Reputation Management
Protect your brand online
Attention-Grabbing Titles
Your swipe file for blog post headlines
1
Contents
Your Super-Quick Guide to Improving (Almost) Any Title ................................ 4
What’s the Difference Between a Title and a Headline? ................................ 5
Where Titles Appear ................................................................................ 5
In the Sidebar of Your Blog .................................................................... 5
On Twitter ........................................................................................... 6
On Facebook ........................................................................................ 6
When Other Bloggers Link to You ........................................................... 7
Top Bloggers Speak About Titles and Headlines ............................................. 8
Moving From a Topic to a Title: A Worked Example ........................................ 9
Your Swipe File: Grab and Go! ................................................................... 11
#1: “How to” Titles to Swipe .................................................................. 12
#2: “How I” Variations ........................................................................... 14
#3: List Titles to Swipe .......................................................................... 15
#4: Question Titles to Swipe .................................................................. 17
#5: “Why and How” Titles to Swipe ......................................................... 18
#6: Mistakes (and Solutions) Titles to Swipe ............................................ 19
#7: “What Not to Do” Titles to Swipe ....................................................... 20
Your Brand and Your Titles ........................................................................ 21
Making Titles Work for Your Brand ........................................................... 21
Your Blog Titles Action Checklist ................................................................ 23
Initial Actions ....................................................................................... 23
Ongoing Actions .................................................................................... 23
Extra Resources ....................................................................................... 24
In-Depth Guides ................................................................................... 24
Blog Posts ............................................................................................ 24
2
Blogging Titles Guide
“On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of
10 will read the rest.”
– Brian Clark, Copyblogger
A day’s worth of blog post titles in Feedly.
Your titles make or break your blog posts.
Many readers – those receiving your RSS feed to their inbox, for
instance, or following you on Twitter – will have nothing but your title to
go on. Without an attention-grabbing title, your brilliant post won’t be seen, let
alone read.
This might seem more than a little daunting, but the good news is that there are
plenty of ways to spice up your titles or headlines.
And, as a bonus, a great title often makes it much easier to write a great
post. You don’t need to completely nail down your title before you begin ... but
if you can get most of the way there, it’ll make life so much easier.
In this short guide, we’ll teach you how to:



Improve your existing titles.
Move from a topic to a title.
Use “swiped” titles as inspiration for your own posts.
We’ll run through real-world examples of titles that work, give you loads of great
“swiped” titles to twist for your own blog, and also include some thoughts on
branding.
3
Your Super-Quick Guide to Improving (Almost)
Any Title
There are plenty of great titles out there to learn from, and we’ll be showing you
dozens of examples later in this guide. Chances are, though, that you’ve already
got some published blog posts with existing titles that might benefit from a quick
tweak.
Two great ways to enhance a title are to:


Use adjectives. Words like secret, little-known, important, unique, clever,
easy, simple, dangerous...
Where appropriate, add in a number. Magazines make frequent use of
numbers, as do big blogs like Copyblogger (take a look at the popular
posts on any major blog to see how many include a number in the title).
Here’s an example of how that works:
In other cases, you may find that an easy and quick way to improve your title is
to add a colon and a second half:
For instance,
The Changing Rules of SEO
...could become...
The Changing Rules of SEO: Seven Crucial Things You Need to Know
4
What’s the Difference Between a Title and a Headline?
You’ll often hear headline and title used interchangeably in the blogging world.
They’re basically the same thing.
(You might find “headline” used for ad copy and news content, and “title” used
for articles, but the principles of writing both are the same.)
Where Titles Appear
Your titles show up in many different places, often with little or no additional
context. We’ll run through some examples, with screenshots, so you can see just
how important titles are.
In the Sidebar of Your Blog
If you have a section titled Popular Articles, Popular Posts, Recommended
Reads, Recent Posts, or anything similar, you’ll have anywhere from three to
twenty or so titles displayed prominently in your sidebar.
(From Daily Blog Tips’ sidebar.)
5
On Twitter
Even if you’re not using Twitter yourself, your posts will be tweeted by your
readers. They’ll often simply tweet the title and the link to the post. If you’re
using an automated tool to tweet your posts, there’s a good chance that these
will just appear with the title and link too.
Here are a couple of examples of titles in tweets:
(From Amy Harrison on Twitter.)
On Facebook
Many social networks do have space for more than just the title of your post –
but the title will still be prominent. Here’s an example:
(From Copyblogger on Facebook.)
