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Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) ProspectQuestions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

When it comes to helping your prospects and addressing their pain there probably

aren't really any dumb questions, but that using that word in headline is just an

example of what this article is covering.

Headlines are the �rst thing that people see when it comes to your writing. They

will either grab the attention of readers and site visitors...or your prospects will

just move on.

In fact, as many as 80% of people will read the average headline when they come

across it, but only 20% of people will actually read the entire blog post.

That’s why it's so critical you get it right. 

The right headline in your content is a key part of 

The most important element of a headline is that it addresses a real problem the

reader is experiencing.  But you also have to make your headline as intriguing as

possible.

I'm going to walk you through a simple headline formula that can turn any question

into a powerful headline that will get more visitors to your site.

FINDING THE QUESTION TO ANSWER I touched on this in the post on creating a simple lead funnel, and since it's such a

critical piece of this puzzle, I'll include it here too.

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) Prospect Questions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) ProspectQuestions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

You can use Quora and Reddit to go inside the mind of your potential customers

and reveal what issues they need help with the most.

Quora  is a question-and-answer website where questions are asked, answered,

edited, and organized by its community of users. You can research your market

here and �nd their most common questions.

Reddit is a massive collection of forums, where people can share news and content

or comment on other people’s posts. Find your market's forums and you'll see their

struggles.

How To Build A Clickable Headline With The The Easy 4-U Formula

The only “trick” to getting people to click on your headlines is meeting them where

they are: promising them a useful, ultra-speci�c, urgent, and unique answer to

their problems.

Melanie Duncan’s 4U formula is perfect for turning a question into a compelling

headline that will get clicks.

STEP 1. MAKE IT USEFUL IN SOLVING A PROBLEM

Think about the articles you click on when you’re scrolling through Facebook or

checking your emails in the morning.

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) Prospect Questions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) ProspectQuestions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Probably it's the ones that solve a problem you are experiencing.

Understanding what will be useful to your audience is part of understanding who

they are and what they want. It meets them where they’re at, identifying a problem

they may be experiencing or a solution they may be looking for.

The Quora & Reddit method above is a perfect way to �nd what will be useful to

your market.

In most cases this is a very simple step.  You just need to turn the question into a

statement.

For this post, the question I was answering was, "What's the best headline formula

for a post that answers questions?"

After applying this step the headline was:

"How To Turn Questions Into Headlines"

That directly addresses the problem in the question, and makes a promise to solve

it.

But it's boring.  In the next steps, we'll tweak it to make it more clickable.

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) Prospect Questions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) ProspectQuestions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

2. Is ULTRA SPECIFIC

This kind of headline is popular because it works; we as readers like the speci�city

of knowing exactly what we’re going to get. The best headlines also go beyond that

to be even more speci�c.

Take the headline, "7 Common Foods You Should Never Eat"...it's not just foods you

shouldn’t eat, but common foods.

Or "70 At-Home Date Night Ideas To Try Tonight"...is not just date night ideas, but

at-home date night ideas.

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) Prospect Questions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) ProspectQuestions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

According to an article on Hello Bar, we shouldn't be afraid of using extra words. If

you keep your headline to about 77 characters or fewer, you’ll do �n

After applying this step the headline became:

"How To Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines That Get Clicked"

It's not just questions...but prospect questions.

And not just headlines..but headlines "that get clicked".

3. CONVEYS A SENSE OF URGENCY

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) Prospect Questions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) ProspectQuestions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

AdWeek's Jennifer Lux explains, "If you have ever made a purchase due to social

pressure, fear of not getting a deal or discontent around possibly missing out on a

shared experience, you know exactly what it feels like to be incentivized by the

fear of missing out (FOMO).

Applying this psychology in key ways will not only give you an edge over your

competition but will also help your target market feel connected long-term to both

your brand and its purchases.

Some words you can use in your headline to create urgency are:

 Now

 Fast

 Quick

 Hurry

 Rapidly

 Close

 Approaching

 Never

 Seconds

 Again

 Over

 Instant

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) Prospect Questions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) ProspectQuestions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

After applying this step the headline became:

"How To Quickly Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines That Get Clicked"

It's not just turn...but quickly turn.

