Step-By-Step Headline Writing Guide

Let’s talk about headlines.

A headline is simple — It’s a preview of the big event (your article). It’s a snippet of what you’ll get if you give up 4 minutes to read an essay (and that’s a big deal for people).

If you can learn to create compelling headlines, headlines that get people to stop what they’re doing and click to find out more, you’ll have a higher chance of building an audience and ultimately making more money.

The trouble is, most people spend 98% of their time on their content and 2% of their time throwing together a headline. The result is great content that gets left unread.

So let’s talk about how to write a great headline.

1. Get started

To get going you want to write a ‘loose’ headline that helps you orientate the content you are writing (I call this a ‘holding headline’). It won’t be perfect and that’s okay, it’ll change later. The aim is to get something down on paper to help shape the writing.

Like most things, things evolve as you write.

Your writing should solve a problem but it’s often only once you get into the writing that you start to build the picture of how to solve the problem you’re writing about.

Here are some examples of my ‘holding headlines’* in my drafts currently:

• Productivity is Emotional Management
• The Art of Seriousness
• Break the Rules

*You will notice that these are all ‘aha’ moments (more on that later).

The point here is to write a headline that is reflective of the idea you are writing about but it isn’t perfect yet. It’s enough to get you going but it’s version 1.

Don’t publish version 1. It simply serves as a guide to get you started so that you’re not crippled by the gravity of writing a compelling headline without first writing your article.

2. Headline retrospective

Once you’ve written your article, read it through. I always read out loud, I like hearing how the writing sounds. When doing so, the point here is to ask yourself two questions:

1. What problem am I solving?
2. What’s the one big ‘aha’ moment?

Your aim with a headline is to give a snippet of insight into the main event. It’s much like a movie trailer. There is an art in how much information to give away. Give too much away and people won’t need to read your article, don’t give enough away and people won’t click.

It’s a game of trial and error.

You need to strike a balance between the two. But whatever you do, don’t give away the ‘aha’ moment.

3. Don’t give away the ‘aha’

A good rule of thumb is not to give your ‘aha’ moment away in the headline but to nod to it (tease it). The ‘aha’ moment is the golden nugget of information, the insight that allows you to unlock a new way of thinking.

It can be one line or it can be an entire paragraph.

Usually, it’s the reason why you decided to write the article. It’s the core desire behind your idea to write this piece. It’s when something clicks in your brain and you start to see things differently.

Some helpful examples:

• ​Article — ‘aha’ moment: you must accept the worst-case scenario
• ​Article — ‘aha’ moment: you create your niche

If I simply had the two ‘aha’ moments above as my headline, they would have flopped. Remember, readers don’t want the ‘aha’ moment given to them, part of having a ‘aha’ moment is the discovery of it.

You can only discover it if you are given the context and the story. Give it away freely and nobody wants it.

4. Refinement

When I write an article, I re-write the headline at least 4 times. I’ve published articles, taken them down, rewritten the headline and seen a 10-fold increase in engagement.

I recently wrote a headline about building an audience in 2024.

• 105 comments
• $93.15

Not bad.

But for now, if you want a more in-depth look at how I write, review and A/B test headlines on Medium you can check out the Medium Blueprint.