Category: Copywriting

CopywritingTIPS
September 4, 2021

Six Ways to Generate Catchy Headlines for Your Next Blog

You spend a lot of time writing quality content, and it is the title that is side-lined every time. Of course, it is vital to make your blog informative and provide value to the reader.

But do you know that title plays the foremost role in deciding whether people will click through and read the rest? As per Copyblogger, 80% of your visitors will read your headline – but only 20% will go on to finish the article.

So, it is definitely worth investing some time generating catchy headlines for your blog that are difficult to resist clicking.

Here are a few ways to generate catchy headlines and strengthen your title-writing game for your next blog:

1. Learn headline formulas

There are some basic headline formulas that interest, engage and compel the readers to read a blog. 

Here’s an ultimate formula to generate a blog headline that really attracts: 

Numbers + Adjective + Target Keyword + Rationale + Promise

Example: 11 Free Social Media Tools You Must Use Today To Increase Your Followers

Apart from this formula, there are several ways to create a catchy headline:

  • Starting the headline with a number or making it a listicle.
    • Example: Six ways to generate a catchy headline
  • Promising something big can attract more readers
    • Example: 52 tools every content writer must use
  • ‘How To’ headlines are simple but work well for the audience trying to find how any particular thing can be done.
    • Example: How to learn driving a car without owning it
  • Reflecting urgency can drive reader’s attention, and they cannot let that go off.
    • Example: Six most luxurious deals you must not miss today. 
  • Questioning something to the readers can compel them to read and answer.
    • Example: Do you know how to switch from a night owl to an early bird?
  • Adding a negative element in the post can make people anxious to read.
    • Example: 7 Freelancing mistakes you must never do or be ready to lose a client
  • Surprising the audience can arouse their interest in giving it a read.
    • Example: This is how I make $10,000 a month by freelancing
  • Adding specific details in the post can drive the attention of people looking for particular results.
    • Example: Five-step guide to generate 2x more profit from your online business.

Moreover, many websites help you generate catchy headlines using effective formulas. Some of these are: Inbound now, Impact Blog Title Generator, and SEOPressor blog title.

2. Use Keyword Research

To reach an unlimited reader-base, implementing SEO is a must. Keyword research is an integral part of SEO. It also lets you understand what the audience is looking for. 

Adding the target keyword in the research is essential to let Google know what your content is about, rank higher on the search engine, and generate more clicks.

3. Pay Attention to Headlines

Whenever you click any title to read the post, take a moment to think about what is that X factor in it that drives you towards the content.

You will realize that it is some basic tweaking of words and not really rocket science that generates interest and engagement.

You can also check out Buzzsumo. It is popularly known to generate massive engagement through its headlines.  

By analyzing headlines, your creative and headline-generating skills will improvise naturally, thereby helping you generate more catchy headlines.

4. Do Not Use Clickbait

Some sites generate traffic by using clickbaits or titles that promise to deliver something big but do not.

Examples: Lose 20 Kgs in 1 month, 50 Ways to grow your blog (but actually mention only 35.)

By generating such headlines, you can allure your readers to click through once or twice but not always. They will not return to you if you break their trust by not providing them with what you promise.

So, make sure that your blog’s content matches the title and you deliver what you promise.

5. Keep It Short

You cannot set a fixed number of characters for all your headlines because it depends on the topic, what you are aiming at and what you are delivering. However, it is crucial to keep it short and concise to make it ideal for SEO.

Ideally, the headline should be 50-60 characters, and it should not exceed 70 characters.

If it exceeds the limit, it gets cut off in the search engine results and does not make sense.

However, it can be somewhere between 8-12 words for sharing on Twitter and 12-14 words for Facebook posts as these received the most number of likes.

6. Write Blog Headlines for YOUR audience

Indeed, many successful headline formulas have been effective in generating clicks. But, not everything works for everyone. Therefore, it is essential to understand what YOUR audience prefers and how you get a better response.

Initially, you can use these formulas in your blogs to attract an audience, but sooner or later, you need to see what is working better and use that.

To understand what is working well, you can do A/B Testing in which you send two different headlines to the audience to see which one derived more clicks and better results.

Similarly, you can look out for statistics and analytics to understand what worked well and why.

Conclusion

Remember that writing THE PERFECT headline comes with practice as no set headline formula works in every case and for everyone. Even professional copywriters discard numerous headlines before coming up with a perfect one. You must devote the required time and patience to get that winning one. The above-stated tips would make the task easier for you to generate a catchy headline for your next blog.

