5 Tips For Creating A Great Title For Your Blog Post
Titles can make or break your blog’s success. Nowadays, internet users have a shorter attention span than a goldfish, so you have to get them hooked immediately with a great blog title that will catch their interest.
Your title not only needs to captivate readers, but it also needs to be optimized for SEO and give readers an idea of the content. With all these factors, writing the perfect blog title may seem like a daunting task. To help you out, we’ve compiled five useful tips for creating a title that will stand out and perform well:
Use Focus Keywords
The title should include a relevant keyword that people will be searching for in Google. Learn about your customers by using keyword research tools like Moz’s Keyword Research Tool, SEMRush, BuzzSumo, or KeywordTool. If the blog is in a fiercely competitive niche, long tail keywords are your best bet.
However, be sure that your focus keyword is integrated naturally into your title. Search engines are important, but you are writing for humans. Be subtle when using keywords to ensure readability.
Give It An Enticing Twist
A title captures attention if it contains something fresh or unexpected. Find out what tone appeals to your target readers, and play with word choice, rhyming, and word order. If the topic allows it, you can go for witty word play. When it doesn’t, include words that trigger emotions and convert, such as ‘quick’, ‘new’, or ‘amazing’.
Make sure you don’t go overboard to captivate attention – a title that tries too hard to be clever or unexpected may drive readers away.
Conduct a Title Test
Though they convey the same message, variations of the title can have different results. It’s important to test and see what works best.
A simple method to do that is to change the title and use the different versions on social media channels and the blog. Discover what type of title converts best across platforms, and use that as the final title for your post.
There are also tools that can do these A/B tests for you. The Optimizely A/B testing plugin for WordPress helps you analyze the difference in headline performance. Title Experiments is a free option that provides you with stats on two or more test titles.
Include Numbers in Title
Numbers boost the CTR by adding predictability. Readers know what to expect in the article, and the title implies they will find specific details on the topic.
When using numbers in your headline, stick to digits instead of spelled-out numbers as they stand out more to people who are skimming headlines.
Ask Questions
Questions engage readers and make them curious to know more. Make it relevant and connected to the content without giving it all away. Using questions in your title is a great way to harness long-tail keywords, as many Google searches are people asking questions about a certain topic.
Using questions in your title is even more effective if you address directly using words like ‘you’ or ‘your’. Keep in mind that the post is all about your readers and their interests.
A great blog title is beneficial for SEO and maximizes your engagement, while a dull one can make your blog go unnoticed. Need help with your blog? Contact our content marketing specialists – we’re here to answer any questions you may have!