Awesome blog titles and traffic. Those are some nice sounding words to a blogger. I especially like the traffic part. And guess what? People in the blog world now say the most important part of your blog post is your title. It has to do with intriguing them enough to actually read the post.

You can forget what’s inside the post matters (not really, but it seems that way). It doesn’t matter how great and helpful your content is. It doesn’t matter what offers or affiliate links you have in your post and it doesn’t matter who sponsored you to write it. If you can’t get an audience to read it, the blog post doesn’t much matter.

Then, there’s the SEO that brings you free search engine traffic. The title is one of the most important factors when it comes to getting your content to rank. And yes, the right keywords in the title matter, too. A good title with the right keywords in it will do more good than anything else you do.

But how do you go about writing an awesome blog title that will actually get you traffic?  I’m not the expert, and I’m still working on it myself, but these are the ideas that resonate with me (and I’m trying to implement).

Ask the Question Your Reader is Looking For

While you want to write an attention grabbing headlines, you ultimately wanted it to lead to a solution to a problem. After all, a  problem is what’s led a reader to your blog. I found a great website that puts all those questions into one place. Add your add your topic or keywords and click. The program then returns a mind map view or a list by how, when, where, etc. Kind of cool, don’t you think?

Use Answer the Public here

Shorter Titles Take The Prize

Lots of blogging experts say shorter titles tend to do better both with click-throughs on your blog and social media. CoSchedule is a marketing and content calendaring system. Over the years they’ve done a lot of testing and now suggest keeping titles to 55 to 58 characters, with the most important topic words in the first 20 characters. They have a great headline analyzer to help you fine tune your titling. (BTW, the title for this post got a 77% on the Analyzer, which is pretty good… but I’m still looking for better next time).

Click here for the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer

Numbers are also attention grabbers in titles. I often take a looking at the titles in Pinterest and see lots… and LOTS or repins with titles using numbers, for example, the 5 Best (and you fill in the blanks).

Keep an eye out for titles that catch your attention and add to a swipe file that you can look back on when needed. You can cut and paste and keep in a word processing or spreadsheet file or if you’re visual, copy the whole graphic like I do. Then they’re ready to rework into your own ideas. The added benefit is that the swipe file works for Pinterest graphic ideas, too.

Always, Always Use Your Keywords

Don’t forget to work your keywords into the title. It’s for the SEO value I talked about earlier. Always write for your readers first and then work on what you need to do to make sure the search engines recognize what your content is about.

Ranking well for something your readers don’t want to read or don’t want to click on doesn’t do you much good. Focus on your audience and then optimize for search as an afterthought and you’ll do well.

Another problem I’ve started using to get ideas is BuzzSumo which gives you a list of posts that have gotten the most social media shares. The first 8 or 9 are free, but if you want more you have to upgrade to the Pro version. Sometimes you get weird returns, but it still might be an idea generator.

Try BuzzSumo by clicking here

Keep Titles Honest

Last but not least, don’t be tempted to hype up and stretch the truth in titles, even by a little bit. Yes, it might get you some extra clicks, but you also might tick off the reader over your exaggeration in the title. Don’t promise more than you can actually deliver.

The best thing you can do is make your title interesting without all the hype and stick to the truth.

So What Makes a Good Blog Title?

I can’t promise implementing these tips will bring massive traffic. That thing is, blogging is always about testing. Try some of these tips on a few blog posts and get them out there. Pay attention to what’s working and what isn’t. Each market, each blog, and each readership is different. Use these tips to help you find your own style that resonates well with your audience and gets you the results you want.

Hope to see you soon,

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