BUZZFEED | EXPERT IN TEACHING A VIRAL HEADLINE

BUZZFEED | Writing the Perfect Headline Top Words Used in Viral Headlines

A great study was done by Buffer which examined over 3,000 headlines from some of the top websites to see which words helped provide the most viral traffic. It was an interesting study and it was neat to see which words were the best and which ones were the worst.

Would you admit that by reading this post you immediately clicked on the link because its headline attracts your attention and the other reason is that the website Buzzfeed is a trendsetter in generating captivating online content?

You can learn the art of catchy headlines from popular sites like Buzzfeed. The authors know how to seduce readers, tempt them to click their links and a large part of it is writing effective headlines.

Based on their work, here are three tips for creating viral-worthy headlines.

1. Spend time on the headline. Content marketers are frequently advised to produce shareable, original content. But that’s not the end of the story. According to Upworthy co-founder Peter Koechley, authors should devote half of their time to writing a headline that attracts clicks. “People put way too much emphasis on the specifics of the piece of content and not enough on the packaging,” Koechley says. “We’ve seen the case where a headline made the difference between 1,000 views and 1 million views.”

2. Start your own meme — and use it frequently. Visitors to BuzzFeed may notice numerous headlines that follow the same formula, such as “28 Things Only Speech Team People Will Understand,” “15 Jokes Only Philosophy Geeks Will Understand,” and “22 Problems Only Foodies Will Understand.” What’s BuzzFeed doing here? The editorial team is using variations on the same theme repeatedly to produce unique content. It’s also a way to attract visitors to the site who haven’t been there before. At present, the first story mentioned above has been shared or liked on Facebook 22,000 times.

3. Pique readers’ curiosity. Don’t you hate it when you read a headline like “You’ll Never Believe What This Guy Said to His Congressman at a Town Hall Meeting”? Wouldn’t you rather than the headline just told you what he said, so that you didn’t have to click on the link for more? Well, guess what? Those headlines work. So don’t hate them anymore. Instead, use them to produce your own viral content and give your brand a little more buzz. Craft a headline that piques people’s curiosity, so that they don’t get their news from the headline, but rather from the content of the article itself. which the headline forces them to read.