I know this may be difficult to hear, but most of the hard work you put into writing your article will not attract attention on its own. Content will certainly speak for itself, but this is only true if people are willing to listen to it to begin with. And unfortunately, the average reader on the internet today will not give you even a moment of their precious time unless you prove to them that you deserve it over everyone else. What’s the best way to do this? An irresistible headline is a good start.

Almost any topic you can think of will have dozens of articles covering/discussing it; all of which will have great information. To compete with these equally entertaining and well written articles you need to put out the best bait: your headline. All too often people will glance over this aspect of their work as if it is unimportant when in reality it is the MOST important part. Unless you are a headline-creating savant you shouldn’t be churning out your article titles in 30 seconds and this leads me to the first of my 5 tips for creating great headlines.

1. Don’t Rush

I’ve been there myself. Your deadline is creeping up and you’re delicately looking over your work to make sure every semicolon is perfectly placed and every paragraph break flows flawlessly. Right before you submit/publish you remember that you haven’t finalized a headline and should probably think of something catchy. After a whole 42 seconds of deliberation you decide to keep the clunky title you had when you started writing because you’re running out of time.

Big mistake. Headlines should be looked at as the pinnacle of your work, not an afterthought. Choosing a good headline can often take 45 minutes to an hour so allot yourself that much time to figure things out. Rearrange words, break out the thesaurus, and don’t give up until you’re completely satisfied.

2. Use Numbers

It worked for this post didn’t it? Lists are a concise way of organizing things, and letting people know that you’re keeping it brief from the get-go is a great way to convince them to start reading. Few things are more frustrating than getting a page into an article, scrolling down to the bottom to see how much more you have left, and finding out you’ve just started reading someone’s 200 page novel. Time is valuable and readers like to get in and out of things as quickly as possible. They aren’t perfect for every headline but lists do work and you should take advantage of them.

3. Offer Something of Value

Unless your article is an opinion piece on some of your personal favourite things, you’re going to want to present your work as if it is offering something that the reader can away take with them. And even if you are just listing off something that you like, you don’t have to present it in such an obvious way. Instead of having “My 10 Favourite ______” call your article “The 10 Best _______ money can buy”. Don’t be afraid to use bold language like this since this will only draw on people’s curiosity. And as long as you write with passion and explain yourself, how can you be proven wrong? Offering things like “the best…”, “reasons why…”, “facts about…”, or “predictions for…” in your title will give the reader the feeling that they are gaining something from your article. If someone thinks your work will be of value to them then they will be far more likely to read it.

4. Promote Distrust

Although overuse of this technique may give your writing a cheap or tacky feel, a well placed promotion of distrust will attract greater audience attention. People will often be skeptical of mainstream ideas so advertising something like “secrets doctors/nutritionists/other professionals don’t want you to know about” can be very effective. Offering “hacks” or seemingly insider information that people can use in specific aspects of their life or even just their daily life will lead to more clicks on your article.

5. Mix it Up

Chances are if you’re reading this, you aren’t looking to write one single headline. Writing one headline won’t be that difficult, but if you always use the same formula of “10 ways to get better at _____” or “Improve your _____ with these 7 strategies”, your readers will get bored. Be creative and keep your audience on their toes. Mixing things up will ensure that you have a growing base of readers who consistently give you their attention.

It’s a no-brainer that in order to get people to your site, they need to click on your link at the bottom of your article first. But before that, they need to read your article. So let’s back up here and look at the 3 most important things your article needs to have in order to get lots of click thrus.

A great headline
An interesting opening paragraph
A compelling call to action

To put it another way, you want a great headline that will interest a person enough to want to read your article. Then you need a good first paragraph that entices the reader to really read the article. Lastly, you need to flow into a compelling bio call to action that makes the reader want to click your link.

A great headline
Certainly you should include your keywords in the title to help search engine traffic find your article, but your headline, or your title, should be more than that. The title’s other important job is to get people interested in reading the article.

Think about making the title eye-catching, humorous, emotionally appealing, curiosity-arousing, attention-getting, a bit outrageous, and certainly NOT boring. And use trigger words in your headline: how to, question, tips, numbers, story, the benefit, secret, the truth, the cure for, or mistakes.

An interesting opening paragraph
You’ve only got a couple of sentences, at most, to really get the reader’s attention before he’s lost interest and has moved on. So when writing the article you’ll probably want to spend most of your time on this.

If you want good examples of opening paragraphs, just read the newspaper. You’ll notice each newspaper story uses a technique to entice the reader. They might make an outrageous claim, stir up some controversy, hit our hot buttons, use a scare tactic, predict the future, or use some similar technique that draws us in. That’s what you want to do with your article.

A compelling call to action
When you write your bio, you should always include a call to action. Don’t just give them details about you and include your website. Ask them to come to your site by offering something they value for free. What do they value? What would motivate them to click thru to your site? Perhaps you can give information away for free that other marketers are selling. Make it clear, easy, and irresistible.

Take a look at other successful article marketers’ bios to get some examples of what works. If you visit EzineArticles, check out some of the articles that interest you and examine which bios make you want to click thru.

Last but not least, test your bio. Sometimes you need more creative wording, or sometimes a better offer, but you won’t know until you test.

The more articles you write with purpose, the better you’ll get at it. Concentrating on these three areas – the title, opening paragraph and bio – whenever you write an article should help your article click thru rates increase.

Audio interviews and webinars, video PowerPoints, and how-to screencast demonstrations are no longer considered “new” in Internet marketing, but they’re communication mediums that are certainly here to stay.

Although audio and video work great for imparting information, the need for the written word is still there, especially to accompany the audios and videos. I’m talking about transcriptions; written documentation of what you’ve recorded verbally and/or visually. Why should you go the extra mile and the extra expense to have your webinar transcribed? Here are a few reasons:

1. When you have your audio or video transcribed, you’ve just increased the value of your product. Perhaps your audio interview is free to your listeners, but if they want the transcribed version, they’ll have to pay for it. Or you could offer your product with the audio and transcription for one fee, and without the transcription for a “lite” fee. Another idea is to add the written document as a bonus to your product, or offer it in an upsell.

2. Even though audio and video are popular, not everyone likes this medium. Many people prefer reading over listening. It could be they’re fast readers and like to go at their own pace rather than be at the mercy of an audio that seems to be going too slow. Or maybe they are short on time and prefer to skip to the parts that are of particular interest to them. Some find themselves daydreaming or becoming distracted and can’t follow along very well.

3. There are times when people can’t listen, no matter how informative your webinar is. The timing may not work into their schedule – people are so busy with work, kids, chores, civic duties, etc. and if you lose them, you lose your chance to impart your wisdom, take your brand up a notch, make a sale, or whatever your reason for doing the webinar. Similarly, the person might not be in a location where they can turn the volume up (like at work, in a waiting room, while on the bus) and they don’t have earphones. After all your hard work of putting on the webinar, you don’t want to lose any potential customers. Offering a transcription of your webinar will make these people happy. It shows goodwill on your part.

Doing webinars, audio interviews, podcasts, and videos is great for business. It adds dimension to your brand, gives your sales page or website some punch and makes lots of people happy who like to listen. But take it a step further and make everyone satisfied by having your audios transcribed. It’s a good business practice that can affect your bottom line.