Stop. Read No Further.
Posted by January 13th 10
Gotcha! A little reverse psychology never hurt. But, poorly written blog post titles definitely can hurt all the work you put into writing.
When you write – whether it's a post, paper, essay or eBook – think twice about the title before you publish. Chances are, you're happy just to have finished writing and simply want to add a title that describes the subject.
But the title is part of your marketing strategy; it's the sign out front, the wrapping, the invitation. And you want it to be irresistible. Before you post it, stand back and look at it from the point of view of a total stranger.
Would it stand out in their blog reader? Is it going to teach something, solve a problem, make them laugh, make them cry, make them change, or tell them anything they don't know? Is it friendly and cool or aloof and intimidating?
Here are five tips for writing hard-working titles:
1. Tell the reader what they're going to get out of your post. By using the title to describe what the post is going to do for them, rather than just stating the topic, you're giving them incentive to start reading. As Outspoken Media says, "By targeting phrases like “how to” or “tutorial” or “help with X”, you also set yourself up to benefit from future search traffic when someone borks their 301 redirect in the year 2011 and it’s your descriptively-titled post that ranks for it."
2. Be clever, but not too clever that search engines won't find you. Titles should include key words or phrases related to the subject that will help search engines find it – and readers find you. And try re-writing titles of posts or pages that are already popular.
3. There are many ways to draw readers into your posts; next time you write a post try playing with some of several different concepts, then choose the one that works best.
4. Sometimes it helps to see how a blah headline can be made beautiful. Check out some examples of good, bad and ugly headlines.
5. Upon writing a sexy headline, you may be tempted to stick to that formula for your next post. Don't do it. As Michael Gray says, it's better to change your strategy, get creative again and try something different.
posted in Tips and Techniques
May 2012
