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4 Proven Ways to Write Excellent Headlines

Without a doubt, headlines either make or break content that you write. It is for this reason that a number of people often spend as much time working on the headline as much as they do for the rest of the article.

Of course, the reason for this is if your audience isn’t captured by your headline, then the rest of your article won’t.

Keeping this in mind, here are 4 proven ways to write excellent headlines:

#1: Keep it to 8 to 18 words

According to a survey conducted by Outbrain on headline length, a headline length of 18 words did best. In fact, headlines that were lesser than 12 words didn’t seem to do too well while those above 21 words suffered the same fate.

#2: Use numbers

Headlines with numbers does twice as better than those with plain headlines. For example, 30 Ways to Make Tea Drinking Enjoyable will be better than a headline which doesn’t have a number. Also, headlines with odd numbers do much better even numbers.

#3: Be as specific as possible

It is one of the classic headline rules to be as specific as possible. While both superlatives and numbers can add value to your headlines, being as specific as possible will also help greatly. For example, saying 312% improvement will look more plausible as opposed to 300% improvement that looks like exaggeration.

#4: Use Pictures

While this is common knowledge, people respond much more to pictures. So, it is a good idea to add an image near a headline can increase responses by almost 27%, according to a Guardian study.