Kelli and I are enjoying the largest Buddhist temple complex on earth here in Bagan, Myanmar.
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind: a good headline is essential to a successful blog post. There are millions of web pages and thousands will be dedicated to the exact same topic as your website – this makes it imperative to stand out. While your content and writing needs to be amazing, without a good title, there’s a chance your content will never actually be discovered.
The following tips can help create blog post headlines that your audience just can’t resist clicking on.
1: Never Overlook Grammar
Grammar is essential to an enticing headline. If your grammar within your headline is poor, then your article will appear to be instantly low-quality, unreliable, and not worth reading. There are several ways to make sure the grammar in the title is impeccable.
2: Include Numbers
Using numbers in your title is great for a few reasons. First, it indicates how long your post will be – 8 points is a lot easier to read than 25.
It also shows that your content will be broken down into bite size pieces and can be scanned easily. Including numbers in your title is specifically important for internet content where it’s recognised that people have shorter attention spans, and like to be able to skim through what they’re reading.
3: Utilize Experts For Writing and Editing
While writing content may feel like it will be the most time-consuming element of blog posts, this is not the case in reality. At least as much time needs to be spent promoting your post, and that same amount of time again should be dedicated to getting the title perfectly right.
As this is a lot of work, many people choose to delegate certain aspects of the process, and hire experts to help. For an expert who knows how to create tempting headlines that work for online audiences, there are quite a few options.
4: Never Forget Keywords
Your keywords are an essential part of your blog post – they are how people will find your blog through search engines. While your keywords should be present throughout your content, it should also be included in the headline. This makes it easy for your reader to see that your blog post is relevant, and easier for search engines to rank your content.
5: Analyze Your Work
A headline shouldn’t be too long, and it should contain certain aspects that make it relevant to your reader.
6: Offer What Not To Do
There are many posts out there describing how to be healthy, happy, or successful. Often times, these articles offer unrealistic examples of how to live your life or run your business, plus few people are likely to change their lives based on a blog post.
However, telling people what not to do, what to avoid, and how not to fail is incredibly popular, and is a format that should be utilized.
7: Make It Look Like A Title
Research papers and academic reviews have titles that don’t capitalize every word. Blog posts are to entertain and inform, so have a neat and prominent title where every word is capitalized. This will make it eye grabbing, and obviously the title leading to further information.
8: Offer How To Guides
‘How To…’ and ‘A Guide To…’ are popular headlines for a reason. Not only are they clear in what they’re offering to the reader, but they will match exactly what your audience is searching. They will likely be typing ‘how to’ into their search engine – so give them what they want.
9: Include A Benefit
With thousands of web pages out there, you really need to be offering something to your reader to engage them. You might be offering a freebie, a contest, or even just information that nobody else is, but make sure it’s clear that they stand to gain from you.
10: Ask Questions
Ask your bloggers if they want to know something, do something, or achieve something – and the answer will probably be yes. That ‘yes’ is enough of an answer to make your reader open your article.
11: Consider What Motivates Your Reader
When coming up with a title, don’t just describe the information you’re offering – describe it in a way that suits the needs of your reader. Offer a solution to an issue they’re likely to face, or tips to reach a goal they’re likely to have.
12: Make It Personal
If your blog post will help women, students, or CEOs, make sure they are mentioned in the title. This is a great way to target your audience directly.
While a headline may seem like it’s only a few words out of a whole blog post, it’s actually one of the most important aspects. The above tips can really ensure that your title drives traffic to your content.
