How long does it take you to come up with a blog title that you’re happy with? 5, 10 minutes, more or less? Do you work on the title before you start writing your post or afterwards? Do you currently have an established strategy in place for composing the perfect title, or does it vary based on the subject or your mood? While there isn’t an ideal formula for writing the perfect title, the following effective writing strategies will help you write titles that get readers to click on your posts.
Why the Titles are Such a Big Deal
Article/post titles (and email subject lines) are important because they’re the first thing that a visitor/recipient sets their eyes on when they see a blog post/web page, etc. Needless to say, it’s important that this “all important” first line of text really POPS. You need to come up with something that grabs their attention, gets them excited to learn more, and revs their engines so to speak. If you don’t provide them with a compelling reason to click – end of story – because your message won’t get read.
Choose from Popular Title styles
There are numerous title/headline style ideas to choose from including “How-to’s”, benefits, lists, guarantees, tips, news etc. Here are a few examples. Some are a little on the long side (try to stay at 6 words) but they give you an idea about what to write.
- How-to’s: “How to generate more leads”
- Questions: “Is selling my home myself a good idea?”
- Lists: “Top 5 ways to Improve Your Life”
- News: “Just released: The Latest Study on Growing Your Client List”Guarantees: “Steps Guaranteed to Increase Efficiency by 80%”
- Tips: “Tips that Reverse the Signs of Aging”
- Benefits: “Generate Income Today with this Comprehensive e-book”
More About the Length of the Headline
While the ideal length for a headline is 6 words and it’s always better to keep it short and sweet, that’s not always possible. If you find that to get your point across you need a longer title, place your most important words toward the beginning where readers will be more likely to notice them.
More About Using the “Benefits” in Your Title
Essentially, the most important thing your title has to do is stand out from the countless other headlines eager to grab the attention of your readers. One of the most effective ways to accomplish this is to include a strong benefit in your headlines. When people view a headline, one of their initial thoughts is always, “What’s in it for me?” If you want your readers to click through, make sure that you clearly address this question in your titles and don’t forget to deliver on your promise with the rest of your content. If your target audience takes the time to click through to the actual post, you want them to be genuinely satisfied with the content they discover. It needs to meet and even exceed their expectations, and deliver as promised in the title.
Optimize Your Blog Titles
If you would like your blog posts to rank high on the search engines for specific keywords/phrases (and who doesn’t?), you need to use them in your titles.
Bypass Analysis Paralysis
For a lot of writers, the best title ideas come to them after they’ve written the post. Even if you have a clear concept of the article’s ‘hook’, it can take getting into the meat of the article before a compelling title hits you. Having said that, it’s usually best to write a basic title to give you direction and get the creative juices going, jazzing it up once you’ve finished writing the post.
Subheadlines
When it comes to effective writing strategies, subheadlines have a place as well. If your product or service requires a little more explanation, subheadlines make it possible for you to expand on it. The important thing to remember though is that if you don’t give them a good enough reason to pay attention to your title, your subheadline isn’t going to get read.
If you’re into marketing, you already know that titles are crucial when it comes to content marketing. A well-crafted title will inspire action, improve your click through rates and increase sales. Isn’t that what marketing today is all about?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
CoSchedule’s free blog post headline analyzer will score your overall headline quality and rate its ability to result in social shares, increased traffic, and SEO value.