2 Rules to Forever Change the Way You Write Headlines

One common mistake to avoid and a simple trick to write better titles for your blog posts.

A title can make or break your article. If your headline isn’t catchy enough to grab the attention of the reader, no matter what content you cram in it, nobody is going to read your article.

After writing on Medium for 8 months and making more than $10,000 US from the platform, I can safely say that I’ve experimented enough both with reading and writing to tell you exactly what goes into a good headline.

I’ve also worked with several new writers who signed up for Project Medium. Based on the kind of queries they have and the way it reflects in their stats, I’ve also discovered the biggest mistake most new writers make while writing a title for their article.

This post discusses exactly that. Read on to know what mistake to avoid and a simple trick to forever change the way you look at titles.

Watch this in video format here:

Mistake: Structuring Your Title the Way Top Writers Do

You must have seen hundreds of posts on Medium with titles like This Simple Trick Will Change the Way You Look at Life or The One Mindset Shift to Make Your 10x More Productive.

True, a lot of top writers do that and it works for them. But for someone who’s relatively new on the platform, why should readers trust your word for it when you promise them a trick to improve their productivity?

This is a title template that has been used so many times and by so many writers, that it has become jaded and cliched. To really make your articles work, you’ve got to think out of the box and find ways to make your content stand out from the crowd.

What to do instead

The reason this works for top writers and fails for you is simple: credibility. The top writers have built a personal brand and trust among readers by consistently publishing content over several years. You’re still new and just starting out. This trick won’t work for you.

So how do you go about it?

Give the reader a reason to trust you in the sub-title.

Maybe you’ve learned the trick from a book, or maybe you’re a life coach and worked with 50+ clients. Mention that in the sub-title to drastically increase your chances of being read.

For example, This Simple Trick Will Change the Way You Look at Life: Secrets I learned from the TED Talk trusted by 20m+ viewers.

See what I did there? By mentioning the source of information, you’ve established credibility and instantly ignited the spark of curiosity in the reader’s mind.

Trick: Convey the Core Idea of Your Article

So many new writers often complain that thinking of titles is hard. It isn’t, actually, if you consider it this way: summarize your article in one sentence and use it as the title of your post.

This can solve your problem of not being able to come up with titles, especially if your article is not a listicle.

Final Words

I discuss several secrets regarding structuring your articles and formatting them, getting more creative ideas, and building a daily writing habit in Project Medium: Make Your First $100. This course includes 5+ hours of video content, exclusive cheat-sheets and checklists, group mentoring sessions, a private Mastermind group, and a chance to get a one-on-one coaching call with me.

If you’re willing to take the next step towards your success on Medium, I’m super excited to welcome you on board.

Looking forward to seeing you succeed.