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CopywritingTIPS
August 13, 2021

Content Editing Tools: Making Life Easy, Or The Content Lifeless?

When you ask writers about the tools they commonly use, Hemingway and Grammarly take the top-most positions.

Why?

Well, they make lives easy.

But, even if the writers do not want to, they need to use them in most cases. There is no escape.

And, guess what? While making the lives of the writers easy, they make their content lifeless.

Before we talk about how these tools make content lifeless, let us see why they are used by writing professionals and the corporate world.

Why are content editing tools used?

Content editing tools like Hemingway and Grammarly are useful as they give you suggestions to rephrase/add/remove/replace words to make them grammatically correct and “easy to read.”

Grammarly particularly focuses on making the text grammatically correct and in the right tone.

Hemingway Editor aims at simplifying the text to the extent that even children can understand it easily. It does so by highlighting the areas that need your attention.

For newbie writers and those with not-so-good command over language, these tools might help improve the sentences structures and make the content more presentable. 

Running the content through the editing tools before finalizing/publishing might help by highlighting some mistakes and offering suggestions that might save one from obvious mistakes.

But then, why are these tools not so cool?

Although made to make writers’ lives easy, the editing tools actually make their content lifeless. 

But how? 

Let us have a look below:

1. No creativity, only simplicity

The structure and style of content have become uniform for most content online. The editing software suggests changes in words that remove the creative side of it.

For example, Hemingway suggests removing words that are not directly related to the content. 

If a writer does so, the content does not offer a new perspective but instead serves information that is provided elsewhere. 

So, simplification is not the only thing that makes content shine.

2. No personal voice of the writers

If you read books, you might have some favorite authors, which makes you read more books. 

How?

They have their own voice that you resonate with. 

But, in digital times, due to online tools and algorithms for ranking, that unique voice has faded away. 

It is like putting on a colorful t-shirt with bleach and take it out bland.

3. Sometimes they are also wrong.

If you are a user of Grammarly, you might already know how it sucks at times by suggesting some incorrect words, and after you change those, it shows that as incorrect again and gives more suggestions. 

For instance, on typing “you’re,” it suggests “your” even when there is no possession. Changing it to “your” leads to another suggestion, i.e., “you are,” which actually is correct based on the context.

It seems like a hit-and-trial method, isn’t it?

And, these tools are mostly against using passive voice, but they must realize there are no better alternatives at some point.

4. Machines are machines!

No matter where the technology is taking people, AI cannot be as real as humans. 

Humans write with emotions, experiences, and their personal touch. But machines simply cannot!

Humans can tell stories; machines cannot!

By suggesting to remove certain words like “really” and “actually” and “own,” these tools take away those emotions that connect the writer with the readers.

Using these editing tools might make your content clear, but along with that, it would also make it clean. So clean that your own voice and style of writing would vanish away. 

It is high time we start acknowledging the distinct voices and styles of writers and stop expecting them to incorporate all the suggestions that editing tools highlight. 

So how should you edit your content?

Editing content should include fact-checking, checking for grammatical errors by proofreading, and asking a WHY to yourself after every sentence to ensure it has some logic.

You can read out the content loud to make sure it sounds right and conversational.

For the formatting, you should consider the platform where it will be published, the audience who would read it, and the brand pattern.

Should you never use editing tools?

Irrespective of the fact that these tools take away your unique voice, they simply help the content for the general audience.

Thus, completely eliminating the use of this software might not be a wise decision. 

You can run your content through these tools before finalizing to reconsider the highlighted parts. 

Remember, RECONSIDER and not mandatorily change. Because the suggestions they show might act as constructive criticisms and not MISTAKES. 

Whether you should accept those and modify them or not depends upon how you want to convey something.

If you feel like the sentence reflects your unique voice or personality or gives it a personal touch, it is fine to keep it and not be bothered about the suggestion.

But if it doesn’t, it is better to adhere to the suggestion to make the content clearer to the readers.

Final Words

Mandatory proofreading and optimization, incorporating every single suggestion offered by the content editing tools, just do not let the writers be writers. Yet, writers usually depend upon these tools because of the fear of making mistakes or being rejected. 

So, the next time when someone asks you to “improve” your writing style by incorporating every suggestion that these tools provide, you are a human and not a machine. 

You have your voice- your unique voice for a reason. You should use it to make the most out of it.

No matter how well you do, everyone may not appreciate your writings or understand them well. But you don’t have to please EVERYONE. 

