I'm not the world's best at writing headlines.
But I've put quite a bit of time into studying headline masters.
In fact, I've shared a lot of what I know about headlines on Hive already in posts like Are Your Sentences Costing You Crypto and Want Upvotes? Be A Hooker!
I study writers like David Ogilvy, Craig Clemens, and other talented headline-masters. But I don't just study, I also practice. I put lots of energy into practicing my own headline-writing skills. Because of this, I thought I'd go through some post-titles I've seen on Hive and add some pizazz to them. I 'ryze-ified' them.
It's just a fun exercise that may offer some insight or examples of what's possible. Nothing is set in stone and I'm not saying my headlines are 'better' or 'worse.' It's just some food for thought on the power of a single sentence to capture people's attention and compel them to click. Everyone is of course free to write as they wish, and do what feels best to them.
Still, it takes 'effort' (and often 'courage') to come up with effective headlines. Truly masterful headline-writing can easily make something go viral, and great copywriters like Joe Sugarman and Dan Kennedy get paid a lot to do so. The examples here may not make you the next Buzzfeed, but I hope you find some value in this exercise.
Here we go:
| Original | Ryze-ified |
|---|---|
| Delicious crispy potato spirals inspired by a Korean recipe. | Can These Korean Potato-Spirals HYPNOTIZE Your Tastebuds? |
| Original | Ryze-ified |
|---|---|
| Share with our children the teaching that ‘we are all the same.’ | Teaching Kids To Judge One, Teaches Them To JUDGE All. |
| Original | Ryze-ified |
|---|---|
| Major Outage | Witness Website Gets WRECKED, Send (Hosting) Help! |
| Original | Ryze-ified |
|---|---|
| Day 1353: 5 Minute Freewrite Continuation: Monday - Prompt: social | Wolves, Milk, & SUPERHEROES (Freewrite Monday) |
| Original | Ryze-ified |
|---|---|
| This Forest (2021) | Gel, Details, & The FORBIDDEN Forest |
Whew, okay, so we're halfway through, and I'm feeling pretty good about some of these title tweaks. I hope you are too.
Writing titles is mostly brainstorming ideas.
Lots of ideas. With a focus on 'contrasting' concepts, compelling wording, and catering to the (often hidden) desires of a target audience.
If you want more on this kind of thing, I'd suggest Brendan Kane's wonderful book, 'Hook Point', or finding the transcript to Eugene Schwartz's 'Lecture To Philips Publishing' 8 Oct '93.
Anyway, onward to the next batch!
| Original | Ryze-ified |
|---|---|
| Self Reflection & the Scarab | Feel BURNT-OUT? This Beetle May Hold The Answer |
| Original | Ryze-ified |
|---|---|
| Healing Through Writing — Journaling Our Journeys | If You Want A-Ha Moments, YOUR HAND Holds The Key |
| Original | Ryze-ified |
|---|---|
| Splinterlands Art Contest! // Week 143 // 15 Booster Pack Prize! | Undead Archers & Radiant Beauties: Splinterlands Art Contest 143 Offers 15 FREE BOOSTERS For Participating Artists. |
| Original | Ryze-ified |
|---|---|
| [ESP-ING] Craft a beautiful fish 🐟 for children / Manualidad un hermoso pez 🐟 para niños | MOM'S Fun Fish-Craft Builds Motor Skills For KIDS |
| Original | Ryze-ified |
|---|---|
| Important note for anyone holding HBD before hardfork 25 | WARNING: You May Lose Interest On Your HBD This Hardfork! (25!) |
So there you have it.
For a post aimed at success, it usually takes 20-50 headline ideas before the 'right' title comes to light.
The reason for this is the same with almost anything in life: the more energy & focus put into a task, the better the results. A singer who 'settles' for their first take each time will likely produce worse results than a singer who is dedicated to rehearsing many takes.
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” - Bruce Lee
The same thing applies to headline-writing. A kick is a 'simple' thing, and because it's so 'simple' many people will avoid practicing it. But a true martial arts master will practice the nuances of a kick many times, until they've mastered it. And a true headline-writer will practice the nuances of each headline until they've mastered it. So ask yourself, are you willing to sit down and brainstorm many more headlines than the average person before you click 'publish?'
