At times it can be easy to come up with content ideas, but figuring out an appropriate title can be a lot harder. Sure, anyone can come up with a bland, to-the-point title; but unfortunately these are not usually the kinds of titles that attract much attention. For most readers, the title is what hooks them in and gives them a chance of actually clicking through to read your content. This is why it’s so important to spend some time on every single title you write.
Here are some tips to help craft attention-grabbing titles:
• One of the most common title formats online is to use a number. For example, “10 Ways to Potty Train Your Toddler Without the Tears” or even “7 Days to a Healthier You”. This is a format made popular in magazines, and it works for a reason – it shows people that there are specific steps to reach their goal, which makes it easier for them to take action on what you write.
• Every online headline needs to give the reader a reason to click through. Clickbait headlines get people clicking through because they are frustratingly vague. This is probably not the way to go if you don’t want to annoy people (although this method does work!) Instead, go for tried and tested methods of teaching your reader how to achieve something. Always include the benefit within the headline in some way.
• Sometimes, the best way to create intrigue is to leave the title vague. Not vague in the sense that nobody would be interested, but vague in a way that would still hook readers in. Let’s say you were writing a post about the raw food diet. This title example would hook readers into the general subject area, but they’d have to click through to learn what the article was really about: So You’re on the Raw Food Diet, Read This First!
• Don’t be afraid to steal other people’s subject lines! No, that doesn’t mean copying any titles – in fact, that is definitely not recommended. Instead, it means keeping a document where you list titles that get your attention, and then tweaking them for completely different topics. For example, “18 Simple Tricks That’ll Help You Save for Your Vacation in Half the Time!” could be stolen and turned into “9 Little Known Tricks to Help You Sell Your House in One Week!” – as you can see, the titles are completely different, but the first gave the inspiration for the second.
It’ll take practice to improve your titles, but it’s well worth it. Spending just a few minutes extra on each headline you write could pay off big time when it comes to attracting online traffic!