6
When Other Bloggers Link to You
It’s great when another site links to yours: you’ll get an SEO boost, a traffic
boost, and a confidence boost too. Often, though, only your title will be included
with the link – so it really needs to pull its weight (especially if it’s alongside a
bunch of other bloggers’ post titles).
Here’s an example of how that might look:
(From Monday Must-Reads, Yesenia Vargas)
7
Top Bloggers Speak About Titles
Your headline is the first, and perhaps only, impression
you make on a prospective reader. Without a compelling
promise that turns a browser into a reader, the rest of
your words may as well not even exist. So, from a
copywriting and content marketing standpoint, writing
great headlines is a critical skill.
Brian Clark, How to Write Magnetic
Headlines, Copyblogger
If there is one place where
the first impressions count,
that place is the post title or
headline. The title of your
articles must immediately
communicate why the reader
should go on and read the
rest of the content.
Daniel Scocco, 3 Rules for
Writing Effective Titles, Daily
Blog Tips
Too often the headline is the most neglected
part of writing an article. People just gloss
over it without taking much time to consider
it. In their minds, it’s the cherry on top.
No, friends; it’s not. The headline is the
sundae.
Jeff Goins, 5 Easy Tricks to Help
You Write Catchy Headlines, Jeff
Goins Writer
Titles change the destiny of your posts. Those few words at
the beginning of your blog post can be the difference
between the post being read and spread like a virus through
the web like a wild fire and it languishing in your archives,
barely noticed.
Darren Rowse, How to Craft
Post Titles that Draw Readers
Into Your Blog, ProBlogger
8
Get in the habit of scanning
newspapers and magazines to see
which headlines stand out. Make a
note of great headlines and see
how you can customise them to
make them work on your blog.
Annabel Candy, How to Write
Hypnotic Headlines That Drive People
to Your Blog, Successful Blogging
Crafting blog titles should never be
treated as an afterthought,
because an article’s title plays an
integral role in the success of a
post and the impact it has on
readers.
Angela Stringfellow, How to Write
Attention Grabbing Blog Post Titles
– With Examples, unbounce
Without a compelling headline, you will not attract attention,
and your article will not spread as easily. If you do write a
killer headline then you will get more clicks, more bookmarks,
and your readers will be compelled to share it with their
friends and contacts.
Chris Garrett, How to Create Headlines That Go Viral With
Social Media, Social Media Examiner
If you look carefully at any great headline, you can distil it down to a fill-inthe-blank "template" that works for almost every topic in any niche. The
best writers I know have thousands of them either saved to a file on their
computers or floating around in their heads, where they can reference them
at a moment’s notice to develop a winning headline of their own.
Jon Morrow, Headline Hacks, Boost Blog
Traffic
9
Moving From a Topic to a Title: Worked
Example
You might well have a topic in mind for your post before you get as far as
crafting a title. Don’t be tempted to use the topic itself as your title, though.
On Zen Optimise, for instance, we cover topics like:



“writing better blog posts”
“avoiding common SEO mistakes”
“doing less and achieving more”
These wouldn’t be terrible titles – but they don’t really have enough appeal for
the reader. They also lack any inherent structure for the post: doing less and
achieving more, for instance, could be a story from personal experience or it
could be a step by step guide.
Let’s take this first topic and use the super-quick tips above to turn it into a
great title:
Writing better blog posts
As we mentioned above, one easy way to improve a title (and to get a good idea
of how best to structure your post) is to add a number. We’re also using “steps”
here, to indicate that this will be a how-to style post:
Five Steps to Writing Better Blog Posts
Even that’s a bit vague, though; what does “better” mean in this context? How
about:
Five Steps to Writing Blog Posts That Convert
The title is now making a promise: follow these five steps and you’ll convert
more prospects into customers. We could go further, though, by adding an
adjective to make the steps themselves sound more enticing:
Five Simple Steps to Writing Blog Posts That Convert
So, which would you rather read?


Writing Better Blog Posts
Five Simple Steps to Writing Blog Posts That Convert
The second version sounds much more interesting and useful ... and it’s far
more likely to get traffic.
10
Your Swipe File: Grab and Go!
The best writers don’t reinvent the wheel every time
they write a blog post title: they build on what’s
worked time and time again.
This next part of the guide is a swipe file of triedand-tested titles for you to use. We’ve put the
originals in bold, and suggested a couple of “spins”
on each one. There’s space for you to add your own
ideas, for your blog topic.
Left: A few of Copyblogger’s “Popular Articles” from
their sidebar – a great source of title inspiration!
