5 Reasons to Not Use a Planner
How to Create a Summer Menu That's Always Frozen
Why I No Longer Eat Turtle
Numbers, Hows, and Whys seem to be the trend. The theory is that these titles get people to click. You apparently get bonus points for sensationalist headlines.
Yes, those things do improve clicks.
But blogging is not only about getting random clicks off the internet.
Blogging is about creating a relationship with your audience and giving them quality advice and reading material. Your title choices should reflect the trust that your readers give you.
*Use proper capitalization.
I suggest Capitalize My Title. You just type in the title and it does the capitalization for you. If you get capitalization (or spelling or grammar) wrong, you lose credibility.
Confession: One of my most popular Pins ever had a typo in the blog name. Oops.
*Make sure your title reflects the content honestly.
"5 Reasons to Not Use a Planner" is a great title for a technology calendar post, but not for a Filofax post.
*Keep it short.
People decide whether or not to read your blog in seconds. Put enough in there for your title to make sense, but don't make your title too complicated for a quick glance.
*Reserve sensationalist titles for sensational stuff.
If you only highlight really exciting or tantalizing stuff occasionally, readers will trust that you are not pretending or tricking them into reading.
*Understand that trends change.
If every blog on Facebook starts with "5 Ways to...," people stop clicking on those links. Save a number of ways or reasons for things that are actually better as a list. Reserve "How to..." for actual tips and processes. For everything else, just focus on clear communication and honesty.
The bottom line is that you don't want fly-by readers. You want people to read your blog because they enjoy it and because you are a trustworthy source of information and entertainment. Choose your titles with that in mind.
Remember, if you enjoy Giftie Etcetera, share on social media. It's the nicest compliment that you can pay to me.
Etcetera.
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Good tips.
ReplyDeleteI hate when a title or headline doesn't deliver what it promises, like your "why you shouldn't use a planner" example. Don't trick me - just tell me what it's about.
My blog titles are pretty boring because I want my readers to know exactly what they're getting.
Patty, I like your blog titles :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post, and I love your title capitalization resource!
ReplyDeleteAll the newspapers ever should read this, ha. Especially online news sites and their sensational titles that never deliver. So terrible, ha! I've noticed a lot of bloggers do this as well - crazy awesome sounding titles for something that is just common knowledge stuff said in a different way. I understand you want them clicks, but I will never return to that blog because, to me, they cannot be trusted!
ReplyDeleteI'm horrible at blog titles, and a lot of mine aren't anything amazing, but I can't call them "life changing" or "amazing" since I don't have those kinds of tips yet, ha.