Your blog post title is the first thing your perspective blog reader sees. Without a blog post title that turns your site visitor into a reader, the rest of your post may as well not exist.
A well written blog post title can do more than simply grab your site visitor’s attention. A great blog post title can also communicate a full message to its intended audience. It absolutely must lure the reader into the post’s body text or you run a high risk of losing a perspective reader and blog subscriber. The goal is to write a compelling blog post title that grabs the reader’s attention by announcing some kind of benefit or reward for taking a moment out of their busy day to read on.
Here are eight time-tested headline categories that will compel action into your site visitors:
Direct Blog Titles – This type of title is a straight forward announcement on what the post is about. An example would be “Men’s Khaki Pants – 60 % Off – Tuesdays Only!” or “7 Steps to Writing an SEO Friendly Blog Post”.
Indirect Blog Titles – These take a more subtle approach. Use curiosity to raise a question in your site visitor’s mind, which the body of the blog post will answer. A very useful technique is to utilize a double meaning. A blog post might have the headline “Who Wants Some Golden Nuggets?” and the post has nothing to do with giving away actual gold nuggets, because the blog post is really about sharing some terrific online marketing ideas.
News Blog Title – Obviously, self-explanatory. Celebrity scoops, new product announcements, local or world events can be the basis of a great news headline that grabs your visitor’s attention and makes them want to know what all the fuss is about. A good example would be “Baby Born on Plane at 36,000 Feet” or “Google Unveils ‘Project Glass’ Virtual-reality Glasses”.
How to Blog Title– This is my favorite, note the title to this post. If you think about it. How many people do you think are online searching on how to do something? I’m guessing millions. This is a great way to grab your visitor’s attention
because you are letting them know that they will learn something new after reading your blog post.
Question Blog Title– Try to ask a question that your readers can relate to and/or want to see answered. Here are some examples: “What’s a Call From a New Customer Worth to You?” or “Compatibility: The Secret Ingredient to a Happy Relationship?” or “Do You Make These Mistakes With Your Blog?”.
Command Blog Title– Does what it implies, it tells the reader what to do. This works best if the first word is a strong verb that demands action. Some good examples are “Install Your First WordPress Plugin” and “File Taxes On the Go with TurboTax for iPad and iPhone” or “Eat to Build a Better Brain”.
Reason Why Blog Title– This is the well known bulleted list of reasons why you should do something or why something is the way it is. The title is a summary of what your list consists of such as “3 Reasons No One Comes Back to Your Blog-and How to Fix It”. The title does not have to have the phrase “reasons why” in it, for example, “5 Best Practices for Creating Viral Branded Videos”. Amazing Posting
Last but not least, we have the Testimonial Blog Title-If done right, this can be a highly effective title because it introduces your reader with proof that you know what you are talking about and do it well. Here you will be quoting something that someone else has said about you, your product or service. Make sure to put it in quotation marks so the reader will know it is a testimonial. An example could be “Carrie’s Posts with Tips on Blogging are Amazingly Helpful!,” proclaims Jon Bon Jovi. He really said that! Not really. But it could happen. Right? Sigh.