I know the reality is we want someone to read our post. But they must be interested enough to click on our blog title first. So how do we come up with that so called "catchy headline" we hear so much about?
Why is it important? What words are necessary? How is anyone going to find it or us?
Remember your blog title is the portal through which your present audience and the uninitiated enter and read your awesomeness. So give them a good reason to click on your title and an even better one to read your post.
Let's Break Things Down Into Pieces
Why Is Your Blog Title Important?
It is the implied promise to answer a question(s) or an offer of results for your reader. Whose topics they are either aware or even unaware that they have wanted or needed.
What Words Are Necessary?
Power words - Get and command your readers' attention, what you want them to do
Emotive words - Elicit an emotional response in your reader, how you want them to feel
Keywords and keyword phrases - Help people searching for products or services to find you and your business
How Will Your Blog Title/Post Be Found?
Through the use of keywords or keyword phrases. Keywords are necessary to your blog title especially if you have no audience or following. Without them, your only hope is that your audience accidentally finds your post. Not a particularly promising proposition.
Putting The Pieces Together
Creating Your Blog Title
The easiest blog titles to create are How To and List (numbered) titles. Whether you write your blog post first and come up with a title that fits or the opposite is totally up to you as there is no firm and fast rule for a right or wrong way.
What is a definite no-no is the "click bait" title that bears little or no relation to the actual post, I personally recommend that you compose at least 3-5 titles before you choose your final version.
I suggest you use the Headline Analyzer tool from Coshedule. This free tool gives you an immense amount of information about the titles you've created thereby helping you to make the best final choice.
For example, Here is a list of the possible titles I created for this particular post
- 3 Things That Get Your Blog Title Noticed
- 3 Special Words That Get Your Blog Title Noticed
- Never Underestimate The Influence Of A Catchy Blog Title
- The Basics Of Writing A Good Blog Title
- Create A Blog Post Title People Want To Read
- How To Create A Blog Title People Actually Want To Read
As you can see I chose the last title. I felt this one not only conveyed exactly what I was trying to say in my post but also bore the greatest relationship to the post.
Still as you read through the post you should be able to pick out words or phrases I used that led me to consider those other title possibilities.
The Essential Words We Use
Your title should be specific, get your point across, and pack a punch. Within this framework, you need power words, descriptive words, emotive words, and yes, keywords.
- For example, your title could say: Lose 30 Pounds Fast
- or, Quickly Lose 30 Pounds In 3 Weeks , While Never Feeling Hungry
The first example tells us we will lose weight fast which might be what we want. Yet the second example is much more descriptive. We know exactly how quickly we will lose the weight, our fears of dieting are allayed by knowing we will not feel hungry, and our keyword phrase can be either lose 30 pounds or quickly lose 30 pounds.
Your Readers Will Find You And Your Blog
If you have no audience it won't happen overnight. But, it will happen if you have written helpful posts that entertain and use the keywords and keyword phrases that you want to be ranked for.
This and attention grabbing blog titles that use the same keywords should begin bringing organic traffic to your blog/website.
Never underestimate the power of social media to help you increase the traffic coming to your blog.
On your business Facebook page, post an excerpt of your latest blog along with its image and a link. Tweet your latest blog title with a link to your post.
Encourage your readers to share your posts with those they feel will benefit from your message.
I hope you enjoyed this post and that it has answered some of the most basic questions you may have had about coming up with a blog title that people will want to read.
If this was helpful to you please share it with your friends. If you didn't like it let me know what I could have done better or what you would rather have seen.