11
#1: “How to” Titles to Swipe
How to posts are great ones to begin with: in Headline Hacks, Jon Morrow
writes:
If you're struggling to find a powerful headline for your post, type the
words "How to" on your screen and then fill in the blank. No, the resulting
headlines might not be sexy or surprising, but they will be effective. 1
How to Write a Book Review
2
How to Write a Twitter Update
How to Photograph Animals
How to Dress for Success Today
3
How to Write Faster Today
How to Get On Top of Your Inbox Today
How to Create a Blog Purpose Statement in 3 Simple Steps
4
How to Get Started on Twitter in 3 Simple Steps
How to Read Faster and Remember More in 4 Simple Steps
How to Build Community on a Blog: 24 Must Read Articles from around
the Web 5
How to Train for a Marathon: 24 Must Read Articles from Around the Web
How to Spruce Up Your Website: 24 Must Read Articles from 12 Top Designers
In Headline Hacks, available from http://boostblogtraffic.com
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-write-a-book-review
3
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130513142811-15077789-how-todress-for-success-in-2013
4
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2013/05/24/how-to-create-a-blog-purposestatement-in-3-simple-steps
5
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2013/03/29/how-to-build-community-on-a-blog24-must-read-articles-from-around-the-web
1
2
12
Stop Wasting Money: How to Get the Most Out of Your Blogging
Education 6
Stop Wasting Money: How to Get the Most Out of Your Home Appliances
Stop Wasting Money: How to Get the Most Out of Your Employees
http://kikolani.com/stop-wasting-money-how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-bloggingeducation.html
6
13
#2: “How I” Variations
A “How I” post can be a great variation on the more common “how to” –
especially if you have a genuinely interesting story to tell. (It also helps if you’ve
got a naturally engaging writing style.) They often have a strong curiosity factor.
“How I” titles can follow quite a wide range of formats, but the key is to make an
intriguing statement, and to give specific numbers where possible.
How I Gained 3,323 Subscribers in 3 Months
7
How I Lost 50 lbs in 10 Months
How I Wrote 38,296 Words in One Week
How I Turned a Guest Post into 3 Million Visitors and Over 150,000
Social Media Shares 8
How I Turned a 40,000 Word Guide into 361,494 Visitors and 8421
Email Opt-ins 9
How I Turned 29 Blog Posts into an Ebook That Sold 195 Copies in One Day
How I Turned the Junk in my Attic into £1,062 on eBay
How I Made $50,000 Selling Art on Facebook
10
How I Made $50,000 Selling My Novels on Amazon
How I Made $50,000 from My Side-Business
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/how-i-gained-3323-subscribers-in-3-months
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2013/06/05/how-i-turned-a-guest-post-into-3million-visitors-and-over-150000-social-media-shares
9
http://www.quicksprout.com/2013/06/10/how-i-turned-an-advance-guide-into361494-visitors-and-8421-email-opt-ins
10
http://theabundantartist.com/how-i-made-50000-selling-art-on-facebook
7
8
14
#3: List Titles to Swipe
Lists are perennially popular in the blogosphere – and in magazines and
newspapers. They do get overused at times, but they’re often a great way to
present content in easy bite-sized chunks. As Pamela Vaughan of HubSpot
explains:
“They tell the reader exactly what – and how much of it – they're going to get
out of the post, plus they're very shareable. They're also easy to scan, and with
so much content available on the web these days, being able to scan a post and
still grasp a helpful nugget or two of information is highly valuable.” 11
Here are some great list post titles for you to use:
12 Google Reader Alternatives to Consider
12
12 Amazon Alternatives to Consider
10 Healthy Alternatives that Are Better Than You Think
3 Business Reasons to Upgrade to LinkedIn Premium
13
5 Business Reasons to Get to Grips with Twitter
3 Great Reasons to Start a Blog
5 Tips for New SEOs
14
(We like this one, but we think it could do with an adjective to make it stand out
a little more.)
5 Essential Tips for New Parents
5 Deceptively Simple Tips for New Bloggers
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32105/The-Top-10-Qualities-of-HighQuality-List-Posts.aspx
12
http://kikolani.com/google-reader-alternatives.html
13
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/3-business-reasons-to-upgrade-to-linkedinpremium
14
http://www.seoptimise.com/blog/2013/07/5-tips-for-new-seos.html
11
15
5 Tips to Bring New Life to Your Social Profiles
15
5 Tips to Bring New Life to Your Writing
7 Ways to Bring New Life to Your Blog
7 Ways to Improve Your Writing ... Right Now
16
7 Ways to Improve Your SEO ... Right Now
7 Ways to Be a Better Parent ... Right Now
15
16
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/freshen-up-your-social-profiles
http://www.copyblogger.com/fast-writing-improvement
16
#4: Question Titles to Swipe
Questions make great titles because they get readers thinking – they’re already
engaging with your post, without even realising. (The first few lines of your post
are also a great place to use a question, if you don’t have one in your title.)
