Are Titles for Your Content Effective As They Could Be?
When it comes to writing content, most of us spend a lot of time making sure that the internal structure of it is up to par. We check our spelling and grammar. We make sure our thoughts are well organized and that our writing is engaging. While these are certainly important to the process, they aren’t all that we should be thinking about. In fact, without a great title, no one will ever see our content. They’ll never be intrigued enough to click on the link. This means that all your hard work might be for nothing.
So, what makes for a great title? Here’s some insights as to how you can craft effective titles that get the click:
Flashy Doesn’t Always Get the Job Done
Too often, we think that flashiness is what will compel people to click to open your content. While this can certainly help, it isn’t the most important factor. This often surprises people! They focus on this because they want to stand out from the competition. However, titles that are developed this way almost always miss the mark. This is because flashy isn’t always descriptive. They don’t do much to convince people that the title is something they should care about.
In the past, clients come to us with suggestions for titles that don’t always describe the article, but they certainly do seem creative! Would you have clicked on the title for this article if it were flashier? What if I had titled it “Don’t Do This!” – would you have clicked? Sure, that title is flashy, but it also doesn’t say anything important. For example, what is “this” exactly? If people don’t know, they won’t care.
Most of us know a flashy title when we see one. They cause us to sit up and pay attention, but if we really think about it, what exactly are we paying attention to? These titles are often too vague to really get the job done.
Great Titles Tell You What the Content Is About
What gets people to clicl on your articles? Mostly, they need to believe that they will benefit from it. If they think something will be gained from the content that will entertain, educate, or inform them about something they care about, they will certainly click. In order for this to happen, the title really needs to describe what the content is about. Otherwise, they won’t know why they care about the content and they won’t want to open it.
In the example title above, “Don’t Do This!” doesn’t actually say anything. Can you imagine if that’s how I titled this article? Would you be reading it now? Instead, I chose to the title, “Are Titles for Your Content Effective As They Could Be?” I am guessing that the title caused you to wonder if your titles were, in fact, effective. Curiosity piqued, I envision you clicked to open the article to see if you could discover an answer to that question.
It is important not to overthink the titles. Just make sure that there is something in them that compels people. Once you do this, you will find that you are likely getting more eyes on your content than you were before you kept this in mind.
Categorized in: Content Marketing
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