Choosing Post Titles Successfully

What is a good post title?

This is obviously subjective but the ultimate goal of a post title is to get people to read the first sentence of your article. Using the post title to spark their interest leading them to read the first sentence is crucial.

Want me to read? Grab my attention.

Grabbing someone’s attention on the fast-moving internet can be a challenge. Sometimes it feels like putting a bigger, brighter, flashier signs on the strip in Las Vegas just so people will notice you so you can at least get them in the front door. Here are some techniques for grabbing a potential reader’s attention.

Grab Attention

Often time, blogs get filled with clutters…widgets….opt-in forms…share buttons…etc…are all clutter making it that much more difficult for your visitors’ attention to be grabbed by your post titles. First, ask a friend, preferably one that has never visited your blog, and have them evaluate your blog to see if they have any trouble ‘discovering’ or ‘understanding’ your post titles.

Keep It Simple

You may have heard of the KISS method. That applies here too. As bloggers, we have a lot to say right? Well, when it comes to post titles, keeping it short and sweet is the most effective. Short, simple, and easy to understand titles see the most action. The shorter post titles are great for SEO as well. If you keep the titles under 40 characters, the whole title will appear in Google search results.

Be Honest

I’ve seen bloggers using different tactics to grab someone’s attention and sometimes it’s not always the most honest either. Attention might be achieved using tactics of shock, big claims, controversy, or even confusion but these can often do more damage than good. Fooling people with deceptive titles will disappoint them when the article’s content falls short of their expectations. Don’t trick your readers into thinking you’ll provide them with something you can’t give them.

Use Keywords

Post titles can hold a lot of weight when it comes to SEO (search engine optimization). If you want to take advantage of this opportunity, then you should be using your keywords or phrases inside of your post titles. When you are trying to keep titles simple and attention grabbing, this can be difficult but not impossible. Be creative. Just remember that it’s believed that words stating a post title hold more weight than words at the end of a title.

Descriptive Titles

There are those people who are tempted by brief titles that leave them hanging but majority of people want to have a good idea of what your article will be about before reading past the title. The title should describe what the readers will get when reading further so they have an idea what to expect.

Make a Need

An effective title draws people into reading your article because they may feel it’s something you need to read. I was able to prove this tactic with my article titled, Save Your Facebook Photos, Videos, & Life. People were drawn to this article because Facebook has becomes so important to people that they wanted to learn how to save it. How-to articles and tutorials are a great way to capture people’s attention by meeting their need to know.