7 Tips of How to Write Good Titles and What the Benefits Are

Every blog post has a title. It doesn’t matter how good or how bad you are creating the title of your article in the end you’ll end up with something. What I’m trying to stress out in this article is the importance of a well written title and it’s big role in obtaining better Google ranking and also being the main element that could make the readers click on your article. That’s right : the title is the most important element of an article. Learn how to create a good one and you solved the biggest part of the equation and that is getting people to click on your content.

Why the title of an article plays such a big role

Now days many blog readers don’t even go to the blogs they like : they simply have RSS readers and receive the titles and a snippet from the latest articles on every blog they are tracking. Some people track so many blogs and to have a chance to get your article to be read you need a catchy title and a smart first paragraph. The title of an article plays a huge role in how Google will index your content. This is the place where you’ll use your main keyword phrase for that particular page. This is what you do for better ranking in search engines. But what about the people. Every article you write is created with only one thing in mind : to get the attention of readers and receive as many comments as possible. That means you need to take into consideration the human factor. So you’ll have to try and find a balance between the placement of keywords in your titles and finding an interesting way to express the essence of your article.

What is the purpose of the title

Simply put, a title should determine the reader to click on the article and read the first paragraph. This first paragraph is also called the introductory paragraph in which you basically create a small summary of the entire article. So in essence what you express in the title should be also found in your first paragraph. The other purpose of titles is to get you to the page 1 of Google. Think of your titles as the most important thing you could do for your content. This is the thing that make people click on your article and read the first paragraph. If you succeed in creating great titles and first paragraphs then you have nothing to worry : you’ll get just fine.

7 Rules of thumb for great titles

You can create the most extraordinary article in the world containing the secret of the holly grail. If you can’t create a proper title for your article that would rise people’s curiosity your article will just be one of the millions that appear every day. This is what I consider to be some of the secrets of titles :

1. Promise some kind of benefit(State clearly what you offer) : it’s true. People will always want to find something that could help them in some way. And if they can achieve whatever they are after by following a few easy steps then for sure they’ll give it a try. The benefit you promise should be also present in the first paragraph.
2. If possible begin with a number : starting with a number will transmit a clear thing about how many things you can learn if you read the article. I prefer numbers bigger then 5 and smaller then 13. Anything above that I tend not to read it.
3. Your titles should transmit something different : in some way you’ll have to create an interesting title : and by that I mean a title that sounds different or creates a strange analogy. All your actions are meant to get the potential reader curios.
4. A call to action title : this has to be the oldest trick in the book. If you ask people to take an action , to do something and you also promise a benefit if they’re doing it then you have a killer combination.
5. Use the words that get readers click : there are certain words that will increase your chances of getting your title to be clicked. Here are a few of them and how to use it : everybody is …, get rid of… , the secret of… and so on and so forth.
6. If possible use the name of a well known person that is in some way related to the theme of the article: that is something that can get your article to be read. You have to be careful and ask the permission of that person before you do it. Or, if that person made a clear public statement that you can use in your article then it’s fine. This kind of attracting readers could be tricky and there are moments when it can get you in a little bit of trouble. So use carefully.
7. How to or How not to articles : using both the positive as well the negative form of this type of articles can let you explore different angles and sometimes a how not to … could be more interesting.

Of course that these are not the only ways of writing titles that made readers click. So if you have some suggestions I’d love to hear them in your comments.