Because the same way practice is essential for an effective kick, practice is essential for compelling headlines too. If you want your titles to capture attention, part of the recipe is brainstorming many different versions of them until you find a 'winner.' To that end, I'll practice a bit more here with you today. Here's three bonus headlines run through my 'clinic:'
Bonus
| Original | Ryze-ified |
|---|---|
| My entry to Hive. | What’s BETTER Than Delicious Bulgarian Moussaka...? Me! |
| Original | Ryze-ified |
|---|---|
| Marketing Update 15 | Influencers, Censorship, & How Hive GROWS Like Bamboo (Update 15) |
| Original | Ryze-ified |
|---|---|
| A Simple and Hearty Beef Stew That You Should Prepare For Your Family! | NO-FUSS, Low-Carb, And Oh-So-Tender: Try This Paprika Beef Stew |
To wrap up...
We live in a fast-paced world, flooded with information.
People's eyes scan past many headlines daily, the question is, are your post-titles getting them to stop and read further? Here's a quote from Hook Point by Brendan Kane:
One of our meme-distribution partners has more than 19 million followers. When we’ve posted content with an ineffective hook on their account, it can result in fewer than 200 followers, while a shout-out with a strong hook could result in gaining 5,000 to 20,000 followers in a 24-hour period. In both scenarios, the content is posted to the same account and is exposed to the exact same audience, but the content that has the more effective Hook Point grabs people’s attention and generates enough motivation for viewers to want to learn more about the account promoted and to ultimately click on the “Follow” button. - Hook Point, Brendan Kane
Think about this. Brendan is a master at writing good hooks. But if he slips up and writes a weak hook, 19 million people ignore him and he gets barely 200 followers from it. If he writes a solid hook, he can get 20,000 followers from it. If this is what happens with a master attention-getter and a huge captive audience, what does it mean for you and your headlines?
The takeaway? No matter who you are, creating effective, compelling, persuasive 'hooks' is insanely important if you want to actually grow an audience. (And this applies to the 'hooks' in music, videos, and other content as well.)
P.S. Here's your free 'headline clinic' opportunity.
The headlines above have gone through my process for elevating the 'hookiness' of a sentence, or what I affectionately call my 'Headline Clinic.' I just did it for fun and a bit of practice, but if anyone would like me to help them with their headline for an upcoming post, write 'Me please!' in the comments and for 7 days after this is published, I'll select some people to collaborate with. Or share this free offer with someone if you think they might like more attention-getting post-titles. Together we can take your headline to the next level!
(And just imagine what some well-crafted headlines could do to market Hive to the 'outside world', eh?)
If not, I hope at least this gave you something to think about and was valuable to you. I hope it helps you elevate your headlines and get more attention on your wonderful work.
Thanks so much for reading, commenting, sharing, or even skimming, I appreciate you.
Curious as to what @crosheille @wil.metcalfe @mattclarke @tobetada @starstrings01 @keco @midlet and @finguru think. Do y'all value headlines as much as I do? Any tips for me to improve? With some people 'voting blind' without even reading posts, do you feel headlines are 'extra important' as it might be the only thing that gets read before 'upvote' is clicked? I'm curious... 🙏
Headlines are definitely important for me, especially now that voting has become so much better after HF25 as it encourages manual voting. I really love the changes so far as it feels much more organic. The problem with that of course is that it is difficult to find posts that one would have wanted to vote on, e.g. I didn't see yours until you mentioned me.
You seem to do fine with headlines as they are always very precise; of course the thumbnail is also important (or even more important) but I love your illustrations so you got that right as well :)
So glad to hear they're important to you, and yes, excellent point regarding the improved voting now that HF25 is here.
And hmm... very interesting thoughts about 'finding posts' manually. Are people who want to see my posts missing them? Is this increased with the new HF? I'll think on this, thank you.
Yes, I wrote about the combination of thumbnails plus headlines here, and you're right, they're both extremely important for anyone publishing online, imho.
I'm honored to hear that you love them, thank you! 🙏
well I guess people have to pay attention to their feeds (maybe I am not using it too well :D) peakd also got an improved search site https://peakd.com/search which is working much better
I may be in the same boat as you, not using my feed as well as I could be. I wonder why that is. Hmm.