So, focus on connecting well with those who acknowledge your distinctness and wish to know more of you through your writings.

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Copywriting
June 22, 2021

Seven Reasons Why Your Business Should Hire a Copywriter

Have you ever wondered why your visitors are not converting into customers?

What’s the reason behind your website’s higher bounce rate?

That’s perhaps because the content on your website doesn’t serve its purpose.

You might be wondering if you should outsource your content to a content writer when you can write it on your own.

As per Demand Metric, content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing. Yet, it generates approximately three times more leads.

A copywriter can help your business in numerous ways. To start with, a copywriter isn’t just a person who writes a copy. The tasks of a copywriter include researching, keyword planning, and urging, to mention a few.

When you reach the end of this article, you’ll rush on to connect with a copywriter. You’ll also realize how important it is to have one.

So, let’s dig a little deeper into it to find out why you should hire a copywriter today.

They know how to persuade people

Anybody can write content, but not everybody can write it well. Copywriters master the art of persuasion. They know how to excite readers, arouse their interests, and connect with them. They also know how to get people glued to your site.

And why is that important? 

It is your content that leaves a lasting impression in the hearts and minds of people. By providing valuable content to your readers, you can build their trust and loyalty towards your brand.

They know how to convert

Analysts

Let us accept it! Every business aims at maximizing its turnover by generating more leads! 

And this is what a copywriter knows how to conquer. Throughout their content, they subtly tell the readers to take action. This is achieved by connecting with them personally and making them feel that they need this. 

It’s the placement of words in a sentence that can decide whether it’ll convert or cost you. 

Initially, getting a strategic copywriter may seem to you like an expense. But as it’ll progress, you’ll know that it’s an investment and the return would be worth it. Even Marcus Sheridan, a content marketing legend, said that great content is the best sales tool in the world.

All of this can result in increasing the company’s turnover and the profit in the process. Now you know whether you should save those bucks or invest in a copywriter. 

But wait! There’s more to it.

They can increase your organic reach

It is the goal of every entrepreneur to build a strong network of clients. For this, the content must have an organic reach, without which the scope is limited. There’s no reason to write if nobody reads the content.

The right copywriter knows how Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) works and uses its many techniques to uplift the ranking of the content. Rankings on search engines like Google ultimately drive a lot of traffic to the site. Ultimately, that means more clients!

As per Think with Google, around 60% of smartphone users have used the “click to call” option to contact a business using the search results.

This is a significant number! But how does a website rank among its competitors? By using SEO!

They can leverage copy for multiple channels

If you believe you can share the same piece of content across all your social platforms, you aren’t going to see the true potential of the content. Every medium has a different audience base. Hence, the consumption patterns and expectations of the users vary. Something may do well on LinkedIn but may flop on Instagram. Similarly, a post on Twitter may be a masterpiece, but it may not do well on Facebook. 

Multibrain highlighted how one should customize the content based on the platform, to be highly effective.

Experienced copywriters understand the psychology of people using different platforms and target audiences accordingly to leverage content for different channels effectively.

They don't make grammatical or spelling errors

Copywriters are professionals who write hundreds of copies a month. They have a good command of the language and don’t usually make grammatical or spelling errors. On the contrary, a non-professional writer can make silly mistakes and typos that spoil a copy. Nobody wants to read something unclear or difficult to interpret. Moreover, the brand can lose its credibility because of such mistakes.

According to research conducted by a London-based digital communications agency, 42.5 percent of people were most influenced by spelling or grammatical blunders.

They are outsiders

You are too close to your business. So probably how you see it and what you think about it won’t be the same as how others (mainly the potential clients) look at it. It is essential to put yourself in their shoes to persuade them. 

A copywriter being an outsider can give you a fresh perspective. They are better positioned to write what your potential clients want to read and stay connected to your business and even products or services. 

Therefore, they can give you a third-party perspective, which is much needed!

They leave you with more time for core activities

You hire a CA to manage your accounts, an electrician to look after the technical things, and a sweeper to clean your office. 

Why?

Because they are professionals in their respective fields and you cannot afford to devote months or years to learn that skill because you have other core activities to look after. 

In research conducted by SEMrush, it was found that 72% of respondents believed outsourcing content work freed up their time for strategic tasks.

As an entrepreneur, managing a business should be your main task, and hiring a copywriter can leave you with more time to focus on that.

Conclusion

So, these were some of the many reasons why hiring a copywriter is a must today! I’m sure you aren’t going to give it a second thought and invest in a professional copywriter right away!

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