1 core, 5 techniques, and 3 principles for writing good titles

Zhang Xiaolong said: Even the smallest individual can have his own brand. What he didn’t mention is that with more brands, there will be greater competition.

There are more than 20 million WeChat public accounts, millions of Toutiao accounts... and there are also UC, Baijia, etc. If you name all the brands, you won’t be able to count them all.

In an era where you can become a self-media person with just an ID card. People have access to tons of content on their phones at any time, so why should they pay attention to your content first?

If you want to know where the guests are from, the title is the key.

An alluring title is definitely the first step to attract attention, clicks, and traffic. If the title is not flashy, how can the content stand out in the ocean of information?

Let’s first look at different titles of the same article:

A Cheating Woman

"I am materialistic, vain and unfaithful, but I am not a bad woman"

Which one looks better and makes people want to click on it more? Obviously the latter. A good title is like a good book title. People will open the book for a good title, and will also click on the content because of a good title.

How to write a title with high click-through rate and forwarding rate?

1. First, you need to grasp one core: arouse curiosity

People are naturally curious. Curiosity leads to action.

Good title skills will definitely arouse people's curiosity and make them unable to help but click to read.

Whether it is entertainment gossip, economy, politics, military, culture, or technology. There are seeds of human curiosity everywhere.

People always want to know, why do celebrities get divorced?

Some people always want to know who their secret crush likes?

There are always people who want to know how people who make a million dollars a year make a million dollars a year?

People always want to know, what will Trump's next tweet be about?

People always want to know, why does the apple fall to the ground?

Some people always want to know, does the universe have an end?

…

The essence of reading is to obtain information, understand the situation, and satisfy inner curiosity about the outside world.

No matter when or where. Every title we click on and every piece of content we read satisfies our curiosity.

I want to judge whether my title is good enough. You need to keep asking yourself: Can I arouse the reader's curiosity?

All title-choosing techniques are designed to tempt readers’ curiosity. A good headline has one purpose: "Want to know? Click on me."

2. 5 tips for writing good titles

Tip 1: Let your emotions out

The emotion expressed by a good title must be a collective emotion. Capture the emotions of a group and express them in an amplified way through a certain point of view. If you express the opinions that readers want to express, they will naturally express their stance by clicking and reposting.

For example, designers are always asked to revise the manuscript and make the font larger.

"Party A has never lost when asking the designer to revise the draft"

For example, women dislike men caring about whether they are virgins.

"Are you a virgin?" "None of your business"

For example, most people still fail after failing several times.

"Failure is the mother of success. Do you believe this bullshit?" 》

Most of these titles have clear opinions. Speak completely from the perspective of a certain group of people, speaking from your true inner standpoint, without too much disguise.

When someone puts forward an opinion that you agree with but are not brave enough to say, you must be interested in listening to him continue to speak, or supporting him in some form. This is the secret of why such titles can instantly arouse people's desire to click and forward.

Tip 2: Create Opposition

Opposition means conflict. Where there is conflict, there are problems. Where there are problems, they will naturally attract those who want to uncover the answers to the problems. There is no story without conflict, just like the title "I am materialistic, vain and cheating, but I am not a bad woman", which looks like a contradictory title with a story at first glance.

Creating opposition is a versatile technique.

There are currently three main ways to achieve this:

• The first one is logical inversion.

For example, a wanted person is unlikely to be someone with high education and the ability to make money, but that is exactly what happens.

"The second-generation rich scholar is wanted, graduated from Yale and Oxford, and earned 200 million in 9 months after returning to China"

• The second type is counterintuitive.

For example, society generally advocates that women should be gentle, kind, and considerate, but what if there is an advocacy that seems to be the opposite?

Be a difficult woman and you will live a better life

• The third method is the comparative method.

For example, without comparison, there is no gap. Suppose that almost no one reads the articles you write, but you always see other people’s popular articles, would you be a little curious about how others do it?

