Titles are an essential element of any written work, whether digital or analog.
A memorable, well-written title has a few important roles:
- Catches and keeps readers’ attention
- Tells readers what the work is about
- Gives readers a glimpse of the writer (and/or entity behind the work)
A blog title is no different. Like all great works, a great blog needs a great title. With so much digital content available, it’s more important than ever to have a title that stands out so people will stick around to read your blog.
What’s the secret of writing a good blog title? The most effective titles for any work are actionable, intriguing, or emphatic. Let’s discuss other factors that comprise the best blog post titles.
1. Keep it short.
Readers appreciate fewer, shorter blocks of text rather than one long paragraph that seems to go on forever. The same rule applies to titles.
A catchy blog title packs a big punch, so to speak, in as few words as possible. Use short power words that sum up exactly what each post is about rather than long words that confuse or bore the reader. For instance, a post titled “Summer Car Care Tips” is far easier to process than “A Few of the Best Ways to Maintain Your Automobile in Scorching Temperatures.”
Most SEOs practice creating titles between 50 to 60 characters (read-not words) because Google truncates titles after 60 characters. But we prefer even shorter – 40-50 characters.
2. Show some personality.
Transparency and relevance are two of the biggest drivers behind content marketing. Dry, data-driven content, regardless of how informative it may be, will lose readers fast. In order to connect with audiences and build on that relationship, readers want to know more about the blogger. What’s your personal or business philosophy?
How can your product or service make your customers’ lives easier, better, or more efficient?
What cares or concerns keep you up at night (plenty of folks probably struggle with the same stressors! Common ground is a wonderful thing.) If you write a blog about a topic that tends to be dry or jargon-heavy, such as technology or finance, infuse some of yourself into the text so readers can relate to you. Talk about your own struggles with sticking to a household budget or choosing the best customer relationship management (CRM) platform for your needs.
3. Grab the reader’s attention.
Fun wordplay and total authenticity are two surefire ways to encourage readers to keep scrolling. You should constantly reevaluate the tone of each blog post and theme of your overall blog. And always work on developing your writer’s voice (this may be difficult if several writers contribute blog posts.
Although their voice and writing style will be different, they should always have the primary focus of the blog in mind with each post).
Other ways to grab readers’ attention? Be a little quirky and fun, and yes, even adding a little bit of shock value in your content or title works, too!
4. Use a proven headline formula.
Believe it or not, there are actually “formulas” for successful headlines, and keep them in mind when writing blog titles. They typically contain a number (“Five Ways to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills Right Now”), a how-to (“How to Boost Your E-newsletter Open Rates”), an element of surprise (“Guess What? I’m Not the Perfect Writer and Here’s Why”), or a big promise (“Be the Leader Your Team Can’t Live Without”).
Pay attention to what catches your eye in both analog and digital headlines. What’s the “hook”? What kept your interest? According to industry studies, most readers pay attention to the first and last three words of a headline, so word choice is very important.
5. Be mindful of keywords.
Search engines are still powered by SEO, so always be mindful of the keywords you use in your blog post titles. You could have a blog chock-full of great content, but if you aren’t using the proper keywords, you’ll come up short in search results. Besides embedding keywords into the body of each blog post, some platforms allow you to tag specific labels so users can search for specific posts or topics of interest within your blog. Keywords and labels will also help with any social sharing.
6. Be specific.
Your blog post title and its content should match—period. Stay on topic, focus on the points you’re trying to make, and summarize the content into one sentence to serve as a clear, concise title.
7. Develop a few draft titles.
This doesn’t mean to say that writing great content—especially titles—is easy. Write a few drafts of possible titles for each post until you’ve come up with one that best fits the content. Always keep your target audience in mind. You want your blog to reach as many readers as possible, but ideally, those readers will gain something when they read your content, whether it’s learning a new skill or piece of information or are entertained or enlightened.
Like any other type of writing, coming up with catchy blog post titles takes practice. Great content—all great content—is always a work in progress.
What are your best tips for writing catchy blog titles?
