9 Ways to Write Killer Titles That ConvertDo you struggle to come up with catchy titles? Hitchcock intended to terrify audiences with Wimpy before the title was transformed into Psycho, and executives cringed at The Ship of Dreams, then whipped it into Titanic.
I’ve crawled hundreds of posts from blogs in the digital space covering topics like SEO, creative design, and copywriting to discover nine title traits which result in posts with particularly high numbers of social shares. How many of these do you consider when writing post titles?
Tips, Ways, Tricks, Techniques, and Secrets - Be transparent in what type of content your post offers. Many posts offer up valuable information in the form of “secrets” or “tips” to help people gain insight quicker.
Number - People want to know exactly how many ideas they’ll absorb if they bother clicking through to your post, so offer a summary count in the title.
Scare Tactics - Not the most pleasant tactic, but a negative tone can work well to spook the target market enough to spur them on to read your post.
Power Adjectives and Adverbs – The jazz hands of the grammar world. Adjectives and adverbs make things that aren’t exciting seem exciting. Some of my favourites include: killer, awesome, converting, awesome, easy, simple, and crazy.
Time and Money - People pay attention when big numbers are thrown around. Incorporating financial figures shows hard evidence of value backing up data so it’s more reliable. Sharing how much time will be saved or lost in a post title also illustrates the significance of your content in an easy to measure way we can all relate to.
Question - Readers are inclined to respond to questions, so don’t forget the 5 W’s: Who, What, Where, When, Why, and their little friend How. Of course, this is also a good way to match your content with popular search queries.
Vague New Words and Terms - Sometimes, it’s the unfamiliar that breeds curiosity. For instance, I recently wrote a post called How to Measure Your Link Spread. Link spread may not be a known term, but most people in digital circles can imagine it’s something to do with the topography of one’s link profile.
Target Market - Name the target market in the front of the title, so readers who identify with the piece can read it easily.
Celebrity - Incorporating a major celebrity is a good starting point, as it aligns the content with someone the target audience is familiar with. Do keep in mind that incorporating celebs can shorten the lifespan and relevance of your post, as a chosen popular icon falls out of favour with time.
A few more options I noticed that did particularly well include these areas:
- 101 beginners guides
- Technical how to’s
- Announcement of a new event
- Anything about a new buzz word
What rules do you stick to when writing titles? Are there any patterns you’ve noticed in successful blog posts? Tell us what’s worked for you in the comment section below!
Hello Chelsea Blacker,
Really very helpful ideas to create eye catchy titles. Title is the first impression of article in the eyes of reader. Good title is the Face & soul of the article. Google & all web now changed from links to content. Good content is the food for search engines.
Bookmarked & Sent your article to my content team to learn new things. Keep posting :)
Thanks v much Sourabh, I entirely agree – first impressions are key both online and off!
Great post. I’ve found ‘how to’ guides very effective, as well as the ‘number’ tactic. I probably over use awesome and easy!
Thanks for sharing.
Kate
I know what you mean Kate, it’s difficult to come up with new “power adjectives” as I’ve called them – but at the end of the day if this is what your users are identifying with in their language (don’t we use the same 100 words in like, 70% of our conversation each day?) I’d stay at it with awesome and easy!
Nice post Chelsea,
I’ve noticed that titles that features numbers associated to “ways”, “howts’s” and “guides” have a much higher CTR. I believe this is because people, in Internet, like to read lists instead of whole articles. Lists are much more scannable and leggibile. Visitors don’t invest much time in reading the whole article but rather jump directly y]to the section they’re interested in, so a number in the title identify that type of article that people are looking for.
Thanx Sandro, I’m on board with you about “easy scanning.”
My granny, Grandma Blacker, always says that blog posts (oh yes, she reads them!) are too short and she doesn’t like the bullet point aspect. But moving forward with our fast paced lives/juggling multiple apps and interactions – simplified reading is key. Don’t forget, I believe most Americans are at the reading level of an 8th grader as sighted here by the National Centre for Education Statistics:
http://askville.amazon.com/average-reading-grade-level-United-States-verifiable-statistic-source/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=9491858
Anything with lists, power words like ‘ultimate’ the ‘one-stop’ or ‘definitive’ have worked well for me. In entertainment niches, the wackier the title, the more viral it’s potential can be.
Thanx for the tip Dev, it seems to me the entertainment niches put up with a lot more fun/creative/silly (all individual point of view of course!) content than others. You’re fortunate to have have freedom in that playful end of the spectrum.
Great tips! I will definitely be using these ideas when writing my future blog posts. Well done!
Thank you Jared!
Great tips! Well written :)
I’ve seen that powerful words tends to work well too. But all in all testing your niche and specific audience and distribution platforms are essential.
Thanks Samuel, your point rings well with Dev’s above. Definitely have to get the audience profile(s) right before hand. My tips are based on writing in the digital sphere, as that’s where my research was focused. :)
Brilliant explanation I spend hardly 10 minutes to read them all and at the same time understands them well. Thanks for not wasting my time :)
Karim, that’s the kindest compliment! Thank you :)
Here is something quick and digesting , I loved the tips , it was short and concise , I normally use some tools to analyze titles like http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/ ( Title analyser or headline analyzer) but till the time you have not written something gr8 the tool wont help , your tips are giving a newbie a direction i.e. how to write a title. …… great post I have shared it on my companies Facebook page you can also go n like it :) if you wish to :
https://www.facebook.com/XHTMLJunctionFans
That tool is fun, thanx for sharing! I seem to be writing “spiritual” and “emotive” headlines.
Great post… This is what I am looking for.. thanks for the above tips for create a great title for blog post.