“Don’t judge a book by its cover”, a metaphor going back to the 1800s, hasn’t stopped people from doing the opposite. Cut to the new age where your blog is the book and well, the search engine is its cover – a level playing field for all. But what spikes interest in your audience (or makes them ignore your blog), is the headline it carries.
What is so special about a blog post title apart from being the welcome mat to your website? A blog post headline captures its audience’s pain points, gives a slight taste of the topic, and caps off with intrigue.
Most copywriters and content strategists pay key emphasis to blog headlines and titles from a technical point of view – the keywords and all that – but they often forget that title’s objective is to crunch up a full-sized blog into a few characters. So a writer must find out the sweet spot between all the factors and make it happen.
Let’s decode the importance of blog post titles and as promised, delve into the ingredients for a blog post title that keeps all its stakeholders happy.
The Importance of Blog Post Headlines
While we can go on and on about how pivotal a blog post title is, its purpose boils down to three main objectives:
-To capture your audience’s attention
-To keep the SEO Gods at peace, and
-To create a sense of hype in the reader’s mind
Now let’s delve into this trifecta.
Your audience won’t care to click on a blog that doesn’t engage them in the first place. It might be full of keywords and addressing their pain points, but it all counts for naught if your targetted readers don’t visit it in the first place.
Your blog title might have all the sizzle, but no steak in terms of helping your readers get answers to what they want. This is a big no-no and leaves them repulsive to your website content – and of course, first impressions can be the last.
Everything else might be great, but if the title doesn’t appeal to the SEO titans, it is not going to crawl on the Search Engine Ranking Pages aka SERPs. Too many marketers make their titles too cute to be effective.
Now that we’ve made you panicky enough to rethink your last blog title, let’s find ways to make it better so that it covers all corners of the trifecta. Here are the ingredients to a perfect blog title – you can sauce it up to your audience’s taste.
Five Ingredients to Getting the Perfect Blog Title
-Telling your readers what they wish to hear
A good salesperson always plans on adding value to their prospects’ lives. Since your blog is the first step into the funnel for many of its readers, the title itself must showcase itself as the solution to their problems. A sense of affirmation (or fright) goes a long way in the reader’s minds and once they are on the blog, your content should do its job.
-Knitting a story without giving out spoilers
But you also can’t be too kind and give everything away in 60 to 100 characters. It is your blog’s objective to solve all problems – not the blog title’s. Sometimes this involves being a tease and giving away just enough so that they walk into your website. Your blog can then culminate into a wholesome end by answering their questions.
-Optimizing titles based on search intent
It’s the new decade, and most people just ask Google, Amazon, and Alexa queries in a conversational tone rather than typing them out. Hence, your title must be optimized not just for a particular keyword, but for its search intent.
For instance, our audience reaches this blog looking for ways to write an amazing blog title. This involves searching “how to write a good blog title”, “getting the perfect blog title”, or even “what does a good blog title look like?”. Hence, the title should be optimized for your audience’s intent.
-Treating numbers and statistics like cheat codes
It is amazing to see how the human mind works when it sees numbers and statistics in a blog post title. Look at the two headlines below:
–Lionel Messi has won the GOAT Debate over Cristiano. Here’s Why…
-10 Statistical Reasons that show Why Lionel Messi has won the GOAT Debate
Unless you’re team CR7, in which case you won’t like either of these headlines, you’ll know that the second one is more clickable to the human mind. If you can back up a blog post title with numbers, they instantly amplify its appeal. Numbers and stats also make the blog intent clear and give the readers an idea of what they are clicking into.
-Ensuring the right keyword placement
As explained above, the SEO Gods still have all the authority in the Web3 world to decide where your blog page ranks. And to cap off the holy trifecta, the keywords you are aiming for must be the backbone of your blog post title. After all, even the target audience will come looking for answers to their questions based on that very keyword – which is why it can’t be ignored.
Ready to Write Your Next Catchy Blog Title?
If you want people to read your blog, a catchy title can make all the difference. These pointers can help you write a title that will pique the reader’s interest and entice them to read your content. Remember that a great title should not only grab readers’ attention but should also represent the blog’s theme.
Keep that thread in mind, loop it into the holy trifecta, and say “hail mary” to the SEO Gods. You should be through. For more marketing tips, subscribe to the PIXL newsletter and get them straight into your inbox!
