How to Write Compelling Blog Titles – Five Effective Strategies

Blog titles are the first part of your blog post that your readers will see and the part that’s responsible for getting readers to click through and read the rest -remember that is the ultimate goal of content, right? Your blog title is even more important because it is how people find your content online – Google needs a valuable title to rank your content when people search topics. Also, the title frequently is only what people use when they share your blog post, meaning that any time a reader likes your content enough to share it with their social network, it’s the only part of the blog their followers will see. Your title is the “advertisement” of the content in essence, so that’s why titling needs extra care when crafting.  

The purpose of any blog is to invite readers in and get them thinking about your brand. The challenge is that your blog needs to put its best foot forward to attract new readers.

If you’re genuinely interested in writing better, catchier, and more attention-grabbing blog titles for your already great content, you’re in the right place.

The challenge is your blog needs to put its best foot forward to attract new readers. Blog posts with poorly crafted titles fail to capture the imagination of readers and allow them to easily scroll past without stopping. 

The challenge that to title crafting is that your blog content needs to put its best foot forward to attract new readers every time you post. Blog posts with poorly crafted titles can fail to capture readers’ imagination and allows them to scroll past without stopping.

First Things First – Considerations That Effect Your Content’s Proposed Blog Title

Before we jump into how to craft the best title for your content, let’s discuss what you should consider first:

• Is this a topic something your community would be deeply interested in learning more about?
• Was this post researched to share unique and better information than your competition?
• Did the content turn your research into actionable, how-to advice? Another way to think about it, does the content define a problem and then the solution to that problem? 
• Was the keyword well-chosen and were semantic variations included throughout the post optimizations to help you experience long-term traffic?

When you review the above questions, you can better focus your blog title. These questions will also help you tell a story truthfully and as clearly as you can in the content. If your blog post doesn’t follow through on the value proposition of the title or you can’t back up your title’s “promise” (the problem the content is solving), the content may need more work. It seems obvious, but it’s incredible how often blog titles don’t deliver on the promises they make.

Crafting Your Blog Title

When you’re done with that, this is time to craft to your blog title, and it also means it’s time to review the content – are you telling the “story” truthfully and clearly. If your blog post doesn’t follow through on the value proposition or you can’t back up your number, you’re doing it wrong.

If you’re ready to say yes to these questions and are confident about the content following the title, it’s time to craft that title. Congrats!

5 Effective Blog Title Tips

Here are a few of our favorite tips for creating exciting blog titles that actually make people want to read more:

1. Create Immediate Value: The process of content creation is really one of giving your customers something they want to know in the hopes that they will move forward with a specific action. In order to get them through the first step, you must tell them why they need your information right now. Common examples are how they could be saving time or money, what they might miss out on, or that one thing that the experts know that they don’t. You have a carrot at the end of the stick; you just have to put it in front of their face. 
2. Use Your Keywords: Keywords help people find you. They also help Google rank you. When people search for a keyword they are more likely to click on blogs that use those same words in the title because they tend to be the most relevant. This is especially true for long-tail keywords. If you’ve already done your homework, this is an easy one.
3. Know What It Looks Like: We can’t control every aspect of how people are introduced to our blogs. Social media previews, emails, and other applications in your content strategy can change the way viewers see your blog titles. If you have a particularly long title, expect users on mobile phones to only see the first few words on their screen. Again, if you did a good job of creating immediate value, those first few words should be enough.
4. Be Creative: If you know you’re writing a blog post about a specific keyword, try to craft three different titles for that keyword first. Make sure all three are less than 70 characters long. Consult with your associates to determine which one is most engaging. Practice writing blog titles this way for a while until you get the hang of it, and don’t just settle for the first title that pops into your head.
5. Who Did What? We can’t help ourselves. We want to know about celebrities and entrepreneurs and people outside our sphere. One way to create engaging titles is to phrase them in a way that people want to know who did it, and how. This creates more of a story than an instructional experience, which helps customers relate to the subject.

Got your title? What’s Next After Blog Title Creation?

Now that you’ve selected a title, a good piece of advice; walk away for 30 minutes and come back to review the title and content together. Does the title lead you to read the content? Does the content drive back to the title? Ask yourself the question, “If I were a member of my audience, why would I read this blog post instead of any others like it? Why?” Ask yourself, “As a reader, what would I expect to read if I clicked through on this blog title?” Critique the way you include numbers in the title as well (see how our title says “5 effective ways to write…”) to make sure you deliver on the promise the title makes. 

The point is: the solid topic, research, depth, and keywords define success for your content and your blog titles should reflect those qualities to connect with your audience from the moment they see the headline.

Need Quality Content Marketing Services? Contact V Digital Services Today!

For more help with successful blogging, consider seeking the experienced and skilled help of a premier digital marketing agency like V Digital Services. Our team is experienced with crafting compelling titles that grab the attention of your readers and get better engagement along with the excellent content tailored to your business needs that goes with those titles. Contact us to learn how we can help you put your best foot forward in your content marketing initiatives today.