Copywriting Magic for Steemit: "How To" Post Titles
Want to know how to craft sexy title that readers love to click on?
This is gonna be a series of posts to help you craft catchy titles for your Steemit posts.
The easiest one is the How To type of titles, but for you to learn how to use this hack, you must first master the art of identifying benefit statements.
WHAT ARE BENEFIT STATEMENTS?
I think giving you a few examples would be an easier way to illustrate:
- Increase your email open rate by 203%
- Develop long lasting relationships with your spouse
- Impress a girl so much that she will be asking for your number instead
- Coach a non-performer into a superstar
- Decrease your marketing spent by 54% in just a week
- Create a masterpiece in record time
- Design an app with only MS Word
- Improve your health with this 5 minute exercise
- Generate business without picking up the phone
- Fortify your mind against the negativity around you
Ok, I think you got the drill.
Yes, benefit statements are simply simple phrases that are supposed to highlight the benefit of using your products or services. It's recommended that you use verbs in front to make it easy, and if you can add something measurable, like "by 203%" or "in just a week", it will be even better. Of course, not all benefits can be measured in units, which is fine.
If you need help creating benefit statements, check out this nifty template that I created. I'm not creative, so it's just called the Benefit Statement Constructor. You can download it as a PDF and use it too.
>>> Download PDF template here.
Oh yeah, if you need help with the verbs, I have also listed my cheat sheet of 114 Benefit Selling and Action Driven Words. Yup, in it, I have recorded all the words I have used (or gonna be using) to craft benefit statements for my marketing materials.
Ok, now that you have created a few benefit statements, let's get into crafting those killer titles.
CRAFTING HOW TO TITLES
Here are a types, and I've included the examples in each too.
#1. How to [benefit]
Ok, it doesn't get easier than this. Just take the benefit statements you've created in part 1, and add a "How To" in front of it
Examples:
- How to increase your email open rate by 203%
- How to impress a girl so much that she will be asking for your number instead
- How to improve your health with this 5 minute exercise
#2. How to [benefit 1] and [benefit 2]
Just because two benefits are always better than one, this is the doubling effect that causes the readers to be psychologically more intrigued.
Examples:
- How to Win Friends and Influence People (By the way, this is only one of top selling books in human history!)
- How to score Straight As and get that prestigious scholarship
- How to Get That Promotion and Spend More Time with your Family
#3. How to [something trending] to [benefits]
In the age of technology, we’re bombarded with information every second. Yet, there are some contents, ideas or keywords that are getting more attention than others, and we call that “trending”. This requires you to watch the news a little, use Google Trends or research your Facebook timeline.
Examples:
- How to leverage on Snapchat to win more millennial consumers
- How to use these tips from Kevin Hart to be instantly more likable
- How the recent goals by Liverpool can give us a tip or two on leadership
#4. How to [something unexpected] to [benefits]
Curiosity is the key here, because amidst the noise and clutter that is your readers’ feed, anything slightly unexpected or even controversial will never fail to capture their attention,
Examples:
- How to use ordinary table salt to increase your smartphone's battery life
- How to use traditional emails to reach out to new markets
- How to think like a lazy ass and still get all your work done before everyone else
And of course, you can always drop the word “to”, and it will still achieve the same attention-grabbing results. As long as it sounds right and nice to the ears, it's probably gonna work just fine.
Examples:
- How one lemon a day kept this celebrity looking ten years younger
- How the unschooling method is creating more independent teenagers
- How Oprah Winfrey use this breathing technique to boost her charisma
THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND HOW TO TITLES
So, am I pulling your legs on this hack? How can something so powerful be so simple?
Let me give you two good reasons.
#1. Direct value proposition
In just a glance, the reader knows they are going to learn something from the content of the post. “How to” is a strategy question that we normally ask to solve our problems.
#2. Everybody loves a useful tip, quick hack or cheap trick
You and I are constantly on a lookout for better, more efficient or more effective ways to get something done. Guess what? So is everyone else! Anything that can help them save time, money and energy is worth a quick read and exploration. That’s one of the reasons why self-help books are always selling like hot cakes, and readers will just continue buying more and more of them!
But don’t take my word for it. (Even though over the past 10 years, “How to” blog posts and emails still get me one of the best results). Try it yourself in the next Steemit and let me know how it works.
Wait, why's Mav posting on Steemit nowadays?