And yes, I saw @jarvie 's video on the improved search, it looks like a great improvement! Hopefully it helps more great content be discovered and rise to more prominent positions. :) 🙏
I must say, your headlines are really powerful and surely, they do a good work in getting clicks.
Yes, I believe and value headlines....
For a newbie on Hive who has not really gotten much notice and connection on the platform, great headlines is just one of the things that's needed to give them the visibility they are looking.
Most times, people set autovote on who they trust in the value of content they make and also the connection they have with the person. In general, great headlines, great content and building connections is the step to getting the upvote without having it to be clicked manually..
Thanks for sharing such an interesting post as always.
Thank you kindly, good sir, and I'm glad you believe in and value headlines!
Great point about newbies, I've been here just under three months, and I believe my headlines (& thumbnails) helped me get some momentum. I hope other newbies benefit from what I'm sharing here, but it may rely on places like @newbies-guide curating them and elevating their visibility. Anyway, I'm glad you care about newbie's experience.
You make a great point about autovoting. Do you think the latest Hard Fork will encourage more manual voting? Will that make headlines even more important?
Great food for thought here, and thank you for sharing such an awesome comment as always! :D 🙏
Definitely, it would encourage manual voting but doesn't mean there would be lesser auto votes. It would not change the mindset of people wanting to support their favourite authors unless there is a fine for setting one on autovotes.
Headlines will always be very important never still, with or without auto voting. But with manual curation being encouraged, it gives authors (like me) more chances to get into the light if we learn how to make good use of powerful headlines and making quality contents.
Excellent point. Definitely something to keep in mind.
I totally agree, great things to add to the discussion, thank you! Looking forward to more authors getting into the light, quality-content style! :) 🙏
Thanks for tagging me, your content was worthwhile reading.. Nowadays, don't really have much of the time to go round engaging asper I am still in school.
All good, I totally understand, wishing you lots of success in school. Happy to tag you in future posts if you find the content worthwhile and feel it would be helpful, let me know. :) 🙏
In general I imagine it's pretty valuable, although for me personally most of my bang is in the thumbnail.
I imagine you're right! And you do have some beautiful thumbnails :D Still, you have the choice to have a thumbnail with bang and a headline with bang, or just a thumb :) Food for thought I'd say, and whatever you choose, I wish you lots of joy and success! Thanks for contributing to the discussion :) 🙏
Gosh. I have been thinking about this one to @ryzeonline! And it’s relevant to... as you and I both put in vast amounts of brain juice, time, and maybe even a little money into producing good to great content. I feel you pain and have felt it for the past 3 years of being on this blockchain. I have had to console myself by setting my own standard for content... and also making sure that I don’t vote a post unless I have read it (or bookmarked it for reading later on.) Another thing... I am a firm believer that what comes around goes around, whatever you want freely give it away to others (who deserve it!). An example: Need support. Give support. My mantra: “You get what you give so give it everything you got!”
Another thing I keep in mind... people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care... so engagement is something I’m always trying my best to keep up with.
One last thing... this is all about trust (and attention) and everything moves at the speed of trust... so Wiebe it comes to people... fast is slow and slow is fast.
This is another reason to Power Up as well... as it shows that you have skin in the game... people take note of this...
So yes! Off the cuff... this is what comes to mind... but I’m still doing my best to figure out how to get people to actually read my content as well. I think that’s why I value comments and the friendly environment that goes with them so much.
I guessed that you'd have some interesting input, and well, here we are! Great comment, thank you.
I respect your approach of:
And I operate similarly. It begs the question though, in a noisy world absolutely flooded with headlines... "Am I giving an eye-catching, attention-grabbing first impression with my headline, or am I phoning it in with a lazy one?" and "What am I really 'giving,' when I write?"
Definitely food for thought for me, thanks!
Exactly, and in my experience, they're looking for that 'care' in how much effort and energy was put into the headline/thumbnail. That is people's first impression and they're deciding whether we 'care enough' or not based on that alone. If it seems like our headline/thumb has care in it, they stop and click, if not, they keep scrolling.
At least, that's my experience. :)
Yep, we're all learning, myself included, and I felt this was a worthy point to look at, one that may benefit others. Interestingly, not a single person has taken me up on the free offer on this post, so I wonder, how much do people actually want their content read?
