You Had Me at “Hello World” or How to Write a Killer Blog Title

One of the key components of blog writing is a great headline. Good blog titles not only help readers and search engines quickly identify the topic of the piece, but it’s the “cover” of the article. And if you’re anything like me, you DO judge a book by its cover (and I judge wine by the label…just sayin’).

With so many blogs, and so little time, it’s not surprising that in order to grab a reader’s attention—and get the click—you need to start by writing a killer blog title.

Here are a few things to remember when you’re brainstorming the next great blog title:

• Shorter is (usually) better. Keep the title under 10 words if you can. You don’t need to give it all away from the get-go.
• Make sure the title acts as a preview for your article’s content. Make it relevant.
• Don’t “trick” your reader with titles that don’t have anything to do with the content. You’re sure to get an “unsubscribe” with that tactic.
• Be creative. Use humor. Step outside the box. Entice your reader with a spicy title, without compromising the integrity of the content. It can be done. I swear.
• Ask a question. Readers love to be challenged. If your blog title is a question, a reader is going to answer the question, and then click on the link to see if they were right. It’s human nature. We have to be right, right?
• Use keywords. Don’t forget the search engines. They are looking for great blogs to highlight, so why not yours?

When I’m writing a blog, I spend far more time thinking of the perfect title than I do writing the actual blog!

For this blog post, I couldn’t decide which title to use – so I used them both. That tactic is not listed on my how-to guide above, so not encouraged. The timer went off and I had to make a commitment. Enough said.

In the end, when creating a killer blog title, I say go with your gut. Sure, follow the guidelines (and there are plenty of them out there), but keep it real. Show the reader your style, your brand’s personality, through your blog titles, and they’ll keep coming back for more.

What killer blog titles have you come up with? Share them with us!

photo: oskay