Grabbing a readers attention is a vital aspect to composing a blog post. Many people actually overlook this part of writing and copywriters are making a small fortune off “dressing” up post to make them more effective.
Obviously, if no one clicks on your post you milds well be writing to the air. In terms of measuring your post effectiveness there are a number or things that come into play. In this article I hope to show you some ways to improve your blog post.
Your Blog Post Title’s Shouldn’t Be Lame
It’s been said that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. However, with a blog post people judge your article by its title, which is really the “cover” of your article. For instance, if you title is lame no one will read your content which makes it a complete waste of time (unless you like writing to the error).
So how do you make your title pop?
To answer that question I will be referencing a book I read by Dan Kennedy. For those of you that don’t know who he is; he’s a copywriter that charges 150k – 2 million per sales copy that he writes (so he knows a thing or two about writing). While this article really isn’t about sales copies but the fundamental knowledge from sales copy still applies to blogging.
I have learned over the years what works and what doesn’t. If you’re struggling to make your titles effective I would pick up a copy of Cosmopolitan magazine. No, you don’t have to read it (unless you want to), but what you do need to do is take note of the titles. They make you want to read it no matter what the article is about. Take these headlines for example:
- 9 Soul-Crushing Facebook Stalking Fails Everyone Makes
- 6 Coworkers No One Warns You About
- Why My Wedding Won’t Be The Best Day Of My Life
Google – Titles & Descriptions
So your title is the difference between a high CTR and low CTR in Google. Obviously, if you have good content Google will reward you for it. All to commonly, I see stuff on Google that could be improved upon.
In fact, SEO companies are making a small fortune by adjusting titles for clients, which people could easily do themselves. I know this because I run a SEO company :)
You need to make your titles with your keywords in them (closer to the beginning for optimum SEO), but make it something that invokes a thought in someone’s head. For instance, lets take an example of the keywords “buy bearded dragons online”. How can me make this something that someone really wants to click on? Here are a couple of examples:
- “Buy Stunning Bearded Dragons – Rare Morphs & High Quality Reptiles”
- “Buy Bearded Dragons Online – Your Friends Will Ask Where You Got It”
- “Amazing Bearded Dragons – Buy The Rarest Reptiles Online”
Next, your description is one area you need to strongly consider revamping or doing correctly. The basic idea behind this is you should make a couple sentences with your keywords in them that entices web viewers to click on your title and come to your site. Sure “over the top” does work, but make sure you don’t make the mistake of overdoing it by stuffing your keywords into the description tab.
What I tend to do is write 10-15 descriptions and then pick the one that grabs my attention. It might take a little time, but can drastically increase your CTR. Remember that your description should be clear and to the point. You get 2 sentences to write something that is descriptive and you really need to put some careful thought into it.
Sub Headings – Don’t Be Boring
Ok, so now that we know how to get people to want to read your article; now we need to utilize sub headings to make our post attractive and cater to those skimmers on the net?
It’s been said that people don’t read on the internet they skim, and if something catches their eye they’ll then take the time to read your content. So, lets take a hypothetical article I have written on “The Penguin Update & SEO.”
How can we make “The Penguin Update & SEO” more exciting? Something like “6 Atrocious Ways Penguin Pecked At Your Google Rankings.” Then a subheading that says “8 Simple Fixes – Post Penguin”. Then another subheading that says “Don’t Quit After Penguin There Is Still Hope”. Then another subheading “Checklist For Recovering Your Rankings”.
Basically, the idea behind sub headings is your viewers should be able to tell what your blog post is about without actually reading it. It should be 4 sentences that you can read and decide if you want to read the entire article or just specific parts of it. Here is a useful post that contains 43 powerful headline ideas.
Clearly, you can see that blog titles, sub headings, and descriptions are a key component to a blog post. Have you found yourself just winging it with your blog post? I would highly consider that you start doing it right or overhaul your blog post to make them more enticing to your readers.
Are there any tips that you could add to this post? I would love to hear your comments down below!
You’ve made me realize Ive been focusing too much on the keyword itself rather than creating attractive sub categories for my blog posts. Thanks for the tips!
You are right Garen
If your blog title is not attractive no one click on it or want to read it. If you make this title s attractive and eye catching people love to read further post. that all because of your eye catching titles.
Thank you for this post Garen
Nikhil :)
As an avid reader of different blogs, I have to admit that I usually do not continue reading if I am not too caught up with the title. A title really makes a lot of difference. These tips are surely very helpful.
I do agree, changing up your boring titles can drive tons of traffic to your site. Thank for all the pointers and tips on this post! Will be sharing with my blog community :-)
Yes you are correct. I have spoiled almost 2 year for my msoffice blog. Recently I have corrected all titles, search title, headings. I have seen traffic has jumped up to 200%.
Hi Garen,
It is pretty cool that bloggers like you are sharing this with all the blogger community.
Well, Thanks a lot for your words and sharing your knowledge.
