Most blog titles are about as magnetic as a skunk. Learn how to write titles for your blog posts that will pull in more readers.
#1 Focus on Benefits
Your readers don’t care about you. They are asking “whats in it for me.” Answer that question in the title and they will read on.
Examples:
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#2 Tease
Curiosity is a powerful motivation. Perk your reader’s interest. If you can make your reader curious they will read on. Contradict a known fact. Challenge an accepted authority. Make your reader question himself.
Examples:
#3 Use a Magic Word
This is the easiest tip. People go to the Internet for answers. If you provide answers, the Internet will provide people. Think of the title in terms of answering a question. All you need to do is incorporate: “Who”, “what”, “when”, “where” or “why” into the title.
Examples:
#4 Ask A Question
This goes along with tip #3. Sometimes asking the right questions can draw people into a discussion of which your post is just the beginning. The key is to ask an open-ended question. Give an answer and be respectful if your commentators disagree with you.
Examples:
#5 Use a List
When someone clicks a link to your site in Google or on Twitter they are taking a risk. You may waste their time. Time they will never get back. If they know there are “7 tips for this” or “10 secrets for that,” you reduce the risk. Even if 6 of the tips are something they already know, the 7th tip might be gold. Don’t overdo the lists.
Examples:
Title is really important in a blog post, it must also be optimized with words so when people are searching through search engine they can find you.
Um, should they also reflect the actual content of the post?! Because I can't find items 3-5. 🙂 Or maybe they're very tiny or it's user error on my side?
I'm not sure how that happened. Its fixed now.
I read somewhere that the first three or four words of a title are the most important; so if you compose a few prospective titles and compare the impact, you’ll create something that draws more readers.
Thanks for sharing, Thomas.
Great advice as always. Thanks!
Great article – some I knew, but the focus on benefits is imperative. “WIIFM” (What’s in it for me?) is the most important ‘selling’ component of anything that we offer on the web. Thanks-Cheers Rick