Anyway, glad you enjoyed the post / comments, and thanks very much for contributing to the discussion. Wishing you a great day man! 🙏
Oh yeah... and one other thing. I’m a “Heck Yes!” or “Heck No!” Sort of fellow... what this means to me (at least with my personal account - this one) is that I UPvote at 100% (if I think someone deserves it) or I do NOT vote at all... this means I’m putting serious effort into reading before dropping my vote. I also believe that Hive is an opportunity for us (as owners) to practice our democratic freedoms, it’s a chance to evolve humanity and vote for what we want to see more off.
Anyone who knows this (or thinks the same way I do) will show up in my post votes as 100% upvotes. This is my way of reading the signal and separating the noise. This is how I know who my people are. They value me... and on Hive this translates into communicating ACTUAL VALUE.
Yet another reason I LOVE HIVE!
I vote in a similar (but not exactly so) fashion, and I tend to read and digest fully before doing so too.
Very interesting way to use it as a filter to find 'your people.' Creative approach! (I could write a 20,000 word post on 'value', lol.)
And your love for Hive is palpable and inspiring :) 🙏
Wow You definitely ryze-ified those titles! Well done! Yours are more clickable.
I especially love:
Can These Korean Potato-Spirals HYPNOTIZE Your Tastebuds?
And
Witness Website Gets WRECKED, Send (Hosting) Help!
And
Feel BURNT-OUT? This Beetle May Hold The Answer
I’d click on those for sure. And really I like all of them these were just the ones that really stood out and I wanted to know more lol
This is so nice of You. I love it! 🙏🏽❤️😘
Thanks so much. These headlines are just basic twists and tweaks I could do, a truly game-changing headline takes even more energy & creativity to create, but I'm glad they're compelling enough to click for you.
And glad you like my headline-clinic offer. (I almost called it 'Headline-Helper' for the alliteration.) :D 🙏
oh Headline Helper is good too. You know I love me some alliteration.
❤️
I figured you'd like that, lol. 🙏
😝😘
Wow, that was amazing. I loved the Bruce Lee kick quote. So true and inspiring. Makes me wanna take martial arts too and kick the poop out of something until I get it right.
You're amazing and thank you for this article and sharing your wonderful brain.
Ayyy, so glad you're feeling it. Yeah, Bruce knew a thing or two about practice, results, and achieving dreams. I totally encourage you in this. :)
(bows) I've spent much of my life developing my brain/heart/soul, so it'd be a shame not to share it with others, right? :)
Thanks for this great comment and your kind words, I appreciate you. 🙏
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Cool, done, and thank you! 🙏
Great quote from Bruce Lee, he was a member of the 28 club if I remember correctly.
I agree, it is a great quote! And you raise an interesting point, he was very close to the 27 Club, actually passing on at age 32. (RIP Bruce Lee, 1940–1973) 🙏
DO NOT FOLLOW any instruction and DO NOT CLICK on any link in the comment!
Much appreciated bro, thanks for the heads up, good looking out for me, the community, and anyone else viewing the above comment. Wishing you a great day! 🙏
You're welcome
👌
Money, Drugs, Guns: The Things I Look For In A Woman
That's probably one of my finer examples of the approach you outline here, but for the most part, when it comes to headlines, I typically break every rule ever written about writing them. I just do, whatever.
Hah! Absolutely epic headline example, I'm impressed! I imagine if that kind of headline was kept up consistently it'd bring some interesting results.
That said, I'm all for rule-breaking and doing whatever you feel like, as you know, so keep doin' you! :) 🙏
P.S. Great to hear from you, I trust all is well, it's 'been awhile' :D
Yeah, that was a good one. Used it twice. I actually meant to share the first instance but damn, dude. My mouse wheel might not make it that far down the list...
Anyway, yeah, been on vacation for the most part. We only get so many weeks of nice weather here and I like to be out in the middle of nowhere, as often as possible. Maybe once I get Starlink I'll be able to live both worlds at the same time but even then, I truly can't live without time away from, all this and everything else.
I applaud this. Such a great headline definitely deserves multiple uses and audiences, imho. For example, it didn't grace my eyes until just today, and I'm glad it did. :)
Totally understandable about vacations, breaks, and 'time away' man, and Starlink is pretty cool, but even if you did get it, I wonder if you'd even want to 'blend' both worlds... hmmm...
