how to blog series
Got Traffic? Want Traffic?
Why Do the Clickers Come?
Why Do the Clickers Come?
If you’ve been studying How to Get Literally Everyone’s Attention on the Internet, you probably know that headlines count.
An attention-grabbing headline is everything. Whether it is something completely original and novel, ultra-specific and geared towards a niche, or just incredibly compelling, good headlines on the Web always win.
They always win, except when they don’t.
A great headline will get traffic and attention, but what sticks? What turns a click into a subscriber? Strong businesses are built on strong relationships. What transforms a clicker into someone who hangs around?
It starts with with the reason the clickers came. People come to a website for information, entertainment, and communication / engagement. When they click through on that headline they’re looking for one or more of those three.
Our greatest achievement in building a Web site is helping a person achieve his or her goal. During our research our biggest discovery proved to be that navigation and content work best when they are wed tightly together. “It seems that you can t really separate content and navigation” says Jarod Spool, “without losing something important in the process.” How to make your Web site fast and usable
If folks who click find something that delivers on that promise in that headline they stay and possibly return. If not, they feel thwarted and leave. Here are five things you can do to make it more likely they get what they came for.
Five Ways to Deliver to the Clickers Who Follow a Headline to Your Blog …
- Deliver what your headline promises.
- Deliver it in short paragraphs using subheads surrounded by lots of white space so that people have room to think and breathe.
- Deliver it without making folks jump over ads or through hoops to get to the prize that the headline promises.
- Deliver it by recognizing the people who take time to comment.
- Deliver it by making it easy for folks to stay..
The most important thing is deliver — do what we say we’re going to do.
It’s not the click that doesn’t come that’s a loss. It’s the click that comes to find that we’re not what we suggested we would be. A great headline followed by something less doesn’t win. It doesn’t even finish.
Great headline, lame blog post — you’ve been there. What’s your response when you end up on one of those?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
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Hey Liz – you’re right, you need to have both a catchy headline and then great content to back it up. Otherwise it’s an inconsistent story and not only will it not convert, but no one will share your material either.
With that said, the headline is vital and you should work backwards with it. Write your content first, then see what emerges as the best headline to tell that story.
I come from the “if it bleeds it leads” industry of broadcast news, so I have to agree with the catchy headline. But there is a significant difference between TV and the web.
While you can switch or click a TV dial if you don’t like the content – and there are many other channels to choose from – viewers will likely go back to that program again in the future. Even with several hundred channels on the dish or cable.
That pales in comparison to a bazillion web sites, and the exponentially growing stream. If you don’t catch that eyeball with good content, and don’t have a following, I think your chances of the visitor returning again are greatly diminished than in other forms of media.
From a babe in the woods of social media I’ve already learned – ya gotta do the work! If you build it they will come – that is – if your on top of your SEO. Learned that one the hard way!
I once heard someone suggest that the headlines on the cover of Cosmo can be great inspiration for writing headlines. Turn “The 7 Things He Most Wants in Bed” to “The 7 Things Every Should Have” or “The 7 Things Everyone Should Know About ” The Cosmo folks have written some pretty interesting headlines! I sometimes put covers in my swipe file or you can get jpgs of the covers for inispiration.
— Kurt Scholle
http://www.Twitter.com/KurtScholle
The other side of that is that sometimes great content works with junk headlines.
I don’t do well with headlines – part of that is laziness, part is reluctance to sensationalize and the rest is just lack of skill, but every now and then a good article gets traction despite that.
I can’t say that I’ve entirely stopped caring about headlines because I do TRY to write something at least half-baked decent, but I absolutely have stopped fretting over it when its plain that what I came up with is far from stellar. I do the best I can and fate handles the rest.
Well, Liz, you’ve succeeded in scaring the hell out of me. 🙂
Actually, this concept of headlines and click-through does make a bit uncomfortable. My blogging goal above all is to tell the truth. To be authentically who I am. To write and let the chips fall where they may.
I struggle with the business aspect of my blog. Sure, I’d love to have lots of traffic and traffic that sticks around. But I refuse to use what I feel are manipulative techniques to make that happen. I operate more like Adam does; work from my content backwards. Don’t know how successful or unsuccessful I am with that, but I try.
The question you’re making me ask is how much of this is my commitment to truth telling and how much is sheer laziness and not wanting to do the hard work of thinking? And that question does scare me…a lot. 🙂
I’ll look at it because that’s the only way I know how I can grow and improve, but that doesn’t mean I’ll like it. Guess it’s time to eat some virtual Brussel sprouts. I hope there’s some ice cream after all of this.
Hi Adam,
I can’t tell you how many times, I write an engaging headline to get me going, author the blog post … then work on an entirely new headline because the old one didn’t fit. I so agree.
Hi Judy,
I can’t help, but repeat that …
You gotta do the work!
I sure wish more folks would realize that part.
Hi Kurt!
Having a great swipe file is a fabulous start. Brian Clark is a master at headlines and he’s been saying that one for years. Still the headline needs something fabulous under it … as I know you know.
Hey Dave,
I think most folks who read the web see through manipulative headlines in a flash. Thinking about what would make a reader want to read this is hard work … you’re right on there. Don’t let it scare you. Just challenge yourself to do it every Tuesday and see what happens. It’s a skill that, like playing the guitar, comes more easily with practice. 🙂
A few decades ago I did marketing work for McDonald’s. One of our core (and often limiting) concepts was “the experience must be consistent with the promise”. On target with #1 above. Thanks for the great post.
Thanks! I’ll be working on better headlines:-)
It does take work to come up with a good headline. It’s like condensing the essence of the ocean into a drop and then somehow making it personally relevant to the reader. In the end, I guess you have to do both: write good headlines, to get people into the content, and then write good content to satisfy them and keep them coming back. There are no shortcuts.
Liz,
Great article and so true! I found your blog through another one. Would like to post a trackback if I could.
Thanks,
L
Hi Jack!
Keeping out promises is the way to keep our customers and readers hands down. As content providers we don’t do enough of that. 🙂
Hi Amy!
Great to see you!
Todd,
You said that so well that it’s a blog post of it’s own. Thank you for bring the point home so clearly and so well.
Thanks, Liz. And thanks, Jack (comment #10). I love that line… I’m going to memorize it: “The experience must be consistent with the promise.” I guess that’s the very basis of integrity.