Did you know that 80% of readers only read headlines? Writing great content is not enough, nowadays the success of your blog or website lies completely in the hands of the titles. The good news are, there are several simple things you can do to boost your headlines today.
Less is More
Create a title that is short, clear and therefore search engine friendly. Keep it under 55 characters to ensure your title appears in its entirety in search results.
Keyword Research
The latest Search Engine Land’s Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors has acknowledged that keywords in title tags is one of the most important area of focus to achieve success with search engine optimization. Thus, a proper keyword research is a must to discover if your title is a hit or a miss. Try out some of these online tools that will immediately tell you what your audience is looking for:
- Moz keyword explorer
- Keywordtool keyword suggestions
- Kwfinder keyword research tool
- Google keyword Planner
Use Trigger Words
Try optimizing your content for emotion and persuasion by exploring curated copy inspiration with the best examples of influential writing. Remember – you can make your title stand out in the crowd by using power words that trigger stronger reactions in the brain. Some of the commonly used trigger words are:
- Free
- Easy
- New
- Powerful
- Amazing
- Guarantee
Have a Title?
Run It Through a Headline Analyser Tool! When you have come up with your perfect title, run it through tools like CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer and Advanced Marketing Institute’s Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer that will show you how engaging your title is. Try out several different titles to make sure you choose the best one.
If you’re still not satisfied with the result, an easy trick how to improve your title is adding a number to it. Numbers will make your title more impactful and will help to capture the reader’s attention. Look at the difference between these two examples:
- Reading travel blogs is great (Headline’s Emotional Marketing Value Score: 20%)
- 10 amazing reasons to start reading travel blogs today (Headline’s Emotional Marketing Value Score: 55.56%)
Ultimately, remember that effective headlines are only a part of your overall content marketing strategy. To improve all aspects of your marketing efforts don’t forget to measure content marketing ROI and improve your tactics accordingly.
