Your Next Post Might Bomb Without These 4 Headline Components

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I can’t resist a good headline.

It doesn’t matter if it’s here on Sustack, or on Medium, or even on Twitter. If it stops me scrolling long enough to consider what might be contained within the article itself, it’s automatically in the top 1% of all headlines I come across.

And I read a lot of stuff every day.

So let’s talk about why headlines are so gosh-darn important.

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Why are headlines so important?

Let’s look at Medium, for instance. If you’ve been on it for more than 5 minutes, you’ll probably have already read a story about headlines.

• Why headlines are so critical to your success

• How to write headlines that never fail

• What to do when your headlines consistently suck

The truth is, headlines are crucial.

In fact, they’re often more critical to the success of your post than the actual content of the post itself. Because if your headline’s no good and doesn’t stop the scroll, no-one’s going to read your story.

That’s how article-bombs are born.

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What makes a good headline?

I constantly grapple with what makes a good headline good.

This grappling manifests as never-ending experimentation. I look back on the headlines of old articles, analyse what worked and what didn’t, and try again.

And again. And again.

Persistence eventually pays off on the interwebs, and that goes double for headline experimentation.

If you ask me, there are generally 4 key elements to every good headline on Substack, Medium, or anywhere else online:

• Intrigue

• Numbers

• Specificity

• Punch

Not necessarily in that order, of course.

But if you can make your headlines intriguing, incite emotion in your reader, and zero in on some specificity (while including a number), you’ll give your article an above-average chance of getting read.

Let’s break down what a headline containing those 4 elements might look like. We’ll start with something generic, the kind you’d likely scroll right past: How I Grew My Email List.

Snore.

• So let’s add a little intrigue: The Unconventional Method I Used to Grow My Email List.

• Then, we’ll sprinkle in some numbers: The Unconventional Method I Used to Add 10,000 Subscribers to My Email List.

• Add a dash of specificity: The Unconventional Method I Used to Add 10,000 Subscribers to My Email List in 5 Months.

• Finally, let’s punch it up: This Game-Changing Method Added 10,000 Subscribers to My Email List in Just 5 Months.

Boom!

That’s a headline you wouldn’t skip past. At the very least, you’d save that story to your reading list and revisit it later.

Quick caveat: The content of your article has to match the expectations you set in your headline. If it doesn’t, it’s just clickbait. The more specifics you include in your headline, the more you’ll have to deliver in your story. Don’t write cheques your writing can’t cash.

I love this quote from Erica Schneider (found in the latest edition of her newsletter):

Knowing what to ask yourself when your content feels like it's missing something (and how to make changes based on those answers) can take your content from "might get read" to "I couldn't stop reading this."

The same goes for your headline.

Ask yourself if it includes any or all of the components mentioned above. If it doesn’t, it may need a little more work.

And that extra work could make all the difference.

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Get buzzed

I’ll finish with my rule of thumb:

If the thought of other people reading your latest headline doesn’t give you a dopamine buzz, it’s not ready.

Don’t put any of your articles out there without a scroll-stopping headline attached to the top of them. Don’t let your stories bomb when they don’t have to.

It’s the least your writing deserves.

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