It doesn’t matter how much time, love and effort you put into a blog post, how beautifully articulate your words or how exquisite your photos are if nobody wants to read it. And the thing that makes someone want to stop scrolling through Twitter or Pinterest and click on your blog post? The title. The title’s job is to get people’s attention, so if your title isn’t doing it’s job, you could be losing out on a TON of views. So let’s talk catchy blog post titles.
Photo by Ella Jardim on Unsplash
We are bombarded with new content on our feeds every single day. Thousands and thousands of posts people are putting out onto the internet, all competing for our attention.
So, what makes catchy blog post titles?
Well, lots of things can make a catchy blog post title. “My Dog Saved My Grandma From Drowning in the Bath With Aubergine” is kinda catchy and might make me wanna click through to read about the good boy who saved a Grandma. When it comes to blogging, there are LOADS of ways to create catchy blog post titles. So let’s look at some of the different ways we can grab readers attention with our titles:
No clickbait!
Let’s just get this out of the way, first and foremost. Nobody likes clickbait. Not a damn soul. Luckily, I think clickbait is something you see MUCH more on YouTube than you do in blog post titles (and I can instantly think of a certain famous YouTube family who love their clickbaity titles) but if you’re known to clickbait, chances are, you’ll be losing views from it because readers already know not to expect what you’re offering in the title.
Numbers make catchy blog post titles
We love a number over here on Jenny in Neverland. Not only are numbers a great way to structure a blog post and make it easier on the reader to digest, they’re also GREAT for titles. Numbers can be used in catchy blog post titles in a variety of ways:
How To ___ In (X) Different Ways
(X) Ways To ___
are two obvious examples and using numbers in a different way in your blog post titles will also stop your titles getting too repetitive. The above examples could easily be used for the same blog post. For example, “How To Grow Your Blog Following in 10 Different Ways” or “10 Ways To Grow Your Blog Following”. It just gives you a bit of range when it comes to creating your titles.
How to blog posts
How To blog posts are great because they offer helpful advice that someone has likely purposely searched for. Your How To posts also have to give what is promised to the reader. For example, you can’t title a blog post, “how to make money blogging” without giving the reader any solid advice on how to make money blogging.
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Most of us have Google “How to ___” in the past. So we all already know the need for these sort of blog posts is there. It’s just about executing them to the highest standard – title included. You could write the most AMAZING blog post on “How To Bake The Perfect Lemon Cheesecake” but if it doesn’t specify in the title then you’re missing out on a huge audience.
Again with the numbers posts, how to post titles can obviously get a bit repetitive so you might need to get a bit creative with your “how to” catchy blog post titles. Instead, try variations of these:
How To ___ In (X) Easy Steps
How To ___ Effortlessly
How to create catchy blog post titles continued:
Use a list in your catchy blog post title
A list post will ALWAYS generate a decent amount of traffic. Going back to the point about numbers, a list post is very likely to have a number in the title which tells the reader 2 things before they even CLICK on your post:
- It will be an easy post to digest – they already know they’re not going to be bombarded with huge chunks of text which has been proven to put people off reading a whole blog post
- Readers know that it won’t be time consuming because with list posts, they’re easy to skim over and only focus on the points you’re actually interested in
A list can be anything but again, we still need a catchy blog post title to make people want to CLICK on your list. For example, a list post about different herbs to use in cooking could be quite an interesting, helpful and informative blog post but “7 herbs to use” isn’t a title that’ll make people think it’s worth reading. Whereas:
“The Ultimate List of Herbs to Use In Your Cooking This Summer”
“7 Exciting Herbs To Use In Your Cooking That’ll Make Your Dinner Guests Beg For More!”
…are definitely more clickable titles. Both of these examples are different in that one of them states very clearly that “this is a list” and the other just provides a number of the amount of points readers can expect in the list. As we know, numbers always work well in blog post titles but so does the language you use. Which brings me onto…
Use words that make them want to click
The language you use in your blog post titles is really important too. I’m sure we’ve ALL come across a blog post before that has the most boring as sin title and it instantly puts you off wanting to read it. But some blog post topics ARE hard to think of titles for. Especially eye-catching titles.
For example, my post called A Beginners Guide To Broken Links was really hard to think of an exciting title for because let’s be honest, broken links are NOT an exciting topic. So sometimes, you’ve just got to work with what you’ve got. I added the word, “beginner” to that title so readers would know although it might not necessarily be an exciting post, at least it will be helpful and easy to digest as it’s “beginner friendly”. See what Imean?
The language you use can have a seriously negative or positive impact:
“Summer Trends”
or
“5 Trends For This Summer That Are Going Straight On Your Wish List!”
It really is as simple as that sometimes. Words that do well in catchy blog post titles include: Effortless, Easy, Powerful, Free, Shocking, Brilliant, Exciting, Ultimate, Simple, Effective – you get the gist. But when using these words in your blog post titles, make sure you don’t end up over-exaggerating. Because then we’re back to point #1.
Create a sense of urgency
This is a good trick to creating catchy blog post titles that will DEFINITELY get you more clicks and traffic through to your blog. Creating a sense of urgency will encourage readers to click because they don’t want to miss out on the advice within the post. Nobody wants to be the last one to know something, do they? Some examples of blog post titles that create this sense of urgency would be:
(X) Things You Need To Know About ___ Today!
(X) Ways You’re Not ___
Why You Need To ___ Immediately!
(X) ___ You’re Missing Out On
A lot of these examples combine a variation of the points made on what makes a catchy blog post title. Numbers can go hand in hand with lists, which can also go hand in hand with how to blog posts as well. All of which can include effective, clickable language to encourage readers to stop by your blog post.
Creating catchy blog post titles can also be a case of trial and error – seeing which style titles works best for your readers and audience and seeing what they react to. But at the end of the day, the title is the first thing ANYONE will see – so it’s important you pay just as much attention to your titles as you do to the rest of your blog content!
Which blog post titles attract your attention? Do you have any other tips for generating perfect catchy blog post titles?
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