WordPress clickbait headlines: the must-know formula

If you want to have a successful WordPress site, not only do you need talent but also to be passionate about it. Besides, you need to post great content that’s useful to users. Some years ago, that’s all you needed to succeed but times have changed. Now, that’s not enough. Why? Because first, your audience needs to find those amazing posts that you’re writing. But if they think your post doesn’t have what they’re looking for, they’ll never click on them. To tackle that problem, you need excellent WordPress clickbait headlines.

A headline may be the only chance you have to turn a random Internet user into your reader. Statistics prove it! Among 100 people who read the headlines, only 20 go on to read the article. That’s why you have to master the art of writing attention-grabbing headlines. Don’t know how yet? In this post, we’ll show you.

Getting started with WordPress clickbait headlines

To start with, I will guide you through 5 general rules for any catching WordPress headlines. Later, we’ll dig deeper into several sets of formulas.

  1. Combine SEO into WordPress clickbait headlines

Before we start, let’s have a look at what clickbait headlines are. They consist of titles that attract readers. These should be so captivating and triggering that the Internet surfers can’t ignore them once they see them.

However, many wonder if this kind of headline benefits us. They weigh up and down between clickbait headlines and SEO headlines, which are optimized for search engines. If you ask me, I’d say: Why not both? The first step is to put the keyword into your headline. That’s a must. Every time we search for something on Google, all the titles contain our searched keyword, right? So that should be clear to us already. The next steps?

Keep scrolling, I will explain clearly to you down below.

  1. Consider adding shocking factors

One favorite tactic of writers who love to write clickbait headlines is to add some shocking factors in it. You may use such words as “unbelievable”, “shocking”, “crazy”, etc. in the title to make it appealing. Although this is a helpful trick to get readers’ attention, you should be prepared to show some actual “shocking” information in it too. Otherwise, it’d be a deceptive headline.

If you can make your readers go “Wow!” or “Oh now I see.” or “That’s it!”, you are going in the right direction.

  1. Be a little controversial

A little spoon of controversy won’t hurt anyone. Just enough, it will prove beneficial for you.

You can feel it yourself, can’t you? Every time you come across something you don’t agree with, you’re much more tempted to click that uneasy title. I’ve had experience with that, and it dawned on me how good it’s to get attention. Therefore, if you have something against the status quo, maybe you could share it straight into your headlines. Not only will it help you get readers, but it will also attract people with the same concern to share their ideas and thoughts.

Keep an open mind, then, and don’t hesitate to be a little controversial.

  1. Numbers always help

Your audience surely prefers things clean and clear. And using numbers is the answer. Let’s clarify this point with an example. Let’s say you want to write about the reasons why a huge number of people are using WordPress nowadays. Instead of a headline saying “Why Many People Love WordPress”, you could say “10 Reasons Why People Love WordPress” or “Why 75 Million Websites Rely on WordPress”. Number, especially a huge number, is an effective way to show to your readers that your article is worth their time.

  1. Use affirmative adjectives

The idea is that you have to be consistent and believe in what you say to make your readers believe it too. There are many ways to do it, but using affirmative adjectives is a good way.

For example, compare these two headlines:

  1. 5 Ways to Gain WordPress Traffic
  2. 5 Proven Ways to Gain WordPress Traffic

The latter sounds much better, doesn’t it?

The headline of this article you’re reading is also an example. I use the word “must-know” since these are really what you should know when writing headlines!

Now it’s time to learn some winning headline formulas for WordPress.

  • Question Headlines:

These should only be used when the positive answers are foreseeable. Don’t confuse your readers!

For example, I recommend something like “Are You Ready for The Best WordPress Sales of the Year?”.

  • How-to Headlines:

These are for tutorial articles and start with such phrases as “How to …” or “How I …”. For example: “How to Build a WordPress Website in 7 Steps”

  • “… Ways to …” Headlines:

Headlines with the formula of [number] + “Ways/ Tricks/ Strategies/Tips to” + [do something] give a straight-forward look into the content of the article. These are usually used for tip & trick type of article.

For example: “10 Ways to Secure Your WordPress Blog”

  • Start or end with “This is why/This is How”:

You can catch the attention of readers easily either by displaying the SEO keywords or keyphrase first. I prefer ending with the phrase to emphasize and gives importance to the keywords.

For example: “Making More Money with WordPress: This is How”

Using WordPress clickbait headlines

The above are among the best practices to create WordPress clickbait headlines. Of course, there are many more suggestions, but I’ll let you find out one by one while working with WordPress – that should be more interesting to you than reading my words.

And once you find out more, don’t forget to come back and share your experiences with us!