facebook ending their relationship and closing down their Facebook account. What was interesting, however, was Facebook’s reply to this post. Facebook’s Director of Communications, Brandon McCormick responded to their letter with this: 

 

What McCormick is saying here is that Facebook users are more interested in connected with their friends, than with humorous brand posts. A ballsy move for company that relies on brands sponsoring posts in order to make a profit, but was he right? When you log into Facebook do you do so with the anticipation of seeing a witty post from your local pet shop, or a photo of your best friend’s new baby?

That’s not to say that customers don’t want to see content from brands. At some point they have actively opted in to receiving that content – either via email, hitting follow, or hitting like. But this content needs to be relevant to what that brand is to the customer. As consumers ourselves, we need to constantly ask, “is this relevant to my brand?” And perhaps, more importantly, “is this worth interrupting my customers day with?”

You would have all seen those “bet you can’t name a band that starts with S” posts. These are designed to generate conversation and drive artificial engagement. But for every user who comments with “Soundgarden” you will get 5 more than press “hide posts from.” Especially if the brand in question is a pet store, who would it not be better to post a “how to change the water in your fish tank” video.

And that’s the point. Whether it’s a Facebook post, a tweet, an email or even a YouTube video – content only becomes information once a customer views it. Otherwise it remains noise, or worse still, spam. But good, relevant content will indeed create a deeping, richer relationship with customers.

In 2014 content is very much still king, but the real trick is making sure your content is actually [wor]king.

How to make your smartphone smell like bacon

Modern day smartphones are undeniably capable (here’s one solving a Rubik’s Cube in under 30 seconds). And whether it is Apple’s fingerprint scanner, or Samsung’s heart rate monitor, they are also increasingly coming packed with hardware to answer the whims of both developers and users alike. But there is a limit on how much you can pack in to these devices. Enter the smartphone dongle.

A dongle is a piece of hardware that connects to another piece of technology to augment its operation. Wireless modems, USB sticks, memory card readers – these are all dongles. Today, we are starting to see companies creating their own bespoke dongles that attach to smartphones and increase their functionality.

American meat and cold cut production company, Oscar Mayer, is one such company. This week they have announced their new smartphone app that wakes you up with the sweet sounds — and scents — of sizzling bacon. That’s right, scents. Using a dongle filled with bacon-scented liquid, that connects to your iPhone or iPad’s headphone jack, you can now awake each morning to the unmistakable smell of cooking pork product.

More locally, BNZ recently launched their own smartphone dongle known as PayClip^®. A portable debit and credit card reader that fits into the headphone socket of a smartphone or tablet, when paired with a free downloadable app, PayClip will let customers process payments on the spot wherever their smart device has reception.

And, if you believe their website, The LIVR Reverse Breathalyzer App will be yet another company venturing into the world of smartphone dongles. Launching this year the app uses a breathalyser dongle to measure a user’s alcohol levels before granting them access to an exclusive social network. Creator Kyle Addison describes it as a “biometric bouncer”. 

So what does this mean for New Zealand brands? Will we see this sort of branded dongle appearing more and more in the coming months, or is this just a passing fad? And is it a risk to develop technology that is dependant on another company not changing their functionality?

Regardless of the risks, this type of hardware will no doubt continue to develop in parallel with smartphone technology itself. And with retailers looking for that ever-shrinking edge over their competitors – smartphone dongles may just be the thing ace up the proverbial sleeve.