Blog post titles - getting it right
The truth is that you could write a fantastic post but if you give it the wrong title the post won’t get readers. One of the most important things when you’re writing a post for your blog is choosing a effective title. When I say effective it has to:
1 Be easily found by search engines.
The best way to get more traffic to your blog is for your blog posts to come high in natural searches. Therefore you have to use relevant keywords in your title. It’s better to use the keywords at the start of your title as they’ll be found more quickly and in case the post url is shortened. Search engines also reward titles which relate to the content of the post. Personally I find it’s really annoying to read a post which has very little to do with its title. The title has just been used to draw you in.
I recently wrote about how I use data from Wordpress Stats to help compose titles by looking at the most frequently used search terms and then trying to incorporate these terms into the post title. You can also look at the most popular post titles and see if they have anything in common which you can use in future blog post titles.
2 Make someone who glances at the title become keen to read your post.
When your blog post comes high in a natural search you want to compel that potential reader to visit your blog and read the full post. The post has to entice the potential reader by offering then something of value and/or benefit to them, whether that be useful tips, information about a product/service they are thinking of purchasing or entertainment.
When a first time visitor comes to your blog they are likely to either scroll down or look at the recent posts list in your sidebar to see what type of posts you write. You want to make that first timer think that your blog is full of useful, interesting and informative posts so that they become regular readers. Blog visitors may also use the search box in your blog to find posts, so again using popular search times in titles will mean that visitors to your blog can find a selection of relevant posts.
I have the titles and first line of my most recent blog posts from my travel blog displayed on the homepage of my travel website. If I want site visitors to read my blog, the titles have to attract readers attention.
I’ve tried to fulfil both these criteria in the title of this post. It should be found by search engines because the title says it’s about “blog post titles” and this exactly describes the content of my post. I aim to attract potential readers attention because I offer them tips/advice which will benefit them by assisting them in composing more effective blog post titles.
