How to Write Irresistibly Clickable, Catchy Blog Titles

Our online digital marketing course instructors teach you how to dump your stale headlines and learn to write magnetic, catchy titles that attract readers.

Having a catchy title is the key to grabbing people’s attention. It’s your golden ticket to getting better conversions, engagements, and/or rankings on major search engines. Our Digital Marketing Team has come up with 5 top tips for writing the winning title for your blog post. For more information about Digital Marketing any aspect of content writing, we highly recommend our Digital Marketing Fundamentals course. It is fully offered online through our easy-to-use Moodle CMS and suited for all skills levels.

1. Begin with a “Working Title”
Before you start writing your blog post, it is recommended to think of a working title. A working title should not be confused with topics. While topics are general and can be applied to two or more blogs, working titles are specific to one blog post being written and sets its parameters.

Example of a topic: social media marketing tips
Example of a working title: 10 social media marketing tips for SMBs in 2017

Notice the difference? As you start writing your blog post, you will find that the title will change. Your criteria may change, your target audience may differ, your number of points may increase/decrease etc.

2. Keep it Short
How long do blog titles have to be? There is no-size-fits-all answer to this question. Your focus should be on making it enticing to readers. If you can say it in 5 words or less, great! If you need to add a few more words, not a problem. However, if you want the post to rank well, SEO wise, the title has to be 60 characters or less (and that includes spaces). For social media purposes, posts that acquire the most views and engagements are typically between 8 and 12 words in length.

3. Write with Integrity
Whatever you do, make sure not to mislead your readers with your title. I am speaking of blog titles that suggest your post is about five easy ways or 5 proven ways to do something and when you go to read the article the tips are only mentioned briefly or the process is more complex than you lead on. If you are writing an article with simple tips, the language must be simplified to the level of the reader, minus the technical jargon. Vice versa goes to articles that speak to experts.

4. Personalize it
The Web can be a cold, unfriendly place. You can make it less so. In your writing, invite searchers into a personal relationship with you, through your blog. Write in second person, using pronouns, “you,” “your,” and “yours.”

5. Include Keywords:
In the world of SEO, the emphasis is on writing for the user rather than for the search engine bots. That said, it is worth considering the perspective of your readers when searching for and including a relevant keyword or two, so that you rank in the searches you deserve to be found for. I use Google Adwords Keyword Tool and Google Trends to find some relevant search terms with a reasonable volume.

6. Learn from Others
Following the classic advice of learning from your competitors, why not check out what titles other people are creating for their blog posts? You have possibly read some similar articles during the research stage of writing. Ask yourself which titles worked best for them? It doesn’t take long to come up with a few provisional title ideas, and I’ve always found it useful to get an opinion from a friend or colleague.

Still having trouble finding an extraordinary title for your blog post? Check out this excellent infographic written by Hubspot.