Here are some examples for you to use:
Are Social Media “Experts” Worthless?
17
Are Parenting “Gurus” Worthless?
Are Sports Personalities Worthless?
The 7 Types of Blogger: Which One Are You?
18
A Tale of Two Coaches: Which Kind Are You?
19
The 6 Types of SEO: Which One Are You?
The 10 Types of Parent: Which One Are You?
17
18
19
http://www.copyblogger.com/social-media-experts
http://writetodone.com/2013/07/18/the-7-types-of-blogger-which-one-are-you/
http://michaelhyatt.com/tale-of-two-coaches.html
17
#5: “Why and How” Titles to Swipe
A “how to” title is useful if readers already know that they want or need to do
something. Sometimes, though, you’ll need to educate readers a little –
especially if the topic at hand is one where they might not know much, or where
they might be missing part of the full picture.
A “why and how” title is perfect here – and sets up a great structure for your
post, where you can explain the compelling reasons why something should be
done before teaching the reader how to do it.
Why You Shouldn’t Create a Newsletter (and What to Do Instead)
20
Why You Shouldn’t Go Fat-Free (and What to Do Instead)
Why You Shouldn’t Work Longer Hours (and What to Do Instead)
Why Cornerstone Content Matters – And How to Create It
21
Why Your Kids’ Self-Esteem Matters – And How to Built It
Why Link-Building Matters – And How to Do It Right
Why Most Business Partnerships Don’t Work
22
Why Most Marketing Campaigns Fail Within 3 Months
23
Why Most Businesses Fail Within a Year
7 Reasons Why “C” Students Crush “A” Students When It Comes to
Online Marketing 24
10 Reasons Why Employees SHOULD be Required to Participate in
Blogging and Content Marketing 25
8 Reasons Why You Can’t Stop Procrastinating
http://boostblogtraffic.com/create-a-newsletter
http://www.seotraining.org.uk/blog/cornerstone-content
22
http://www.quicksprout.com/2013/07/04/why-most-business-partnerships-dont-work
23
http://www.quicksprout.com/2013/05/20/why-most-marketing-campaigns-fail-within3-months
24
http://www.thesaleslion.com/online-marketing-success-characteristics
25
http://www.thesaleslion.com/employees-required-blog-content-marketing
20
21
18
#6: Mistakes (and Solutions) Titles to Swipe
Words like “mistakes” encourage readers to click (and they can make for easyto-write posts!) These titles can work very well at any level from beginner to
expert.
The Five Biggest Mistakes That Bloggers Make
26
The Five Biggest Mistakes That Employers Make
The Seven Biggest Mistakes That New Parents Make
7 All-Too-Common Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
27
7 All-Too-Common SEO Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
10 All-Too-Easy Money Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Do You Make These 6 Domain Name Mistakes?
28
Do You Make These 6 Spelling Mistakes?
Do You Make These 7 Content Marketing Mistakes?
Seven Huge Financial Mistakes I Made During My College Career
29
Seven Stupid SEO Mistakes I Made With My First Website
Ten Huge Marketing Mistakes That Killed My First Business
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/the-five-biggest-mistakes-that-bloggers-make
http://kikolani.com/7-all-too-common-mistakes-that-bloggers-make-with-writing-andhow-to-avoid-them.html
28
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2013/05/02/domain-mistakes
29
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2009/01/04/seven-huge-financial-mistakes-i-madeduring-my-college-career
26
27
19
#7: “What Not to Do” Titles to Swipe
For a fresh take, and a humorous post, go with a “what not to do” approach.
These posts can be a great way to shake things up, especially if you want to give
basic advice in a fresh way.
(A quick warning: we think these are best used sparingly. If every other post
turns into one of these, readers may get bored or annoyed.)
