Blog Post Titles that Stick Like Peanut Butter
Have you ever seen what happens when somebody sticks peanut butter to the roof of a dog’s mouth?
While I don’t in anyway condone this cruel trick, I have seen it done and it’s rather entertaining.
For some odd reason my mind compares this to writing blog titles that grab people’s attention.
I learned the power of writing good titles when I was in the newspaper business, where alliteration, titillation and fitting a title to the given column space were emphasized.
Following are a few tips to follow when trying to come up with your blog post titles.
To the Point but Offbeat
On my How Did I Do It? Web site, the most popular story has the title “Plant a Butterfly Garden”, which sounds ridiculous, but its offbeat; while others may write stories about butterflies, flower gardens and the like, I haven’t seen any others about an actual butterfly garden … well, now I will since you’ll probably use it in your next do it yourself, home improvement blog post title!
Also, it is important that you do not mislead the reader. Unlike tricking a dog into thinking he’s getting a treat, the peanut butter you feed your blog reader had better taste good and be what he’s expecting.
Put Keywords Up Front
The importance of keyword placement in web site content has been beaten to death by search engine optimization gurus, but keywords are still the only real way search engines can tell what your content is about.
There are a couple of aspects to placement of keywords in your web page title. First, put the 1 or 2 keywords that best represent the topic as close to the beginning of your page title as possible. Second, you might want to select keywords that you have researched and have reasonable certainty will get search engine queries.
Keep It Short
Take a little time when you write titles to consider options and how to cut out words like “a”, “the” and the like. The more space you insert between your keywords, the more you dilute them.
Unless you have a really creative, attention-getting idea for a long title such as “Why SEO Experts Are Completely Full of Crap” or “My Mom Makes a Million Dollars a Year on Her SEO Blog”, you are better off keeping it short and to the point.
Peanut Butter That Really Sticks
Some techniques for writing better blog titles are proven to catch readers’ attention on social sites, news sites and others that might be likely to pick up your story:
- Lists - People love lists and they’re easy to make up. Just think; “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover”, “Top Ten Things I Hate about Britney Spears” or “Five SEO Experts Who Don’t Know Crap”.
- How To - Often, people are on the Net looking for information on how to do something; “Plant a Butterfly Garden”, “Design a Wordpress Theme” or “Stick Peanut Butter to the Roof of a Dog’s Mouth”.
- Secrets Revealed - We all want the inside scoop; it’s what makes you the most popular person at the office water cooler. Think National Enquirer here; “Britney Spears Lectures on Semiconductor Physics”. I’m not making that one up by the way; Google it and see for yourself!
- A Deal You Can’t Pass Up - Everybody loves a deal and the Internet has become the bargain hunter’s oasis, so if your site has something to sell, offer them a deal they can’t say no to.
- Shock and Awe - Like slowing down on the freeway to rubber neck an auto accident, people can’t help but read something shocking; it’s the oldest trick in the Title Writer’s arsenal really. “The Coming Mortgage Crisis”, “Google Stock Goes Down 3%” or “Britney Spears To Have Sex Change Operation”.
- Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) - FUD is another great way to get people to read something; if they believe they could lose money, get sick or die unless they read your web page, they just have to read it!
While these techniques are good ideas to help you get started writing better blog titles, the main thing is to be yourself, have something interesting to say and say something people will want to read.
The most important thing to successful blogging is to write frequently and not worry about trying to make every post or every title a huge success; you’ll have plenty that bomb and some that strike the hearts of your readers and make it big!
And, if you need some inspiration, just look online and find something popular that you can use as a good idea starter for your next blog title.
