Even if you don’t work for a news organization, you’re going to want to make sure your blogs are as clickable as possible! So, we’ve put together a list of easy-to-follow tips for writing better titles.
Why should your titles be clickable? Well, there are two ways someone is likely to discover one of your blogs: they’ll either find it through a Google search (thanks to strong SEO), or they’ll see it when it’s shared on social media. Either way, a strong title is key to pulling people in!
1. Make Sure It’s The Right Length
One of the most important factors when crafting a good title is making sure the entire thing will be visible! No one wants to click on a title that’s cut off like “Effective blog titles to draw people in and never let them-”.
Luckily it’s not a complicated thing to get right. Your word count should be as close to 12 as possible and your character count should be around 70.
2. Types Of Headlines: The Big 3
It’s hard for a generic headline to drive engagement. Luckily, there are three headline types that are pretty safe bets when it comes to drawing people in: questions, how-to statements, and lists.
The reason these types of headlines are most effective is because they are intriguing, give the promise of useful information, and can indicate that they are easily skimmable. People are busy. They need information, and they need it as quickly as possible!
3. Reading Level
This isn’t because you’re supposed to assume your audience is stupid. A lower reading level means a boost in skimmability, and as we mentioned before, this is incredibly important. People are scrolling past countless things vying for their attention, so make sure they can quickly skim the title and get hooked.
As a rule of thumb, the lower, the better. Try to aim for a reading level below grade 8.
Check Out Another Blog: Blogging Tips: Dos And Don’ts For Effective Content
4. Sentiment
People are emotional creatures and neutral headlines are easily the best way to be forgotten, or not even be remembered in the first place.
The simple solution is to add some emotionally charged words, positive or negative, to help your title stand out and grab attention a little easier.
5. Don’t Use Cheap Tricks
“…You won’t believe what happened next!”
I think it’s safe to say we’ve all seen a headline that ends with this phrase. It’s annoying, incredibly shady, and there’s no faster way to lose a potential customer.
Be clear about what is going to be in your blog and make sure you don’t “bury the lead”. That means don’t pad the beginning of your blog with useless content before presenting something useful. It sucks.
6. Don’t Spell Out Numbers
Possibly the easiest tip on this list, if you have any numbers in your title, don’t use words for it.
It’s a simple change, but people are attracted to seeing actual numbers. Even though it isn’t grammatically correct (as numbers from one to ten are generally spelled out in most style guides), when it comes to titles, use the actual numbers.