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What Do Rick Santorum and Lady Gaga Have to Do with Headlines?

by Jennifer Beever

Rick Santorum Lady Gaga HeadlinesWhen it comes to your B2B online marketing, make no mistake. Headlines make a big difference. Here’s what CEOs and CMOs need to know.

On every website page or blog entry you have an opportunity to include headlines. Search engines like headlines, and the more keyword rich the better. Headlines are designated in HTML code as H1, H2, H3, up through H6.

Bad Online Headline Examples

All too often, headlines on webpages are omitted altogether or written poorly. For example, a home page may have no headlines at all. The About Us page may have a headline “About Our Services,” when it could say “About Our Printing Services” or “About Our Printing Services for Realtors.” Instead of “Why Hire Us?” a headline could say “Why Choose ABC Printing?”

Blog Post Headlines that Work

When it comes to blog posts that you share with your connections on social media, the post headline is even more important. It should contain some keywords and at the same time be interesting enough for people to click on the link and read the post. The post can include some interesting subheaders to break up the post text that include keywords as well. These subheaders make a post easier to read and more keyword rich for the search engines.

Headlines that include numbered lists seem to get the most click throughs and popularity. Looking at a list of  popular blog posts by Hubspot (a well-known marketing software company), 15 of 24 of Hubspot’s most popular recent blog posts have headlines that include numbered lists, such as:

Headlines that include in-the-news celebrity or politician’s names also get attention and are definitely examples of “gaming the system.” Again, Popshared.com’s list of popular Hubspot headlines shared this week on social media include:

For an additional resource on writing effective headlines, check out Copyblogger’s page How to Write Magnetic Headlines.

Your website and blog post headlines matter!

They make a difference in whether or not you are found online. For more information about great headlines or for help with your online marketing, please contact us at New Incite today.

 

Santorum photo from Flickr, AttributionShare Alike Some rights reserved by Gage Skidmore.

Lady Gag photo from Flickr, Attribution Some rights reserved by TJ Sengel

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