Well, unlike other blogging and social media platform, Steemit is the only platform that allows me to earn cryptocurrency when I engage with it. Yup, one Steem is about USD6.50, and you, too, can earn Steem Dollars every time you:
- Create content (articles, blog posts, podcasts, videos, photos)
- Upvote (like) other people contents
- Comment on other people's posts
- Have discussions, share opinions etc!
Yup, basically it's the very same thing you're doing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc all along!
The only difference? For once you can earn a nice income on the side!
Sign up for a free Steemit account, and you can thank me by coming back and upvoting this article. And guess what, you will earn Steem too for doing that! #awesome
This is definitely a big help for everyone. Sometimes, you have a post you're satisfied with but can't think about the final title. It turns out, the simplest rule/summary of the rules is to include what the readers may benefit from the article in the title. Thanks for sharing!
Click bait tutorial? Lol
Same thinking m8!
But it's no substitute for good content. The click bait may lure the readers in, but if the first paragraph itself does not show promise, then it may even back fire.
True that, Here in steem it is more difficult for click bait to succeed, good content is needed to generate true feedback and upvote.
I think a combination of quality content, witty title and shameless promotion is the key, haha. I struggle with the third. :(
Yeah, it was nice to see a well written piece filled with good content after clicking the title. Great job, Mav.
Guilty as charged. :)
nice informative article
We can't go wrong by doing what Dale Carnegie teaches. Warren Buffet learns from him after all!
I never knew "HowTo" is a part of copywriting. In fact, up until today im still confused as to what copy writing actually is and what coy writers write about.. care to share?
Haha. Actually a copywriter's job is to make an article/post/ad interesting to the target audience. They don't necessary write. Usually the client will give them something that's already written, and it's their job to find a better way to communicate the content.
Ahh... Now I understand. The phrase "copywriting" itself has a very interesting etymology which is why I was confused at first.
Haha. Some people think copywriters will just copy and write. That's actually an article spinner - you give them a few keywords, maybe a few articles to "emulate", and they will create a few versions of the articles for you.
Owh so those are article spinners? there's even a name for it it haha seriously! Im very to the writing industry and there's obviously alot for me to learn and get my head around.
I was always under the impression that copywriting was sales writing. That's how I was trained, that's what I do.
Content is an entirely different beast, and I don't feel the two are compatible.
Hmph, my take is good copywriting improves the readability of any content. A copywriter is essentially a storyteller that takes an otherwise boring piece of info and make it into something engaging.
An example that comes to mind is the movie Inception. For years Discovery Channel and gang had been trying to explain dream psychology and the subconscious mind, and they only manage to educate a small group of enthusiasts. But when Christopher Nolan spun a suspenseful story with interesting characters and engaging plots, suddenly all the movie goers started understanding those deep concepts, and I'm willing to bet they would them research further on the two topics.
I've been experimenting lately with titles for my blog, and I have some rough ideas that might be able to catch readers attention. But after reading this post, it became much more clearer now.
"Everybody loves a useful tip, quick hack or cheap trick"
I can really relate to this part, as a beginner in Steemit, these are the type of blog titles that I always look for. Thank you for sharing this @maverickfoo. I really do appreciate this. Good post 👍
Thanks @beverlyjoe, and welcome (slightly delayed) to the Steemit family.
Glad to know that you've found this post useful. All the best!
Thank you, and many thanks for the return upvote 😁
Good stuff @maverickfoo. Honestly, I see this lacking in a lot of Bloggers here at Steemit !!
I enjoy reading blogs here but quite honestly when I read the Titles and deciding which ones to open...well a majority I just skip because the Titles do not speak to me or catch my eye
This Post could definitely help some of them :)
Let's work together to elevate the quality of the contents of Steemit. :)
This is yet another awesome post. Thank you so much for the lessons @maverickfoo
Thanks for your support, sir. Hope you have a great weekend.
Nice post.. continue spreading this,you are doing good bro... Kudos to you
Thanks!
Wow, thank you! Was googling exactly the same theme couple of days ago! Will wait for your next post on this!
Yes, researching on it and probably over the weekend too. :)
Yeah, these headlines are sort of a "one-liner briefs", apart from it being a How To.
Also, can I know how we can use ordinary table salt to increase our smartphone's battery life? Hee hee. ;-)
Haha, that's just pure BS.... or is it...? :) Have a nice weekend.