With so many articles competing for attention in practically all niches and categories, it’s really a wonder how the average article marketer can draw in readers to that coveted Call-To-Action, or much less grab their attention. As it is, it’s not enough that an article is optimized for a keyword, it also needs to be engaging.

Strangely enough, most article marketing articles found on the Internet rarely, if ever, have that “ah” factor that convinces readers to buy a product or a website. It’s a fact that most Internet users will only pay attention to the top 3 results on search engines like Google and simply scroll down the rest. You’re lucky if your article is indeed on the top 3, but what if you are on the top 4 and downwards?

Think Of Newspaper Headlines

Do you read newspapers? Or do you watch people at a clinic waiting for their appointment with the doctor? The average person will simply scan the headlines until something grabs his attention, then he reads it. Internet users treat search engine results pages (SERP’s) very much like newspapers – they only read the banner headline and scan the headlines of the secondary stories. (Keep this in mind when you feel like simply spinning articles for your article marketing.)

Thus, it is critical to create headlines that grab attention. Like the articles in the newspaper, your headlines will determine if your article is going to be read or not. You won’t get a second chance with your article if you don’t get it and do it right the first time.

Creating The Headlines

In other writing disciplines like copywriting, THE ingredient for success is the writer’s ability to harp on other people’s pain (major, major pain), and offering a solution to ease that pain. This pain-harping ability should show itself first in the headlines. Write headlines from your own experience, specifically, which headlines grab your attention the most?

In general, these are the type of headlines that grab attention in article marketing:

* How-to’s (“How To Win Your Man Back From His Mistress”) * Top 5 or Top 10 lists (Top 5 Things A Woman Can Do To A Cheating Husband) * Headlines that ask questions (Can You Really Live Without Your Man?) * Headlines with a call to action (Fight For Your Man!)

Headlines Are Only The Beginning

Headlines are really just the beginning. You need to support the headline with content that delivers up to its promise of offering a solution to their pain. Give the solution to them freely and repeatedly. For being hogged with information overload, people want something intangible immediately. They won’t be giving you their email address just to get more information.

Filed under: For Freelance Writers

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