Elevate, Don’t Exaggerate
How the Minutest Mistake Turned a Perfect Headline Into a Clickbaity One
Navigating the Fine Line: Clickbait vs. Compelling Headlines
“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.” — David Ogilvy
“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” — Leo Burnett
“Your headline has only one job — to stop your prospect and compel him to read the second sentence of your ad.” — Joseph Sugarman
I know, I’ve started the article with not one, but three quotes. I want to signify the importance of the headline.
Rather than writing a few 100 words, I wanted to seek help from the greatest minds to explain the importance of a headline.
They do a much better job than I can ever do.
Earlier this week, I wrote this article👇🏾
Take a look at the headline and tell me what you think is wrong. What’s the mistake I made?
Before I begin, let me tell you the state of mind I was in.
8 months into daily writing practice, my articles on Medium saw a sudden outburst of comments and claps.
My articles were getting distributed to a much larger audience than I was used to.
I woke up feeling like a kid with a key to the toy store.
In my excitement, I ended up writing information that seemed exaggerated.
The number 11,578% while true, comes across as clickbaity.
In less than a week, I find myself cringing at the headline because as a reader I’ve been burnt way too many times with such headlines.
I should have written something a lot more believable.
In my excitement, thanks to the minutest mistake, I managed to ruin a perfectly well-written article.
A lesson well learnt.
Here’s my 7-step blueprint to write better headlines for those who want to dive deeper.
Like me, if you too are on a journey to enhance your writing and reach a larger audience, pay disproportionate attention to your headlines.
What do you think of this analysis? I’d love to hear some opposing views because that’s what helps me grow the most.