How to Ruin Your Novel
30
How to Ruin Your Small Business – Fast
How to Ruin Your Marriage
10 Ways to Ruin Your Health and Die Young
31
10 Ways to Mess Up Your Website and Disappear from Google Altogether
10 Ways to Spoil Your Kids and Have Them Hate You Forever
5 Great Ways to Destroy Your Camera
32
5 Great Ways to Destroy Your Career
7 Simple Ways to Destroy Your Focus
How to Mess Up Your Presentation
33
How to Mess Up Your Job Interview
How to Mess Up Your Marriage Proposal
30
31
32
33
http://storytips.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/how-to-ruin-your-novel
http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/12/10-ways-to-ruin-your-health-and-die.html
http://petapixel.com/2013/06/18/5-great-ways-to-destroy-your-camera
http://www.voicecoachinglondon.co.uk/4-ways-to-mess-up-your-presentation.html
20
Your Brand and Your Titles
Sometimes, you’ll come across a great title in a swipe file or on another blog –
but it just won’t work for you.
Maybe it’s jokey, whereas your brand is serious and professional.
Maybe it sounds too hyped for your audience – they’re an intelligent bunch who
won’t appreciate titles that try too hard.
Although lots of titles will work fine for all sorts of businesses, others won’t seem
like such a good fit. Follow your instincts – you don’t need to use every title you
come across. In fact, using a title that really doesn’t fit with the branding of your
business and your blog might drive some of your potential customers away.
Of course, you can twist a title around to suit your needs. This could be as
simple as replacing a word or two, or cutting part of the title.
Making Titles Work for Your Brand
Here’s an example of replacing a word:
This is a good title, no question about it ... but personally, I’m starting to think
“ultimate” is overused in the blogging world.
(In this case, that’s a slightly unfair criticism as Darren has written a huge indepth post – but I still think “ultimate” might put off some readers.)
There are plenty of alternatives, though, which don’t have that unpleasant whiff
of overdone hype. How about:



Your In-Depth Guide to...
The Step by Step Guide to...
The Expert’s Guide to...
21
Here’s another example, where you could cut a phrase or replace it:
If you read Jon Morrow’s Headline Hacks (see the Extra Resources section at the
end of this guide), you’ll come across the “Get Rid of [Recurring Problem]
Once and for All” template.
While this can make for an effective title, it’s tough to live up to that promise.
Plus, “once and for all” might be going the way of “ultimate” – it’s getting
overused.
You can twist this title around a bit, though. How about:



17 Ways to Remove Stress from Your Life
17 Ways to Remove Stress from Your Life – Today
17 Ways to Remove Stress from Your Life – For Good
22
Your Blog Titles Action Checklist
Initial Actions
Look at several recent posts on your blog (or your most popular posts, if you
prefer).
Can you enhance the titles? That might mean:




Adding an adjective like “easy” or “powerful”.
Adding a number.
Turning the title into a question.
Adding a second part to the title.
Use the examples in this guide for inspiration!
Ongoing Actions
Learning to craft great titles is an ongoing process. The key, though, is to spend
more time on your titles – some top bloggers recommend spending as long on
the title as on the whole post.
When writing
posts
Before you write ... come up with a working title to focus
your thoughts. You could pick one from the swipe file to get
you going.
After you’re finished ... write four versions of your title and
choose the strongest one (you might ask a colleague for
input here).
When reading
posts
Create your own swipe file to capture great titles, and links
to the original posts. Choose titles that:
 Encourage you to click
 Get retweeted a lot (or shared repeatedly on other
networks)
 Can easily be modified by switching a few words
23
Extra Resources
Need more help with titles? Try some of these posts and in-depth guides.
In-Depth Guides
Headline Hacks: A “Cheat Sheet” for Writing Blog Posts That Go Viral,
Jon Morrow, Boost Blog Traffic (free ebook, requires your email address)
How to Write Magnetic Headlines, Brian Clark, Copyblogger (series of posts)
Writing Effective, Attention-Getting Headlines and Titles on Your Blog,
Lorelle VanFossen, Lorelle on Wordpress
Blog Posts
How to Master the Art of Exceptional Blog Titles, Pamela Vaughan,
HubSpot
How to Write Compelling Titles for Blogs & Content, Heidi Cohen,
HeidiCohen.com
6 Best Practices for Writing Blog Titles that Earn ReTweets, Jasmine
Henry, Inbound Marketing Blog
The Blogger’s Guide to Creating Catchy Blog Post Titles, Tanya, Blogelina
A scientific guide to writing great headlines on Twitter, Facebook and
your Blog, Leo Widrich, Buffer
How to Write Blog Headlines People (and your Goals) Deserve, J-P De
Clerck, Social Marketing Forum
24