3 Tips For Creating An Awesome Blog Headline
Do you write your blog headline before or after your post? How much care and attention do you place on it?
If you don’t spend the time getting your headline right, then you may as well not bother writing the article!
People always skim headings, and if your headline is not strong enough to capture their attention right from the word go, then they could be lost!
Don’t believe me? Take a look at this quote by CopyBlogger
“On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest.”.
That’s a pretty scary ratio and one which really should be given more thought. Do you think it’s worth sweeping this under the carpet, or actually giving it the attention that it deserves?
So how do you know what to include in
your blog headline?
A blog headline is made up of only a few words, but those few words can be far more important than the 1,000 in your blog post.
Of course I am not saying that you can write absolute rubbish, but you should be aiming for a KILLER HEADLINE as well as killer content.
Image courtesy of jesadaphorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
1. Let Your Readers Know What To Expect
Your blog headline is the one thing that tells your readers what the content is about and what they will learn from you. You need to excite your readers enough to click on your content.
In a nutshell you should be concentrating on two things:
1. What is your post about?
2. What message are you trying to covey?
For example, take a look at these two headlines:
“10 Ways To Improve Your SEO”
“Using SEO In Your Blog Post”.
The first headline is attention grabbing, because it promises you something. If you are struggling with SEO, it is likely you will want to click on this title.
The second headline explains what the article is about, but does little to entice you to read on.
2. Be Concise
You don’t have a lot of words to play around with in a blog headline, so you really need to get to the point sharpish. A long winded headline will not attract readers and you really don’t want to bore them before they have even finished reading the title!
Headlines with 8 words of less are more likely to capture people’s attention. You need to give enough to entice your readers but without going overboard and writing a paragraph.
Likewise, you don’t want to write a headline that is too short. For example if you were writing about SEO, you would not simply write “SEO”.
What does this mean….SEO what?
Are you telling me how to undertake SEO?
Are you talking about the important aspects of SEO?
Are you talking about how to set up your blog effectively for SEO?
This headline tells you nothing about the post or why you should read on.
3. Include A Keyword
Including a keyword in your blog headline is important for SEO purposes. The headline will be in the URL of your post and this is what will help search engines to rank your page.
Headlines can be very important for gaining traffic from the search engines, so including a keyword is essential.
Make a point of actually thinking about your headline, before you hit publish! Give your headline the time and attention it deserves because this is what will be bringing readers to your post.
Ignore your headline and people will most certainly ignore your post! Keep your headline short and to the point and make it a statement that people are really going to want to connect with.
Summary of What Makes An Awesome Blog Headline
An awesome blog headline will bring readers to your post and excite their curiosity. In order to write an awesome headline you should ensure the following;
* You include no more than 10 words
* It immediately captures readers attention
* It makes your reader want to know more
* You make a promise of providing value
* It explains what your post content is about
* It is relevant to the subject post
If you are not happy with your blog headline, then simply don’t publish it.
If your headline would not make YOU want to click on it, the chances are that other people won’t either.
Keep changing it up until you find one that GRABS YOUR ATTENTION.
How much thought do you give to your blog headline?
Do you have any great headline tips?
Please share your thoughts with us below.
Related Posts :
Written by Catherine Holt
Catherine Holt is the founder of Blogging Tips 101. She has been an internet marketer since 2012. Connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, Google and Pinterest.
I absolutely agree with your 3 points Catherine. With the keyword in title, it’s not only good for SEO. It also quickly attracts the reader who can instantly see what he’s looking for in the article.
It’s only bad if the title is misleading. Some bloggers do that and that ends up killing their blogs
Do have a wonderful week and thanks for the useful post Catherine
Thanks Enstine. I agree, a misleading title is not going to do you any favors. If your readers are not provided with what they are promised, then trust can not be built. Think about the content, and write a meaningful title.
Thanks for your thoughts
Great post Catherine. And oh so true. if you don’t catch them with the title, they won’t be reading your post.
I’ve always heard, from copywriting that Curiosity of one the biggest when it comes to headlines. If I remember that right. Although that might be tough to accomplish with a blog.
One other thing that I keep saying that I am going to do, and I have not done yet, is to test blog titles. There is a plugin, though I can’t remember the name, that lets you slit test your titles.
Not only could it improve your titles, but it could give ideas for future titles, based on ones that worked well in the past. Just a thought
That sounds like an interesting plugin Ron! Split testing works on a number of things, so there is no reason why it shouldn’t work on titles too. Thanks for your input
Hello Catherine!
You are so right about people getting attracted because of the title.. Speaking for myself this is one area I strongly a lot. you might write a nice content but the title would put off potential viewers.. it is always recommended to consider giving your content an awesome catchy title …
Regards
Dok Simon
Absolutely Dok. Make it short, catchy and enticing and you will see the results
Thanks for stopping by!
A great article Catherine. Your headline certainly excited me enough to want to read more!
That’s great to hear Julie ….. yeye
It is certainly worth spending some time on the headlines to get them right!
Thanks for stopping by
[…] everyday whether we realize it or not. The most important part of your content is the Headline. When creating a headline, it is important to create it in a way that catches readers attention, bring about the desired […]
Hi Catherine,
Great post there, I totally agree that if the headline of the post is passive then you can’t expect the readers to read your post. A catchy headline is really important especially when you are writing quality content.
- Rohit
A headline certainly needs to capture the readers attention. If you fail to excite them, then you are unlikely to get them to read the rest of the post. It would be a shame to write an awesome post and let it down by a dull headline.
Thanks for your comment
Sure headlines are very crucial. They can make or break things because they give the first impression to the readers.
After reading the headline, readers decide whether they should open your post or not.
The headline is the first thing that readers see, and can also be the last! If your heading is not enough to entice readers to the post then you may as well kiss the content goodbye. It is certainly worth spending some time and effort in getting that headline right!
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, much appreciated
[…] read some pretty stellar articles about headlines recently, one of them at Blogging Tips 101 and one at Successful Blogging. Each one has some really great ideas to help get you started if […]