Post titles are drastically under rated. Most bloggers fail to realize that their post title is the number one advertisements for each of their articles.  An article’s title has to put on the gloves and go head-to-head with dozens of other post titles in people’s RSS readers, email accounts and search engines.

It’s your job to get your post title ready to perform like the champ it has the potential to be.

I want my headline to be so compelling that it seemingly smacks my readers in the face with a sudden compulsion to read it. I want my post title to be so dramatic that casual internet browsers can’t help themselves but to dig deeper and find out what I have to say. Here’s how Darren Rowse from problogger.net puts it:

Many bloggers pour a lot of effort into writing engaging and interesting posts, but then just slap any old title onto it without realizing that in doing so they might be ensuring that their post is never read. ~ Darren Rowse

10 Tips to an Awesome, Eye-Jerking Post Title

If you’re ready to start grabbing some attention and start driving traffic to your blog or website then this is exactly what you’ve been looking for. Here’s 10 tips that have assisted my blog in rapid growth:

1. Be bold. Strong, powerful headlines grab people’s attention much more effectively and dramatically than passive ones. Make a bold statement about your topic that is sure to get their attention like ’14 Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic’ or ’5 Vital Reasons to Use List Posts.’
2. Use dynamic words. There are certain words that quite simply sound more exciting than others. Try to make use of words like awesome, killer, amazing, heart-pounding, thrilling, sure-fire, etc. Select exciting words that that you could use to review your favorite action movie. Here’s a few examples: Notice the word ‘Sure-fire’ in 5 Sure-Fire Strategies For Better Blogging or the word ‘Crucial’ in 5 Crucial Tips For WordPress Users.
3. Get personal. Personal stories are much more meaningful than articles that appear as if they were written by a computer. Try some article titles like these: ‘Why I Don’t Use NoFollow on my Links’ or ‘How I Made $10,000 From Google Last Month.’
4. Be short. Enough said. Really though. I preview all of my articles using the WordPress preview button in the editor. If the title pushes onto a second line on the post page then I shorten it until it only uses one line. Find a rule like that that works for you on your blog and stick with it.
5. Be direct. If your headline isn’t a clear representation of what the article is about then the reader will likely not take the time to actually read your post. They will more likely feel like you tricked them and they will just leave your site and not return.
6. Ask a question. I see a lot of intriguing post titles that come in the form of provocative questions. Let me share a few examples with you: ‘Would you like to quit your job and make money online?’ or ‘How would you like more traffic to your website?’
7. Be commanding. Tell your readers to do something amazing. Throw out an order that is extreme and your readers will follow. Here’s some examples: ‘Get More Traffic to your Website’ or maybe something like ‘Create Awesome Content and Keep Your Readers!”
8. Be creative. This one is really the key to the whole list. Your only limitation in creating effective headlines for your blog articles is your own imagination. If you can create ways to break the mold on your post titles then you will be able to draw in users like never before.
9. Use lists. Every day that I visit delicious.com nearly half of their bookmarks that made it to the front page are some form or another of a list. List posts are extremely attractive to a lot of readers. Check out these examples: ’5 Things You Need to Know About Trackbacks’ or ’11 Beautiful Free WordPress Themes.’ These also make excellent link bait for others bloggers to link to and tweet about.
10. Use Keywords. I listed this one last because I view it as the least important. Using strong keywords in your title can help your listings on Google but using them in the wrong way can take away from their effectiveness to human readers. Strike up a good balance here and you’ll be setup for success.

Share What You Know

I have a feeling that many of you probably have some tips that you practice on your site when developing headlines for your articles. Share them with us in the comments section and help the rest of us to grow and develop better post titles.