A Guide to Writing Great Blog Post Titles
There are millions of blogs out there competing for readers’ attention. Maybe they aren’t all direct competition, but it’s doubtful that you are the only blogger in your niche. People only have so much time to spend reading blog posts so what can you do to make sure that yours is one of them? The best way to improve click-throughs is to craft a blog post title that will catch their attention.
A great blog post title is:
Engaging
What if the headline for this blog post was just “Blog Post Titles”? Does that sound interesting? Not really. It also doesn’t really say what it’s about. “Blog Posts Titles” could just be a list of blog post titles that have been used. Seems like a silly post, but who knows? Ensure that the reader will get some benefit from reading it and include catchy phrases like “Best Practices For”, “Learn How To”, and “Tips for Success”. Don’t be afraid to throw an “Amazing” or “Awesome” in there every once in awhile. People will want to know what makes it so amazing or awesome, after all.
Related to the Content
A blog post title shouldn’t be vague. Instead of titling the post “What I Learned Today”, change that to “What I Learned Today About “X””. It’s a similar strategy to SEO keyword research that is done for every page of a website. You want to choose keywords that are most relevant to the content on the page. Just like the keywords should never be too broad, neither should a blog post title.
Optimized
Blog post titles need to include keywords to tell the search engines what the post is about. There is a misconception that optimized titles take the creativity out of it, but a blog post title can be creative and optimized at the same time. If you’re going to use a play on words or a pop culture reference that humans may understand, you need to balance that out with keywords that the search engines will understand. For example, a post that you wanted to call “Singin’ in the Rain” becomes “Singin’ in the Rain – A Guide to Buying the Perfect Umbrella”
Accurate
People like to browse the web and rarely read a blog post word for word. If they see that the blog post includes a list, they may be more likely to click since they know it will be an easy read. Include phrases like “Top 10 Ways to” or “5 Resources for”. Remember, if the post promises a list, make it a list! Include numbers, bullet points, or subheadings. Don’t promise a list and then include paragraph heavy content that looks like all the other posts.
Concise
From Google’s standpoint, you should try to keep blog post titles under 55 characters. Not only that, but concise titles are much better for the user. When searching for information online, it’s the titles that are short and to the point that get the most clicks.
A great blog post title isn’t:
Misleading
Be conscious that you deliver on what you say. If your post promises to give a certain subset of information, make certain that you meet your user’s expectations. Don’t deliberately mislead people just to get the click.
Over-optimized
You shouldn’t stuff keywords into your blog posts. If you can get one or two keywords into the title in a natural way, that’s okay. However, if you try to force keywords into the title, it will end up looking spammy.
Too Long
Your titles should be short and to the point for maximum impact. Titles that have too many words are too long, and they take an extra long time to read. In order to maximize impact, the title needs to be on the shorter side, while still being descriptive.
Insulting
Some people deliberately through an insulting or edgy jibe into their titles. They assume that if the title evokes the “anger” response, it will get more hits. While this could be the case under certain circumstances, this only really works as a long-term strategy if you have an edgier voice. For most people, these insulting titles are jarring, and you could permanently insult some of your core readers. Once you do that, it can take a long time to gain their trust again, if at all.
Too Basic
Yes, it’s important to be short and concise when putting together your titles. However, be careful to not make it sound “too basic”. If your audience is basic, “101 style” posts will be welcome. However, if you have an intermediate to advanced level audience, creating posts that are below their level will cause you to lose readers.
Categorized in: Content Marketing
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