I realize that, as fenestration dealers and manufacturers, you are not in the business of writing headlines, but in the business of providing excellent window and door products and services. Regardless, in this digital age, all businesses must focus strongly on how they market themselves online. While many companies choose to delegate the responsibility of website content creation to a staff member or freelance writer, it is important to know how content affects your bottom line.
We know that content is still king when it comes to driving traffic to your website and converting that traffic into actual clientele. And a key part of that content is the headline you put on the dynamic content you produce.
Without a thoughtful headline, the content isn’t improving SEO for organic search engine rankings and isn’t demonstrating optimum credibility with search engines and website visitors. You’re not creating content you can easily use in social media to build your brand.
Considering that, let’s talk headlines and why they can be tricky.
In general, website content always serves two masters: the text must inform and demonstrate credibility with your human visitors, and it also must please the search engine “spiders” that inspect it for high-quality SEO.
With headlines, we add another complication: a third master. If you’re also sharing this content through social media, the headline immediately becomes incredibly important in generating clicks, likes and shares. If the headline isn’t catchy enough, people on that social media platform will fly right past it. Whatever headline you use for dynamic content has to hit the mark for all three of these, and each audience has a different need.
What should you do? First, assess what’s most important to your needs at the moment. If the main goal is to grow brand awareness through social media, prioritize intriguing headlines with an air of mystery and/or discovery.
If your site is lagging in local search results rankings and you need killer SEO to move up the page, prioritize keyword-focused, highly W&D-relevant terms in your headlines to make Google and other search engines happy.
If you’re getting plenty of website traffic but having trouble converting those visitors into leads and customers, go with headlines that are very layperson-friendly. Be highly informative and educational.
Of course, the best headlines are those that meet the needs of at least two masters, and preferably all three. Just don’t expect to accomplish that goal with every headline. Do your best to remember all three potential “audiences” with every article and/or blog post, and write the headline accordingly.
