The hook is not the bait
There's a version of headline writing that treats readers as targets — something to trick into a page view. You know these titles. "You won't believe what happened next." "This one trick changed everything." They work once, badly, and they poison the well. Readers feel cheated, and they don't come back.
The headline you're after does something different: it tells the truth about the piece while making that truth irresistible. Those two goals aren't in tension. They're the same goal.
Think of your title as a contract. The reader clicks; you deliver. Break the contract and you've gained a number and lost a person. Every strong headline is specific enough to signal exactly what's inside, and honest enough that someone who finishes the piece nods rather than fumes.
What actually makes a title work
Specificity is the real engine. "How to Write Better" promises everything and delivers nothing. "How to Cut the First Three Sentences of Every Draft" promises one thing, precisely — and that precision builds trust before the reader even lands. Narrow the scope; raise the stakes.
Tension helps too. Not manufactured drama, but the genuine friction inside your subject. "Why Consistency Beats Talent (And Why That's Annoying News)" has tension because it acknowledges the reader's likely resistance. That acknowledgment is a small act of respect, and respect is what keeps someone reading.
Voice is underrated in a headline. Most writers save personality for the body of the piece and write the title like a filing-cabinet label. Your title is the first sentence of your relationship with a reader — treat it like one. A title with a slightly odd word choice, a comma used for rhythm, a question that doesn't condescend: these signal that something human wrote this.
Length matters less than people think. Short can work ("Kill Your Darlings"). Long can work ("I Spent Three Months Posting Daily and Here's What Actually Changed"). What doesn't work is vague at any length.
A quick test
Before you publish, run your title through two questions. First: does this accurately describe what's in the piece? Second: if someone read only the title and never clicked, would they still have learned something, or at least wanted to? A title that rewards the non-clicker is a title that earns the clicker. It signals generosity — the opposite of bait.
Write five titles for every piece. The first two will be obvious. The third will be close. The fourth or fifth is usually the one that's both true and alive. Give yourself the drafts.