Do you think it takes magic to write a great headline? Nothing could be further from the truth. It just takes a touch of talent, mixed with a bit of technique. And great writers are highly sought after and highly paid.

Joe Sugarman is a legend in the world of copywriting. His number one rule is that every single sentence almost forces the reader to read the next sentence. Your headline should promise a benefit to the reader. Your article should support that promise.

You want to tap into your reader’s emotions. Your writing should be passionate and emotional, taking advantage of their wants, needs and desires. You convey the article’s main idea by creating titles that are short and punchy.

They dont have to be creative or funny — the opposite is actually true ” its sometimes better if their not. Good headings are almost never cute or clever. Cute or clever titles rarely pull readers. (One of my most creative was Roasted Penguin Tastes So Good It Would Make Gandhi Slap His Kids! It was cute; it was clever; and it failed miserably.)

Writing headlines is an art  you’ll want to spend a lot of time crafting this component. Not everyone is successful in crafting attractive and eye-catching headlines. This means if you can master the ability, you’ll be light-years ahead of the competition.

Writing headlines is much like writing a song. In a song, the words must be appealing and in harmony with the music. The same is true in copy. A banner must sing. In other words, it should be in harmony with the story and sound satisfying to the reader.

Good headlines should be active. Make them short and say only what they need to say to cover the topic. They should convey the number one benefit to the reader. The copy that follows should be plain and simple paragraphs that support that benefit, as well as giving more.

Their purpose is to entice us to read on, to rouse our curiosity. I once heard a good headline is like a good pickup line. While they never get you the girl, they buy you a few more minutes to plead your case.

Don’t get me wrong. Funny headlines can sometimes work. I’ve used them myself. But they work best offline, like a direct mail piece. Online you want to think about how people use the search engines. I promise you no one is typing in your clever headline, so the chances of it being seen are nil. They’re using keywords… words relevant to what they want. So use the same words to attract them. And you’ll get the added benefit of higher rankings from Google; they’ll see you as more relevant. Good stuff. After all, higher rankings means more traffic… and that’s what you’re trying to get, right?