4. Make It UNIQUE

Whenever you Google a topic, you get a selection of articles, blog posts, or

websites on the same topic.

If the title seems too familiar, some consumers will skip over your content purely

because they’ve read a similar article, says research from online monitoring

tool Keyhole.co.

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) Prospect Questions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) ProspectQuestions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Anything you can do to make your headline unique will help it stand out in an

oversaturated digital world. 

After applying this step the headline became:

"Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) Prospect Questions Into Headlines That Get

Clicked"

Adding (Even The Dumbest)  to the headline would make it standout in a search

result or a social media feed. 

Examples of Unusual Headlines:

  How Spending $162,301.42 On Clothes Made Me $692,500

  Seo Is Dead. Link Building Is Dead. Your Pony Is Dead

 21 Reasons To Hate Kids

YOUR 4-U HEADLINE IS DONE!

My headline was signi�cantly better and the process took just a few minutes.

When you put these four elements together, you’ll �nd you come up with better

headlines every time.

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) Prospect Questions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) ProspectQuestions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) Prospect Questions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) ProspectQuestions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Let's walkthrough another example of the 4-U Headline Formula.

For example, if you have a health product and wanted to write a blog post around

the question:

"What's a good macro diet plan?"

STEP 1:  MAKE IT USEFUL

Since you already have the question, you know it will be useful to your market. We

just need to tweak it to give the prospect exactly what they want.   They want a

good macro diet plan...so let's just give them the "best".

The Best Macro Diet Plan

STEP 2: MAKE IT ULTRA-SPECIFIC

Now, we want to make it more targeted in focus.   First, I made it focus on losing fat

(versus building muscle or increasing energy).

The Best Macro Diet Plan To Lose Fat

But then I thought it needed to be even more speci�c, so I made it focus only on

losing belly fat.

The Best Macro Diet Plan To Lose Belly Fat

STEP 3: MAKE IT URGENT

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) Prospect Questions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) ProspectQuestions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

Next, we want to add a sense of urgency.   This topic leads itself perfectly to using

the time element of urgency, so I added "in 30 Days".

The Best Macro Diet Plan To Lose Belly Fat in 30 Days

STEP 4: MAKE IT UNIQUE

In this �nal step the goal is to make it stand out.  

I thought that "in 30 Days" would be the best place to try and add some �avor.   I

Googled "faster than sayings" and found a page full of good examples.

I loved the "faster than a toupee in a hurricane", but it did require I tweak the rest

of the headline a little bit. Ended up with this:

This Macro Diet Plan Will Make You Lose Belly Fat Faster Than a Toupee in aHurricane

How much more engaging is that �nal headline above compared to the one we

started with?

CONCLUSIONIt’s easy to let headlines take the back seat in your writing process. Headlines can

wind up as a quick afterthought, but really should be treated with much more

consideration. 

Be sure to set aside time to focus on good headline writing. Don’t rush through it –

choose a few favorites and consider which will work best. A headline can make or

break your article, so give it the time and attention it deserves!

Quickly Turn (Even The Dumbest) Prospect Questions Into Headlines That Get Clicked

DigitalAttentionSpan.com

BONUS CONTENT

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

BONUS #1.  100+ Power Words That Get MoreHeadline Clicks

The importance of headlines can never be over emphasized because headlines are

what your potential readers will �rst come in contact with and it will either pull

them in or send them away.

Your blog posts headlines need to be fascinating and attractive to anyone who

comes across the post title, you should craft your headlines in such a way that will

tempt people to click through to your blog due to curiosity to �nd out the content

behind that headline.

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

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Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

BONUS #2. Using Quora to Find Prospects Problems

Quora is built upon the simple premise that people use the internet to �nd answers

to their most burning questions.   The questions are asked, answered, edited, and

organized by its community of users.