After all, Sharing is Caring.
Thanks once again.
Yeah I know , But I just wanted some suggestions from professionals.
Your Views Please ? :)
Hello Garen,
I found your very informative also here so many people’s give comments With having Tips. Because i am newly to this field a little little tips can help me to growth my blogging. Thanks to you.
great ,title for every post plays very important role in case of driving tips.i am agree woth you.
My Blog title is ” Blogging Reloaded “. Can anyone suggest me please how is it ?
Yeah, I think it’s fairly obvious if you write boring stuff people will react accordingly. However, if you go over the top I tend to steer clear of the article. Certain words should ring alarm bells, “FANTASTIC!”, of “TERRIFIC!”, and anything with an exclamation mark!!!
I couldnt agree more with this article. Indeed, the title should seasoned to increase the CTR rate in Google and other places!
With the tips mentioned in this post, I believe im good to go.
Thanks for sharing
I have been writing articles on many sites since early 2001 and the one thing that I have not been able to get right is the titles of my posts. I have always worked on the basis that simple is best, but it seems I have got it wrong all these years.
So I wrote an article on my blog about making money from your comments section and I came up with the title “How I Make Money from the Comments on my Blog”, would you have worded it differently?
Really It’s a great experience for me to read this post which help me to learn something new and interesting. Thanks for your explanation. ;)
Right on point with this post. Titles are critical for anyone to click and read your article. I often think of myself and what I click on and it’s the title that grabs my attention all the time. The article doesn’t even have to be good for you to make someone read it (this doesn’t mean that you should be writing bad quality content). Sometimes I read such garbage only because the title promised a lot.
I guess the most important thing is the title and then over the top interesting, useful and helpful content in the body. That way people will not only click on your article to read it, but also become a loyal follower and come back for more.
Hey Garen, awesome post dude this is the most important thing which has to be considered while write a post. Since the visitors mostly get attracted through the titles.
Hey Garen! Nice comprehensive post on importance of post titles. You’ve nicely mentioned how important it is to have a unique and thought provoking headings. If something is very attractive or pops up something in mind at the first sight itself then the user is sure to check it out immediately. The link between the heading and summary should be fashionable. Loved it….your points
Really nice tips Arnold,
Your post titles does alot, even when you don’t make top spot in Google search which has about 70% conversion rate. You can snap a larger percentage from the left over with an eye-grabbing title.
Great tips, I know in theory I should spend more time working on my titles but I don’t always put enough effort in – will try to do so in the future!
Today Post at ABT remind me one thing. I’ve read previously on ABT a post about WordPress VS Blogger.
Compare to WordPress, Blogger Post titles are not SEO Friendly By Default and lack possibilities for Googlers to get traffic.
Very to the point Article, thank you. I sometimes fall in that same category of writing what is in my head and heart, and not focus on an Eye Catching Title. And I guess it really is about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, and ask: Would I click on this if I were searching or browsing online? Great Share Garen!
Great tips and this article really made me read the entire article without skipping. The content flow was amazing and instantly captures and hold the attention.
Thanks for the sharing.
Obviously! Without an impressive title you cannot expect better results. Only titles and images can develop the interest of the users. :)
wow definitely a great post for we the bloggers but when you are talking about the headlines one must take care that it must seek the attention of others to bring visitors towards your blog thats the key thing.
Nice article Garen.
Titles are very important for a blog post. Even a good SEO title can get you high rankings in Google and give you high CTR.
Cheers :)
Totally agree with your content.. I was facing this problem when i first started my blogs after a lots of research i came to know eye catchy title must be there in our article to grab the attention of the reader.. You have explained this in a good way.. thanks for sharing.. :)
I totally agree with you regarding the matter of titles . You have shared something unique information related to titles which we will not be able to get from anywhere else.
Titles play very important role , but i was not aware of this .
Hey Garen, you’re definitely right, having a good blog title is very important and can greatly impact the success of one’s blog.
Hi Garen
You are right. I think if your post title is attractive then it can bring more unique visitor and if content in it are well arranged by heading and subheadings and have quality then you can make those unique visitors into subscriber. Thanks for sharing it.
Totally agree with you. But while using – or comma or :, it hurts SEO according to my plugin i am currently using WordPress kindly help me how can i get rid of this thing.
Hey Allii,
But using hypens and commas in titles is the best factor to separate the words when compare to other special characters.
Hi Garen,
I guess title with numbers are more likely to get more clicks then any other type of titles. Plus you should also use rich snippets to ensure maximum CTR.
Hi Garen good to see you here. All your points are really helpful for me and I want to add one more. Your headline must have an offer of clear benefit to readers to make them click on it.
You are right. Post title is the main thing that attracts users towards your website. It makes you lead the competition. I completely agree with the use of sub-headings. Sub-headings make the post look perfect, easy to read and understand. Nice article. Keep it up
Yes… you are correct.