Creating Blazing Hot Headlines that Attract Readers

There’s no doubt about it… creating a blazing hot headline that attract readers for your blog is tough!  However, it’s where you should invest MOST of your efforts when it comes to your blog. Writing Headlines that Work is one skill that will pay HUGE dividends if you can master it.

Creating blazing hot headlines that attract readers is as much art as it is a science.

Blogging without a blog says in the post: Your First Line Can Sink You

“If your first line doesn’t capture your readers attention, they are apt to move on to a post that does.”

Many offline lessons in headline writing apply to blog headlines as well. Pithy always trumps wordy. Grab attention and remember, it’s probably the only content the majority of people will see. You must also remember that your blog title most probably will be seen out of context!

In Writing Great Titles:

Do not try to make the title “smart”, by using irony, word play or other “journalistic” approach.
The title to be built must be thought as of a label to your article in the unlimited virtual library that the Internet is.

On the Internet, headlines are often displayed out of context. The reader is searching for your content and will only get to it, if a most appropriate, serious and well thought out label is attached to it. On the web, readers often don’t get the chance of applying background understanding to the interpretation of the titles they are presented with.

Another key to a great blog title is to think in terms of an inverted pyramid. Google Blogoscoped writes in Good Blog Writing Style

“..first get to the point and mention the core ideas, then fill in the details in later paragraphs. The first and second sentence should allow people to decide if they want to continue reading this. “

However, Lorelle points out the dual challenge of your quest to write a pithy, punch headline or blog title.

“There are two goals to writing an effective title.

1. Catch a reader’s eye and encourage them to read.
2. Help search engines help searchers find your article.”

Wait!!! I have to write pithy, punchy headlines AND INCLUDE RELEVANT KEYWORDS TOO!!!

Yes, it’s true.  That title plays a HUGE role in your quest for Google dominance.  Sure, you can get away with writing a few posts and using catchy titles that search engine ignore (because they’re so cute and clever, they don’t contain any essential keywords), but if you make a habit of it… then you’ll find your blog struggling to find an audience.

The original title of this post was going to be “Writing Pithy, Punchy Headlines”  The problem?  No one and I mean NO ONE is searching the internet for tips on how to write pithy, punchy headlines.

However, there are a few tortured souls searching for how to create hot headlines to attract readers to their blogs.  Thus the change in the title above.

Leo Babauta has written a great article called “The Sexy Art of Writing Headlines that Kill“  Leo should know.  He’s been able to quit his day job and now blogs full time PLUS his blog has snagged him a book deal.