Your blog post title gets people to read your content. Think of your blog title as a sales agent selling your content to the world. It’s the first thing people see when they come across your content on social media, email and search engines. Without a good headline, no one will read your blog post.

According to Copy Blogger, 80% of your prospects will move on to your competitors who have a catchy header. A blog title has the ability to hook the reader’s attention and elevate your blog post. In this article, I’ll shares tips on how to write the perfect blog post title.

1. Solve a Problem

When drafting a headline, it is important to understand your audience. You don’t want every internet user to read your blog post. You just need your target audience to click through. Who is your audience? What is their age bracket? Most importantly, what is their challenge?

People have their reasons for reading a blog post. The need to solve a pressing problem is at the top of the list. If you have a relationship blog, your headlines should solve problems that may arise in a relationship. Fitness blogs should address problems such as workout, motivation, sports injuries and healthy eating. Click here to learn more about creating a blogging strategy that solves a problem for your audience.

2. Appeal to the Reader Emotions

Humans are emotional beings. According to a study by CoSchedule, clicking a blog post is an emotional decision. Understand the psychology of copywriting. Which words spur your audience? How do you want your reader to feel after reading your blog post? This piece on the principles of persuasion is a great followup read.

How to Appeal to Your Reader’s Emotions

Curiosity

Curiosity doesn’t always kill the cat. It gets you a click through. Curiosity entails your audience having an initial knowledge of the subject. Reel your audience in with a sneak peek that makes them excited to see what’s behind the curtain.

For example: ‘‘They mocked Noah when He Was Building the Ark, but when He Finished…’’ What happened when he finished? Your audience wants to know the full story.

Question

Everyone is searching for an answer. Whether the answer is to a mundane or life-threatening issue, we want answers. Your headline should be a question your reader can empathise with. Questions make them wonder how true the answer is and curious about other people’s opinion. For instance,  your headline could read: ‘’Do Your Cry Yourself to Sleep When You’re Alone?’’

Numbers

People love numbers. Numbers provide a sense of familiarity and help your brain determine how long it would take to read a post. If your headline reads ‘’4 Powerful Ways to Protect Your Sanity’’ Your audience is probably familiar with one of the tips and are curious to know the rest.

3. Language Use

Grammar is important. When your reader sees a grammatical error in your headline, they ask: ‘’how do we trust you if you can’t spell properly?’’ Edit your headline. Make it flawless and free of grammatical errors. For more guidance on grammar errors, read my article on Grammar Mistakes that Ruin Your Credibility.

Stimulating adjectives boosts your headline. Examples of interesting adjectives include:

• Powerful
• Fun
• Painstaking
• Free
• Simple
• Incredible
• Effortless
• Complete
• Essential

3. Don’t Oversell

Desperation is unappealing. Avoid unnecessary exaggeration and click baits. Readers hate click baits. It makes them feel deceived. If you deceive them to click through, they will leave your site and never return.

Beyond click through, you want your audience to spend time reading your blog posts. If your title says, ‘’Take Your Breathe Away,’’ let your content follow through. If you decide to make a grand headline, ensure your content delivers.

4. Pay attention to Blog Title format

You’ve read thousands of blog titles on the internet. Study and analyse how each headline is crafted. What made you click through? Follow headline formulas from authority blogs and site. Consider using the formula for your best performing blog posts.

Some popular headline formulas include:

• ‘’How to’’ headlines that help readers figure out how to do things.
• ‘’The famous comparison’’ headline that lends popularity from famous people. For example, “Singing Lessons I Learned by Watching Adele.”
• ‘’Scarcity’’ headline that promises more. For example, “The Secret of Finding Lasting Love”

5. Keep it Short

How long is the perfect blog post title?  Blog titles with 6-13 words get the most consistent hits and traffic. It’s difficult for search engines to process long headlines.

Be specific. Make your headline short and simple. Condense details and ensure it’s easy to understand at first glance. You don’t want to confuse your reader with long and vague sentences.

6. Tweak until you get it right

David Ogilvy and Gene Schwatz both knew the power of headlines. Schwartz spent an entire week writing the headline and opening sentence. Ogilvy once rewrote a headline 104 times.

Your first title will likely not be the best. That’s okay. Persuasive writing takes time. Challenge yourself to write 20 different blog post titles for each post.

7. Optimize for Search

If you have a blog, you should be familiar with keywords. You must understand how your audience thinks, what they are searching for and the exact words they use. Build your headline around your keyword, but don’t force a keyword into the title. Where possible, keywords should appear closer to the start of the headline.

Do Not…

Ignore You Reader

Unless you’re writing a blog post for yourself, your audience should be top of mind. If the goal of your blog post is to inform and engage your audience, address them in your title. Where the goal is to market your product/services, do it with the reader’s intent.

Try too Hard to be Clever

You are not writing to sound witty and smart but as a source of information. If your headline appears clever while writing, that’s good. If not, don’t push it. While trying to be wise, you might bore your audience with vague words.

Work in Isolation

The best writers get inspiration from other people’s work. Don’t be afraid to look for inspiration wherever you can. Review posts from other writers. They are a fountain of blog ideas and help you understand how your audience thinks. This piece covers blog ideas in detail.

Forget Your Style

Tailoring your blog title to fit your audience does not mean ignoring your personal style. Your headline should resonate with your style of writing. Give room for your voice.

Conclusion

Your headline is the crux of a blog post. It compels the reader to click. You need to get it right. Without traffic, a great blog post is the same as a bad one. Nobody reads it. These tips will help you write a compelling blog title that generates traffic. Practice regularly until you get it right.

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