If Your Headline Sounds Like a Sales-Pitch, I Ain’t Clicking.

I believe we are here to hear authentic stories and check stuff that gets our attention, not to swim on ads and buy something.

You’re probably tired by now of hearing how the headline is crucial part of any written piece,

Be it magazines, newspapers, blog posts, medium articles, linkedin or any kind of text, it holds significant weight,

Especially online, where it needs to take people out of their infinite-dopamine-boosted-scrolling-spree,

it needs to stab.

Also Known as “The Hook”, it’s responsible to grab attention and reel people to your piece.

There is no doubt the headline plays one of, if not, the most important role of any article:

The open door.

After all , even if your article is very well written, built on top of the best storytelling techniques, assembled by the masters of copywriting, addressing and solving all problems of your audience while being packed with information, with mesmerizing writing,

If people don’t even open it,

It’s useless.

Having worked with sales most of my life, I’ve developed the ability to spot a scripted speech from miles away.

If a person randomly approaches me at street and starts talking, my wary hearing kicks in and by the moment she starts, I’m already with my feet positioned to run away,

And when the tone changes from “human talking” to “salesperson selling”,

it’s when they lose me.

No matter what they say, 99% chance I ain’t buying it.

I believe my 10 years in corporate sales made me the best kind of salesman, but the worst kind of buyer.

And I apply the same principle to social medias.

There Is a saying I really enjoy that’s:

“On social medias, if you’re not selling, you are the being sold, and if you are not paying, you’re the product”

That’s one of the reasons I deleted most of my social media accounts.

(while I still consider medium is somewhat similar, it’s not like Instagram and Facebook, which is only people promoting themselves and products, comparing egos, and creating a false sense of belonging, but that’s for another talk)

I believe most people who goes to “writing-focused websites” like Medium, Substack, or any other, do it because they enjoy reading.

Whether it’s a personal story that evokes emotion, a tale of success, a novel, a guide to achieving something, learning a skill,

or simply to pass the time when bored.

I want to read something that gets my attention and it’s captivating,

not to navigate through a sea of ads.

That’s why for me, if your headline sounds like a sales pitch, I’m already uninterested even before I open your article.

And if you’re aiming to sell something, save it for the call-to-action at the end, not in the title.

That is just dumb.

Read your headlines as many times as needed out loud and work to improve it.

Make your headlines sound like an “imposible to miss information” , not like “I have this to sell to you, check it out”,

One will make people curious, the other will scare most readers away.

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Thanks if you read until here, if you agree or have any questions make sure to leave a comment down below.

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See ya! Have a nice day and enjoy folks.

-DGaspar.

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