How To Write Engaging Blog Titles
If you’re running a business blog, you obviously want readers to be intrigued enough by your titles to click a link and read an article. Writing your headline is a lot like meeting the parents – it’s all about first impressions. If your headlines or titles aren’t resonating with your audience long enough to get them to read through even one article, what’s the point of writing in the first place?
Many different types of blog titles can be effective – how to’s, lists, news, questions or even testimonials. So how do you come up with headlines that will compel your audience to read your blog? Here’s a few pointers on how to write effective blog titles that make your readers want more.
1. Make your topic clear. An effective headline should indicate what the article is about so the reader knows that they’re opening. This avoids the situation where the reader didn’t get what they wanted (in which case they probably won’t come back).
2. Solve their problem. You should stay up to date on the challenges you’re your customers face and your titles should communicate the solution to a common problem that they are having.
3. Use the right keywords. Make sure you incorporate relevant keywords into your titles because your blog is home to some of your most valuable landing pages. The right keywords can help drive traffic to your site through your blog.
4. Get to the point. A long blog title is easily glanced over, but something short and to the point can stand out more easily. Titles that are eight words or less are more effective because they are more easily shared and easier to remember.
5. Bring on the drama. Controversial topics and titles are more likely to trigger emotional responses. By sensationalizing your titles, you encourage emotional responses from your readers, driving them to read and respond to your articles.
Once you’ve written your article, make sure the title and the article are cohesive and accurate. It can be very tempting to come up with an awesome, catchy title and then go off on a tangent in your article. If your catchy title is only vaguely related to your post, you’re much better off coming up with a new title that’s more closely related to your article to avoid reader confusion.
Christine is the Social Media Manager at The Discovery Communications Group. She graduated with a degree in Business Administration from Southern New Hampshire University, where she is currently working on her Master's degree in Marketing. After spending the past few years working in various sales and marketing roles, she joined the DCG team to help them manage their social communities.