It generates 200 million monthly visitors. This puts Quora within the top 60

websites in America, and the top 120 in the world.

Your prospects are part of those millions of visitors each month asking questions. 

To �nd the questions they are asking, simply type into Quora’s search box the

general topic.

Let's say you have an online concealed carry training course - you could start with a

high level search with the term "concealed carry".

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

Quora will give you a list of autocompleted suggestions:

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

And when you click through to a topic page, you’ll even see an extra list of related

topics to follow along the side:

But this is the most active topic, so you'd probably want to dig into this one �rst.

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

Click the "Answer" link to get to the current questions.

Next, you'd look through the questions and look for ones with the most answers.

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

In this example, I found one with 51 answers:

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

You can click on the question and get more stats.

There are 13,193 people that have viewed this question...proof that there is plenty

of interest in this speci�c question within that niche.

We have a winner!

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

Also, once you �nd a good topic, you can Follow and Bookmark it. 

Following a topic gets you suggested questions/writers/answers from those

topics. 

Bookmarking a topic puts it in your bookmarks so you have a convenient way to

get to those topics while you’re on your feed.

That's it!

You have a good problem to solve, and are set up to �nd new ones whenever you

need.

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

BONUS #3. Using Reddit to Find Prospects Problems

Reddit has now surpassed Facebook and is now the third-most-popular internet

destination for users in the United States with 330 million active users each

month.

...that's more than Twitter and LinkedIn. This popularity guarantees your prospects

are here too.

Reddit is basically a massive collection of forums, where people can share news

and content or comment on other people’s posts.

Reddit is broken into mini communities called Subreddits.

They allow users to focus on a speci�c interest or topic in posting content that gets

voted up or down by relevance and user preference.

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

In essence, a subreddit is like a niche forum.

There are: speci�c subreddit rules, moderators for each subreddit voting systems

for links, self posts, and comments that depend on the subreddit theme.

What does that mean for you?

It means Reddit has a myriad of niche communities that constantly interact with

each other about things that matter to them.

Let's say you are a local marketer and want to �nd out what problems small

business owners are having with their online marketing.

A quick search  reveals the "smallbusiness" subreddit with 174k subscribers.

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

This is pretty high level topic, so let's dig down a little deeper.  

You can search for keywords within that subreddit, like "social media" to get more

speci�c results.

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

Once you get the results, start looking for questions that have a high level of

interaction:

This quick search shows that "staying consistent on social media" is a hot topic.   It

had 211 upvotes and 69 comments.

So, a blog post like, "5 Simple Tips For Staying Consistent On Social Media" would

be a perfect piece of content to create.   

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

You can even click through and look at the most popular answers to see what

resonates with your target prospects, and see what other questions are being

asked in the comments.

Thrive Headline Optimizer is Wordpress plugin used to create and display

testimonial or customer review on your blog, website or sales page.

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

BONUS #4. Split Test Blog Headlines In WordPress

Top conversion optimization experts agree: it's not enough to follow your gut

feeling. No matter how much expertise & experience you have, the only reliable

way to �nd winning headlines is to test. This way, you let the behavior of your

visitors reveal which headline works best.

Think about it...if you continually pick the best headline, you continually get more

clicks and more readers engaging with your content. This gives you a massive edge

over your competitors in the long run.

Thrive Headline Optimizer allows you to test your headlines, like the most

successful sites do, on your very own website.

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

It can evaluate these 3 critical factors:

1. Click Through Rate

2. Time On Content

3. Scrolling

How Easy Is It To Use?

Step 1: Write Headlines

Write as many headlines as you can think of for your piece of content.

Step 2: You're Done.

Start your tests and Thrive Headline Optimizer takes care of the rest. The

headlines you came up with are shown to different users when they come to your

website.

Based on the engagement factors above, data is gathered, statistically relevant

tests are run and the plugin automatically starts to display the winning headline to

your visitors to maximize engagement.

TRY IT RISK FREE FOR 30 DAYS

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions IntoHeadlines

Bonus – Turn Prospect Questions Into Headlines