1. Ask a question. This usually will cause a person to be involved, (for at least a second or two), enough to either answer the question or click the link in reference to the question.

A question is one of the best way to arouse the readers interest. The truth is a lot of people will read your tweet and possibly click your links just out of sheer curiosity. Such is the power of a question.

2. Tell them something. Your reader will want to know how your information or observation will affect them in their world. Yes, even the most rampant philanthropists, will want to know information like that. It usually means that their world is helping others and they want to know how you can help them with that...But hey, whatever floats their boat!

However, headlines that are too informative run the risk of discouraging reader action. Providing valuable information directly in the tweets is all well and good, but it really limits your marketing opportunities.

3. Use powerful words/adjectives. Use those words in conjunction with your tweet to catch their eye...The best, worst, most, biggest, etc.

Again, this is a curiosity thing. People will want to know more about why something is the best, worst, most or biggest. This is where your opportunity to do promotion and marketing comes into place. As long as you know that you're providing good stuff you shouldn't be afraid to market and promote your own material. You just need to improve your headline in order to attract attention to your material.

4. Ask for help. Maybe you would like someone's opinion, or their input on something, but a lot of folks like to help others and this just makes it simple for them.

Twitter is an extremely powerful research tool. You can use it to perform polls, get customer feedback and a many, many other things. Asking questions also allows your followers to feel like an active part of your business.

5. Learn some good action words. Learning how to say more with less helps the impact of your tweet.

Any good sales pitch follows the AIDA formula. Aida means attention, interest, decision and action. A good Twitter headline manages to incorporate all four elements. I know you only have 140 characters, but believe me. It is possible to incorporate all four AIDA elements in your Twitter headlines.

Twitter can be a powerful tool in your marketing. Writing powerful headlines are an important element in any Twitter marketing effort. That's why it's definitely worth spending some time improving your headline writing skills.