Article Marketing Tips - Writing "How To" Headlines

When you're writing articles for article marketing, you need to put some serious thought into your title (or headline). Yes, your title is an important part of your article, as it is often the only opportunity you have to grab a reader's attention and lure them into reading your entire article.

Your headline should clearly tell what your article is about, and it should be eye catching to a reader who is looking for information on your topic. Remember, your article title is competing with many other article titles on similar topics--take some extra time to brainstorm different headlines and pick the one that you think will stand out in the crowd.

Some of the most popular articles on the web are "How To" articles. A "How To" article simply teaches the reader how to do something related to the author's niche.

Writing "How To" articles is pretty straight forward, but did you know that there are several different types of "How To" headlines that you can play around with?

Let's go over the major ones:

1 - The headline that conveys a benefit. For example:

"How to collect stamps" (Benefit: learning to collect stamps)

"How to scale a fish" (Benefit: knowing how to scale a fish)

"How to run a marathon" (Benefit: learning how to run a marathon")

These titles are very simple and no frills, but they work. They very clearly state what the article is about and the benefit that the reader will receive from reading the article. I don't think you can go wrong with the classic benefit stating how-to headline.

2 - The double benefit headline. For example:

"How To Win Friends and Influence People"

"How To Declutter Your Office and Organize Your Desk"

"How To Save Money and Experience True Wealth"

If one benefit is good, then two are better, right? Well, sometimes. Look at your topic and see if the double benefit title might be appropriate. Or, come up with a double benefit title, and then write an article to go along with it.

3 - How To [your topic] that [benefit]

Some examples using this title template:

"How To Find A Job That Gives 5 Months Vacation A Year"

"How To Plan A Budget That Will Decrease Your Spending By Half"

You might not have thought about this type of title before, but just try coming up with some makeshift topic/benefit titles on your subject matter. You can use the titles to inspire the articles.

4 - Just use "How"...

Sometimes the "to" part is not necessary. Try cutting straight to the point with a "How" headline:

"How I got washboard abs while still eating pizza and chocolate"

"How I improved my productivity by working less"

Or try making your title more personal (for the reader) by using "you" instead of "I":

"How you can get washboard abs while still eating pizza and chocolate"

"How you can improve your productivity by working less"

What do you think? Will you try these on your next articles?

I bet you never imagined that there were so many different types of "How To" titles to choose from. I encourage you to experiment with each one of these different headlines--sometimes the title gives you the idea for the article!