By writing headlines that actually appeal to human beings, while also
improving your search engine ranking, you can greatly improve the
quality of visitor that arrives at your website.



If your site attracts more relevant visitors, it stands to reason that
you'll improve your conversion rates. If you have what they want there's
a chance they'll buy it, if you don't then they won't. You first need to
know how to use these tags technically and what to watch out for



The Technical Stuff



Using the HTML heading tag around key phrases puts emphasis on the
keywords. Heading tags include <h1> (the main page heading), <h2> (other
headings on the page), <h3> (sub-headings of the <h2>s) and so on down
as far as <h6>.



For example, <h1>search engine optimization</h1>, denotes the main page
heading (and from the search engines perspective what the page is about)
and works better than simply having the words ‘search engine
optimization’ in an ordinary paragraph.



Why do the search engines look at the headings tags?



Search engines actively seek out the headings in your content. By using
heading tags to denote the main page headings, you give the search
engine something to focus on and are telling them what your page is
about.



Search engines look at the heading tags as a reference so you should
actually use them for headings. Don't try to fool the search engines.
Don't whatever you do put all of your text into heading tags or abuse
the method. The bigger search engines like Google will pick up on misuse
of heading tags and at best ignore everything within them, at worst
they'll blacklist you as a spammer. So stick to a simple rule, put real
heading text in the heading tags and nothing more than that.



Writing headings



You need a main page heading that includes your keyword phrase, but is
also good at getting site visitors to continue reading your content.
What you need to do is target your audience by pinpointing their problem
and tease them into reading the next paragraph. Writing the headline is
the hardest part about web copy writing in my opinion, but getting it
right can dramatically improve results.



Let's assume you want to be found for the keyword phrase ‘loose gem
stones’. The next few steps will show you how to write a headline for an
audience looking for this online.



Loose gem stones



Let's imagine you have hundreds of different types of loose gems for
sale in your e-store. As a keyword phrase, ‘loose gem stones’ is good
because it specifically describes what it is you have to sell. However
on it's own it's a bit flat and not very interesting or inspiring. What
you need to do is apply psychological triggers to your heading text.



Trigger #1 - question vs. statement trigger



When you ask a question you're forcing readers to ask
themselves something. You're not simply making a statement which is
forgotten immediately, you're forcing readers to think. Write 3 or 4
examples of question based headlines for your target audience. In our
loose gem stones example you might get the following:


  1. Are you having difficulty finding loose gem stones?

  2. Do you need high quality loose gem stones?

  3. Are you looking for reasonably priced loose gem stones?


Now you have potentially 3 headlines with your keyword phrase in
them. They're aimed at 3 different target markets:



  1. Those who can't find them

  2. Those looking for good quality

  3. Those looking for good prices


You would have to decide which one was best based on what your
USP was, but
that's a different article. Next, you should apply the second
psychological trigger to each heading.






Trigger #2 - problem vs. solution




When you pose the problem to the target audience rather than give
the solution, you make the headline even more powerful. You also target
the audience far more specifically because you communicate to those who
want to save time, get better quality or a cheaper price - three
completely separate markets. For example:



  1. Are you tired of wasting your time trying to find loose gem
    stones? (Time is the problem)

  2. Is your loose gem stone supplier selling you rocks and sand? (Poor
    quality is the problem)

  3. Do you pay through the nose for your loose gem stones? (Price is
    the problem)


Now you have 3 headlines which are focusing more on the
audience's problem
but still with the keyword phrase as the
most prominent words for the search engines.



Trigger #3 - curious vs. non-curious



By adding a curiosity factor you really get the reader hooked
into reading about your offer. Numbers can be used to
imply more than one reason to read on. You could use, for example, ‘3
reasons’ or ‘5 simple facts that can save you money’.


You could also use secrets to create curiosity, such
as, ‘Do you know the biggest secret?’. So, you might apply this to our
sample headlines like this



  1. Want to know 5 simple ways to save time finding loose gem stones?

  2. Is your loose gem stone supplier pulling these dirty tricks on
    you?

  3. Paying through the nose for your loose gem stones? 3 things to
    look out for...


Summary






Apply these methods to write powerful, targeted headlings that'll
improve your search engine ranking for your target keyword phrases.
You'll also be well on your way to attracting the right kind of visitor
from the search engines too.


1 comment:

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