Today, I want to talk about article titles.
This is so key to getting your article read.
Lackluster titles will be overlooked. Exciting titles will get your article read.
What Makes An Exciting Title?
First, let’s give you a few examples of what a dull title is.
Imagine you’re writing an article on acne and a natural cure for acne. A dull title might be something like…
“A Natural Cure For Acne”
(Okay, let me qualify this just a bit. If somebody is specifically looking for a natural cure for acne and this is the only article they find, sure, they’re going to read it. It directly speaks to what they need. )
So while this is a dull title, it can be effective if you have a captive audience.
But what if somebody goes to the search engines and finds 10 articles with that same title?
Unless yours appears at the very top, there is little chance that it’s going to get read as they’ll all blend in with the crowd.
However, if out of those first 10 results, somebody sees a title like this…
“Get Rid of YOUR Acne for Good… NATURALLY!”
Don’t you think that somebody is going to be more likely to read this article?
When writing articles, you have to think like a marketer and NOT like an author, at least when it comes to the title … because THAT is how you get people to read the article in the first place.
Let’s take another example.
Say you’re writing an article on article writing to promote your site and you come up with a title like this…
“Article Marketing To Promote Your Business”
It’s not bad, but it certainly doesn’t excite the heck out of me.
But what if you tried something like this?
“Use Article Marketing To EXPLODE Your Business, FREE!”
Much better.
So when you’re writing the titles for your articles, think like a marketer first and an author last.
Here are a list of my top 10 article sites to submit to:
http://EzineArticles.com
http://GoArticles.com
http://ArticleDashboard.com
http://SearchWarp.com
http://ArticlesBase.com
http://iSnare.com
http://SelfGrowth.com
http://Buzzle.com
http://ArticleCity.com
http://IdeaMarketers.com
Don’t forget, even though you’re writing for an online audience, there are plenty of places you can use for inspiration…
– Look at newspaper headlines for ones that make YOU want to read. Pay attention to magazines like “National Enquirer” – Sure the articles are probably junk and full of B.S. but the headlines are always eye-catching and engaging!
– Look at top stories on Digg.com and see what kind of headline are used there too. Top stories are there because lots of people read them – and the headline is one of the first things that will make a person decide to keep reading.
To YOUR Success,
Hi,
Yes I do agree so much with your title comments. Last year I submitted the same article with two titles, one the boring ‘Improve your tennis techniques’ and the slightly better, but still not perfect ‘Thrash your playing partner using these tennis techniques’
The click through rates were astronomical for the second title.
Hi Paul,
That’s a perfect example – you really need to think about what the reader wants and use that to create a benefit filled title, just like you would with any other ad headline.
One thing I’ve found works well is using numbers e.g. to use yours as an example:
“Thrash your playing partner using these 5 killer tennis techniques”
You can also study some of the popular articles in the directories and see if you can find out what makes them get so many views, then use those techniques in your own marketing.
Richard
Hi Richard
Will try testing your suggestion – let you know what happens after a decent trial period.
Many thanks
Hey Richard
Thanks for the list of article sites.
Article a day keeps the creditor away!
Good Post. There’s just 2 places that can make a person decide to click your article to read. It’s your article title and the author bio text.
A good headline will trigger an emotion in your target audience. Whether the emotion is greed, fear, hate, love, empathy, discuss, loathing, like, happy, etc. The important thing is to connect to the reader using emotive words. That way you are more likely to have people read your articles.
Which is why ‘Thrash your playing partner using these tennis techniques’ got higher click through rates. It appealed to the readers desire to win.
great tip I have actually used this for some success. but I found that it wasn’t so good for seo. I like to keep the longtail in the same order. so I thought of a hybrid. “good dating questions – amazing questions to ask on a date” its awkward but it works for me.
Good post. I am into writing articles, and I can see that I could jazz up my titles. I’ll be working on it.
Thanks for the idea.
Don McCobb
Hi Richard,
I have just purchased your Fast Traffic Video package and am looking forward to viewing it tomorrow (it’s now 6pm and I’m exhausted).
I should very much like to share a special e-book with you: “GENIUS NOW: The Mastermind Blueprint”, a 40-page e-book that clearly and completely demonstrates how any business or group can produce genius level events and realize Uber success (meaning nothing can be better). I will give you a copy, gratis.
I have offered this e-book for free to only one other person thus far. I sincerely believe it will be a profound game-changer for many marketers and other businesses. If you will honestly read it, I would love your feedback. Please let me know!
Kurt Turrell
TheDudeBrands
Actually this is my problem, where I cannot create the attractive article title. I believe I need more practice and trial.
Anyway it’s a good post. thanks
Hi Richard
Thanks for the good advice. Article marketing is my main source of advertising and you are so right about the importance of a catching headline.
Michelle Jayes
Thanks Richard for the great tips. Just out of curiosity, did you ever consider from the Search engine optimization (SEO) perspective.
Eventhough “Article Marketing To Promote Your Business” may not sound so appealing than “Use Article Marketing To EXPLODE Your Business, FREE!” but Googlebot will like the former because it contains the keyword “Promote Your Business” which has more searches than “Explode Your Business”.
This is an area I always find difficulty in balancing. Good keyword or Appealing Title?
It’s obvious that many writers tend to use the word ‘FREE’ in their headlines or titles.
I think we all should be aware of the fact that such term becomes greatly devalued.
May be not yet, but the time comes that everybody knows the saying:’You get what you payed for…’ In other words: hardly anything – if not nothing!
May be it pays to think about good alternatives.