Do Your Hive Headlines Need Help?

I'm not the world's best at writing headlines.

But I've put quite a bit of time into studying headline masters.

In fact, I've shared a lot of what I know about headlines on Hive already in posts like Are Your Sentences Costing You Crypto and Want Upvotes? Be A Hooker!

I study writers like David Ogilvy, Craig Clemens, and other talented headline-masters. But I don't just study, I also practice. I put lots of energy into practicing my own headline-writing skills. Because of this, I thought I'd go through some post-titles I've seen on Hive and add some pizazz to them. I 'ryze-ified' them.

It's just a fun exercise that may offer some insight or examples of what's possible. Nothing is set in stone and I'm not saying my headlines are 'better' or 'worse.' It's just some food for thought on the power of a single sentence to capture people's attention and compel them to click. Everyone is of course free to write as they wish, and do what feels best to them.

Still, it takes 'effort' (and often 'courage') to come up with effective headlines. Truly masterful headline-writing can easily make something go viral, and great copywriters like Joe Sugarman and Dan Kennedy get paid a lot to do so. The examples here may not make you the next Buzzfeed, but I hope you find some value in this exercise.

Here we go:

Whew, okay, so we're halfway through, and I'm feeling pretty good about some of these title tweaks. I hope you are too.

Writing titles is mostly brainstorming ideas.

Lots of ideas. With a focus on 'contrasting' concepts, compelling wording, and catering to the (often hidden) desires of a target audience.

If you want more on this kind of thing, I'd suggest Brendan Kane's wonderful book, 'Hook Point', or finding the transcript to Eugene Schwartz's 'Lecture To Philips Publishing' 8 Oct '93.

Anyway, onward to the next batch!

So there you have it.

For a post aimed at success, it usually takes 20-50 headline ideas before the 'right' title comes to light.

The reason for this is the same with almost anything in life: the more energy & focus put into a task, the better the results. A singer who 'settles' for their first take each time will likely produce worse results than a singer who is dedicated to rehearsing many takes.

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” - Bruce Lee

The same thing applies to headline-writing. A kick is a 'simple' thing, and because it's so 'simple' many people will avoid practicing it. But a true martial arts master will practice the nuances of a kick many times, until they've mastered it. And a true headline-writer will practice the nuances of each headline until they've mastered it. So ask yourself, are you willing to sit down and brainstorm many more headlines than the average person before you click 'publish?'

Because the same way practice is essential for an effective kick, practice is essential for compelling headlines too. If you want your titles to capture attention, part of the recipe is brainstorming many different versions of them until you find a 'winner.' To that end, I'll practice a bit more here with you today. Here's three bonus headlines run through my 'clinic:'

Bonus

To wrap up...

We live in a fast-paced world, flooded with information.

People's eyes scan past many headlines daily, the question is, are your post-titles getting them to stop and read further? Here's a quote from Hook Point by Brendan Kane:

One of our meme-distribution partners has more than 19 million followers. When we’ve posted content with an ineffective hook on their account, it can result in fewer than 200 followers, while a shout-out with a strong hook could result in gaining 5,000 to 20,000 followers in a 24-hour period. In both scenarios, the content is posted to the same account and is exposed to the exact same audience, but the content that has the more effective Hook Point grabs people’s attention and generates enough motivation for viewers to want to learn more about the account promoted and to ultimately click on the “Follow” button. - Hook Point, Brendan Kane

Think about this. Brendan is a master at writing good hooks. But if he slips up and writes a weak hook, 19 million people ignore him and he gets barely 200 followers from it. If he writes a solid hook, he can get 20,000 followers from it. If this is what happens with a master attention-getter and a huge captive audience, what does it mean for you and your headlines?

The takeaway? No matter who you are, creating effective, compelling, persuasive 'hooks' is insanely important if you want to actually grow an audience. (And this applies to the 'hooks' in music, videos, and other content as well.)

P.S. Here's your free 'headline clinic' opportunity.

The headlines above have gone through my process for elevating the 'hookiness' of a sentence, or what I affectionately call my 'Headline Clinic.' I just did it for fun and a bit of practice, but if anyone would like me to help them with their headline for an upcoming post, write 'Me please!' in the comments and for 7 days after this is published, I'll select some people to collaborate with. Or share this free offer with someone if you think they might like more attention-getting post-titles. Together we can take your headline to the next level!

_{(And just imagine what some well-crafted headlines could do to market Hive to the 'outside world', eh?)}

If not, I hope at least this gave you something to think about and was valuable to you. I hope it helps you elevate your headlines and get more attention on your wonderful work.

Thanks so much for reading, commenting, sharing, or even skimming, I appreciate you.