Writing Good Post Titles

[KristineS]

I just did a post about this topic (http://outdoorbloggerssummit.blogspot.com/2008/09/why-blog-post-titles-matter.html) over on the OBS blog and I thought I'd bring the discussion over here as well.

I'm the Queen of quirky titles. I tend to disregard all the rules of writing useful and effective titles for blog posts. As a refresher course for myself and perhaps to help others, I thought it would be nice to discuss what a blog post title should and could do for your blog.

I'll start us off. One obvious thing a post title can do is draw someone in and make them want to read your post.

What are some other benefits of a good post title?

[vangogh]

Post titles are very important. They can draw someone in like you say. I'm subscribed to a few hundred blogs at the moment. I can't read every post on each and a lot of my decision to read or not is based solely on the post title. If it doesn't draw me in I don't read more.

I'm not sure quirky is the way to go though. The quirkiness often only makes sense after you've read the post. Some people will pass by it and not get to the post. I think a descriptive title that tells someone what's inside works better.

Brian Clark has written some really good post on writing headlines/post titles called How to Write Magnetic Headlines (http://www.copyblogger.com/magnetic-headlines/)

Titles are also very important for search engines. Good seo titles are generally short, use your main keyword phrase, preferably toward the front.

Branding is another aspect of post titles. If you're brand is well know you might want to lead with it in your title. The name recognition can lead to a click. If you're brand isn't well known, which is likely most of us, then I'd recommend adding your company name at the end of your titles to help build your brand. It may not be strong enough to get the click yet, but still it's good to show to reinforce your name.

[the goat]

I'm the Queen of quirky titles.

I love using crazy titles. I am always intrigued by them myself and end up clicking on the strange ones.

A few from some of my last posts on one of my blogs:

Squirrels Are Pricks

Misplaced Man Love

[KristineS]

I know from an SEO standpoint quirky titles aren't the way to go. Still I tend to like them. I guess I probably should do an experiment and follow the rules of title writing for search engines and see if my visibility and subscribers picks up. If that happens, then I'll know I should be making my titles less quirky and more search engine friendly.

[Harold Mansfield]

I think it depends on what kind of blog you are writing.
For personal observations and such, quirky is probably a necessity, especially if humor is your goal.
However, it will not work all the time, and especially if you don't have any readers.

One of my blogs is political commentary and quirky does not work. I find that when I am direct with the point of the article, I tend to get more reads.

ie: "10 Things You Should Know About Sarah Palin"
"114 Things That Are Offensive To Muslims in Western Society"
(Lists are good... "Top 5", "3 Things", etc)

It is especially important if you are bookmarking articles on Digg, Fark, and similar sites. You only have seconds to grab attention so you better make it clear what your point is, or what information you are providing because with all the artcle that are submitted everyday, no one will investigate what you are talking about.

That also brings about another challenge. Very few times is your article completely original if you are writing about current event topics, so your headline should not be misleading, and you have to out wit all the other writers that have written about the same subject with their own spin as to direct any views to your take on the story.

On the other blog, people come looking for information, event updates, and such...."cutesy" titles don't work there either.

If, for instance, DJ Tiesto is appearing at the L.A. Colosseum, the last thing I want to do is miss out on the opportunity to rank in Google for the search. A headline like , "What do Tiesto and the Romans have in common?" ,will be a complete waste. You need as many search terms surrounding that subject as you can get, while still making a legible Headline.

If you are just writing musings, the quirkier the better.

JMO

[vangogh]

Kristine the quirky title thing isn't an seo thing. It's really about getting people to click. Some people might like it, but with a quirly or cutesy title it can be hard to know what you're going to get inside.

One of the main things we're all competing for now is attention. Time is really our only limited resource. Like I said I'm subscribed to a few hundred blogs, most of which are about the same subjects. I only have so much time and I want to be efficient making it through my feeds. Sometimes a quirky title might gain my interest. More often than not it doesn't. Even if it does your open line better get to the point quick and match up with what I was thinking your post was about.

I'm not saying you can't use a quirky title, but I think you take more risk in not having the post read and annoying someone who was thinking your post would be about something else.

Of course it depends on your blog and your audience. If your audience has come to expect quirkiness then they're going to click through.

[KristineS]

Kristine the quirky title thing isn't an seo thing. It's really about getting people to click. Some people might like it, but with a quirly or cutesy title it can be hard to know what you're going to get inside.

One of the main things we're all competing for now is attention. Time is really our only limited resource. Like I said I'm subscribed to a few hundred blogs, most of which are about the same subjects. I only have so much time and I want to be efficient making it through my feeds. Sometimes a quirky title might gain my interest. More often than not it doesn't. Even if it does your open line better get to the point quick and match up with what I was thinking your post was about.

I'm not saying you can't use a quirky title, but I think you take more risk in not having the post read and annoying someone who was thinking your post would be about something else.

Of course it depends on your blog and your audience. If your audience has come to expect quirkiness then they're going to click through.

You do make a good point there, Vangogh. It is easier for people to figure out what a post is about when they can read a title that tells them. I guess I"ll have to consider that too.

[vangogh]

I actually enjoy the quirky titles too and I used to use them when writing and guess I occasionally do. Everything I'm saying here is advice that's been passed on to me and when I thought about it, ti did make sense.

I think there are ways you can still be quirky as long as you're still letting people know what they'll find inside.

[the goat]

One thing I do is use the quirky titles when I publish the post, but then use a search friendly title and meta tags/keywords for what the search engines see. This way the people that check my blog get intrigued by the title but the search engines see something more content relevant.

[vangogh]

That's becoming a more common strategy. People will first write a title to get their subscribers to click and then a few weeks later they'll change the title so it's optimized more for search engines.

[KristineS]

I've seen that advice and I may try it. From what I've read it seems to work.