Well, either way, I imagine you enjoy your time, whether you choose to spend it here, there, or elsewhere, and I appreciate you swinging by. I enjoy your comments more than most and am very grateful for them. :) 🙏
One of those Really Strange and Nonsensical Headlines You're Used to Seeing from Me
"What's in a good headline?" Fucking click it and see...
Good song there too. I remember that day, shortly before we all came to Hive. Glad I gave in. Still can't fathom a life living online 24/7. You're right. I won't want to blend both worlds. I barely even talk about that life, here.
Whoa... pretty intense post behind that headline, lol. Hype, censorship, Steemit, a line in the sand. Good read. And yeah, I've noticed that the 'two worlds' tend to be kept separate, at least from what I've read from you so far. Still Starlink may add a splash of convenience and it won't magically force you to blend the two, lol. I guess we'll see. :) 🙏
(P.S. I wrote an in-depth exploration on censorship last month if you're interested.)
Dude I read and voted for that one, ages ago. If you ever see a vote from me, that means I was there and consuming at some point.
OMG Love this headline! I clicked it lol!
😍
Almost.
Women, Money, Guns: The Things I Look For In Drugs
Almost!
Excellent post my friend! 👍
Thank you kindly! 🙏
Gracias por las sugerencias con respecto a los títulos para nuestras publicaciones tomaré en cuenta a los escritores que recomienda sobre todo a Brendan Kane y Eugene Schwartz.
Un placer, me alegro de que lo hayas disfrutado. Espero que te sirvan los grandes redactores como Brendan Kane y Eugene Schwartz. ¡Te deseo un gran día! 🙏
My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it. I hope you get some value from great copywriters such as Brendan Kane & Eugene Schwartz! Wishing you a great day! 🙏
I'd like to know what you think, really. I put my feeling in my pocket when I go online so don't hold back.
Looks weird when there's just one huh? Feeling.
Smooth Title That Rolls Off The Tongue Effortlessly Right Into An Opening Sentence
I usually get your incredibly witty humor. Maybe there's something wrong with me but this one seems to have gone over my head (besides a chuckle at a joke about a single 'feeling' placed in one's pocket, hehe.)
That said, I love the headline linked, enjoyed the article, and left a more in-depth comment over there. :) 🙏
Damn. I think this is a classic case of previous satire overload.
Love it when that happens.
But having to explain the thing really ruins it if you know what I mean. Happy 4th, by the way, it's an American holiday, but happy nonetheless.
Feeling (minus the S) as in go ahead and be brutally honest about my shitty title I linked for you, I don't bring my feeling to the internet anyway. 😉
Fuckin cheesy now that I spLelled it out ain't it.. See what you made me do?!
LMAO, actually, this made me laugh more, haha, and not only at myself for my lack of comprehension, lol.
Your headline is loaded with your personal wit and style, and anyone who clicked on it would be greeted with more of the same, both good points. It's quite unique as far as headlines go, and uniqueness can help quite a bit to stand out in a world of noise. It got me to click, anyway, lol.
That said, your post is about some pretty 'heavy' stuff that may resonate and matter to others who've had 'father' issues, so leaving out any trace of that may hurt the post's performance?
It may be worth injecting a bit of the post's core subject matter into the headline, something like:
"Smooth Title That Rolls Off The Tongue Effortlessly Into A Post About Absent Fathers."
or
"Smooth Title That Rolls Off The Tongue Effortlessly Into A Post About Low-Grade Dads."
Or something like that. Just spit-balling though, and it'd need to be properly split-tested for conclusive proof of which headline was better, but really interesting food for thought, thanks for asking my input. :) 🙏
My pleasure. Thanks for the detailed response. This whole conversation piece got a little wacky actually, didn't count on the joke being on me.... It was just supposed to be funny like ha-ha but went misunderstood and, now here we are, however many hours into this conversation and I'm actually quite fucking impressed with your simple wording change sir.
Touché.
For sure man, and I loved it all, lol. It was funny on multiple levels :) Plus I got to learn about Dan! (And glad you liked the tweaks, 'en garde,' haha!) 🙏
I apply the youtube rule here, both the title and the thumbnail of the post are EXTRA important if you want to attract the big whales to your posts, they just won't click on something that doesn't catch their attention.
100% agreed, and great 'rule' to apply. Keep up the great work! 🙏