A Strong Title Helps Your Posts Stand Out

When a reader lands on your homepage, or sees a post being shared on a social networking site, most people won’t bother clicking if the title is bland.

Sure, the post content needs to be great too. But if you’re writing boring post titles, you’re not giving potential readers a reason to click through.

A strong title is what grabs someone’s attention, and what draws them in to click on your link.

Make the Most of Limited Space

Great post titles give people a reason to click through. If a post is shared on Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus, the title is the first – and possibly only – thing they’ll see.

On Twitter, you’ll have to work even harder, due to the limited number of characters. You’ve got 140 characters to sell your latest post. If you want people to retweet your post, you shouldn’t use all 140 characters – leave at least 20 characters free.

If you use those characters with a title like “Random Thoughts” or “Wordless Wednesday”, you’re wasting your breath.

Three Quick Tips

Here are three quick tips to make your titles stand out:

Be concise – say it with fewer words. On Twitter this is especially important as you have a set number of characters. On your blog, long post titles look silly. Keep them brief. “Make Your Posts Stand Out” is better than “Here Are Loads Of Incredibly Awesome Ways To Make All Of Your Posts Stand Out – You’ll Never Miss A Reader Again! Honest!“
Capture the idea of the post in your title. If I can’t figure out what’s behind the link from your title, it’s not going to push me to click on it. Don’t be overly obscure – people are more likely to ignore you than click to find out if your post says more than your title. “10 Great WordPress Plugins” is a good example.
Don’t give away too much. Being clear is good, but you can also be coy. “What’s Apple Releasing Today?” is a good example.