How to Write Effective & Engaging Blog Post Titles

Tutorial Written: 1/20/19

Your post title is perhaps the most important part of marketing your blog post. Your post content may be brilliant, but if you have a poorly written blog post title, your readers are going to skip right over it. The post title is what’s going to sell your content, it’s the first thing your visitors will read, so it’s essential your titles be well thought out, effectively written, and engaging. You want to entice your readers to want to keep reading and share your post with others. Your post title is what represents your content on social media, search engines, and in your email newsletter, so taking the time to create fabulous titles is crucial to the overall success of your blog post.

Below are 8 tips for writing effective and engaging blog post titles that will help take your blog to the next level.

1. Keep Titles Short, Catchy, Engaging, and Unique

Your post title should describe in one short, engaging phrase the overall message of your post. Catchy blog titles motivate people to click and read your blog. And every single click matters because that’s the secret in determining whether your blog is destined to be liked and shared or whether it’s going to end up in the universal trashcan. Don’t forget about keywords! Adding strong, relevant keywords to your post title is essential for SEO. Google will cut off really long post titles, so it’s wise to keep your titles shorter than 70 characters.

To help you out, you can run your headline through EMV Headline Analyzer. This brilliant tool will find the emotional marketing value of your headline by analyzing and scoring your title to see if the words will have the ability to reach the reader at an emotional level. You can also use Headline Analyzer by CoSchedule which also gives tips on how to improve your headline.

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2. Use “How To” Titles

One of the most popular search queries out there is “How To”. It’s a great phrase to use in your post titles because readers love learning useful and relevant information fast, which makes “How To” posts a favorite among readers. BONUS: Besides catching the reader’s attention, using “How To” in your post title will also attract search engines.

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3. Ask Question Titles

Asking questions can inspire curiosity and get readers thinking of a response, in turn compelling them to click through or continue reading the blog post. The key is asking the right questions that resonate with your specific audience. Don’t ask questions that can be answered with a “no”. Why? If a reader’s automatic response is “no,” they are less likely to click through, seeing as they already know the answer.

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4. Use Number Titles (List Posts)

Readers love a good list because they are easy to visually scan to get a clear idea of what to expect in your post. Starting or ending your post title with a number makes a title very impactful and immediately makes it infinitely more engaging.

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5. Use Strong Action Verbs

Use strong, punchy action verbs that will totally entice your readers to read your post further and share it.

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6. Use Powerful Adjective Words

Use powerful adjectives to make your post sound more appealing and increase the likelihood that your readers will read the full post and share it.

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7. Use Intriguing & Shocking Post Titles, But Don’t Overuse or Mislead

You know what I’m talking about right? Titles that make your eyes bug out of your skull and you say – WTF?

• 5 Ways Stores Use Weather to Trick You Into Buying Crap
• Why Successful People Are Douchebags
• Failure Is An Option, Do It Now
• 10 Reasons Men Should Demand Dinner From Their Wives
• How I’m Going To Blow Off My Customers And Wreck My Business
• How Spending $5 on a Shirt Made Me $25,000
• 5 Shocking Things I’d Love to Do to My Mother-in-Law

You have the urge to open the email or click on the link. The urge is almost impossible to resist even though you would never normally read those types of articles. Even though you know you’re being manipulated, you can’t stop yourself from taking a quick peek and reading it. Wouldn’t you want your readers to feel the same way? Sure – Why Not!?

Yes, you will get some bites using these types of blog titles or tactics, but don’t overuse them. If your title doesn’t coincide with the main message of your post or even the overall blog topic, you’ll lose credibility and tarnish your reputation. While it might be tempting to manipulate your title just to get more attention, it’ll only hurt your blog in the long run. Not to mention that the search engine will eventually ignore your site because your title does not match its content. Use sparingly, please!

8. Use Free Headline or Post Title Generators

I’m saving the best for last. If despite all the ideas listed above, you are still unable to think of ideas for your blog post title or if your creative juices aren’t flowing, I got your back! Coming up with great blog post titles couldn’t be easier thanks to Free Headline or Post Title Generators. Some of the more popular ones available are:

BlogAbout Blog Title Generator
CoSchedule Headline Analyzer
Hemingway Sharethrough Headline Analyzer
Hubspot Blog Topic Generator
SEOPressor Blog Title Generator

In Conclusion

And that’s it! I really hope that these tips have given you great ideas for writing your next blog post title that will get your readers excited enough to pay attention, read, and share your posts.