Why do other people’s articles get over 100,000 views each, but no one reads your articles? 》

The key to this type of title is to create opposites. Some of these opposites are on the surface, while others are hidden beneath the surface and need your wisdom to dig them out.

Tip 3: Psychological suggestion

Suggestion has always been a science. It's a tacit understanding that I don't express clearly, but you understand it very well. Who would be averse to communicating with people who understand him?

There are three main ways to achieve psychological hints in titles.

• The first one is the perceptual description

For example, you are not allowed to use words like spicy, delicious, mouth-watering, internet celebrity food, etc. How can you make the crayfish in the title look delicious?

"Eating a good crayfish is like catching the summer in Changsha"

• The second type is natural suggestion (not recommended)

This is a subtle title technique, and dirtiness is its surface feature.

For example, how can we make people more willing to click and read a boring article that teaches people fitness exercises?

"Women have sex 7 times a night and feel comfortable and energetic for life"

• The third type is suspense hint
  

For example, keep the reader in suspense, reveal part of the story vaguely, and let the reader click on the title to discover the rest.

"The secrets that dating experts never tell you: After using 12 dating apps in 14 days, I found that..."

The key to this type of title is not to say everything, that is, you know a secret that the reader doesn't know. Through the magic of information asymmetry and the role of psychological suggestion, readers are induced to click on the title and complete the reading.

Tip 4: Find endorsements

Well-known people, companies, stories, cities, brands, achievements, etc. are all good candidates for endorsement. They are naturally good topics.

For example, Jack Ma is a global celebrity.

"What truth is hidden behind Jack Ma's 'abdication'?" 》

For example, in the story of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei said: Brothers are like limbs, women are like clothes.

"Liu Bei said one sentence, which offended thousands of women"

For example, a juicer sells well in the United States.

"From Silicon Valley to China, one is sold every three seconds. Once you use this juicer, you won't want to touch any other."

The purpose of endorsement is to increase weight. It gives people a sense of weight as if they have heard of the name before seeing the person, and readers will be interested in finding out the truth.

Tip 5: Benefit inducement

A common form of title. All of these send a strong signal to readers: click on this title and you will get a lot.

For example, how is content disseminated? You can say:

"Why can an article explode in the circle of friends?" 10 Communication Rules Behind Users’ Active Forwarding

For example, to share how to improve sales performance, you can say:

9 Ways to Triple Your Sales

Explain the benefits in the most concise way. Reducing the psychological burden on readers and allowing them to quickly perceive what they can gain is also the secret of commonly using numbers in such titles.

When writing titles, skills are certainly important. However, if you only focus on the title pattern and not the content of the article, you will inevitably run the risk of falling into the "title party" and being despised by others.

3. 3 principles for writing good titles

The first principle: refuse to be a clickbait headline reader.

It is irrelevant and does harm to the readers. Clickbait headlines can make readers angry, and no one likes to be deceived. You won't like it either.

You also cannot expect someone who has been deceived by you to share or forward your message. Treat them well, and you will always gain something from your self-media journey.

The second principle: ask others more about whether the title is good or bad.

You like what you like. Don't just look at your title from your own perspective. A major requirement for a good title is that most people will want to click on it after reading it.

After writing the title, ask others if they would like to adopt it. If most people don't feel it, then give it up and think about it again. If most people feel good about it, you can consider using it.

The third principle: Forget about single techniques!

First of all, your title should be a combination of multiple techniques. In today's era of self-media, only titles with combination techniques are tempting enough.

Secondly, all title techniques are for one thing only: to attract the curiosity of your target readers and make them click on your article. If you have a more effective way to make the target audience read your article, the so-called title techniques may be redundant for you.

IV. Conclusion

Don't underestimate the title. It determines your first impression in the minds of your target readers. If the impression is good, readers will want to know more about you. If the impression is ugly, no matter how rich your inner self is, it will be ruthlessly missed by readers. This may be superficial, but it is reality. Especially in today's era of fast information.

Author: Grassroots Society

Source: Grassroots Society