5 Helpful Questions to Help You Write Killer Titles

From Edie: Want more readers for your blog? Learn 5 helpful questions to craft killer titles that grab attention, boost SEO, and keep your audience clicking.

5 Helpful Questions to Help You Write Killer Titles

by Lori Hatcher

You’ve poured your time, energy, and passion into an online article or blog post. Now you want people to read it. Sadly, many brilliantly written and helpful pieces go unread for one simple reason—their title falls flat. Writing a compelling title requires both creativity and craft.

In this post, I’ll share five crucial questions to ask yourself as you write compelling titles to hook your readers and draw them in.

Question #1: What is my goal for this title?

Do I want to inspire? If so, work on creating a title that is both uplifting and hopeful.

Do I want to teach? If so, aim for practical and clear how-to-titles.

Do I want to grab someone’s attention? If so, seek a title that is bold or surprising.

Question #2: Which title structure might work best with my goal?

Create your title using several of these structures and choose the one that best fits your goal:

Curiosity + Clarity

Example: Learn the Secret to Writing Great Titles

Benefit-Driven

Example: 5 Helpful Questions to Help You Write Killer Titles (sound familiar?)

Emotional/Story-Based

Example: How Learning to Write Great Titles Saved My Writing Career

Time-Based/Urgent

Example: Learn These Titling Tips Before It’s Too Late

Question #3: Which power words can I add to strengthen my title?

Words that communicate emotion, urgency, and passion help your reader connect with your title and add a little umph to your headline.

Example: Instead of “How to Improve the Appearance of Your Home,” (72) try, “Don’t Just Like Your Home, Love It” (85). 

The first title is functional, but the second adds powerful emotional words like “like” and “love”.

Question #4: Is my title clear? 

Will the reader know immediately what the article is about? Don’t sacrifice clarity for cleverness. When in doubt, use a clear title, then add a subtitle with a clever twist.

Example: “Meet My Friend Psalms” vs. “Like a Good Friend, the Psalms Can Bring Comfort and Joy.”

The first attempt was clever but unclear. Is Psalms a person or a book of the Bible? The second explains the friendship connection while clearly presenting the Psalms as a part of the Bible and making an enticing promise: comfort and joy.

Question #5: Have I tested variations?

Usually, you shouldn’t use your first few title attempts. Brainstorm ten potential titles, then run them through a title checker to see how they perform. 

If you blog on WordPress, you have a built-in headline analyzer that scores your title (0-100) based on emotional appeal, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and other factors. I aim for a title score of at least 60, preferably higher by changing the wording until I hit on something that resonates with the analyzer. 

I tested the title for this post by changing, adding, and subtracting words until I reached a score of 90. Apparently my new and improved title worked, because here you are, reading my post J. 

If you’re curious, here’s the progression of this title and its scores:

5 Questions for Writing Great Titles (61)

5 Helpful Questions for Writing Great Titles (64)

Questions for Writing Great Titles (70)

5 Helpful Questions to Help You Write Killer Titles (90)

(Note: I seldom repeat words or variations of words in a title, but every time I used a synonym for “helpful” in this title, the score dropped. Go figure!)

If you don’t blog on WordPress, you can search the web for title analyzing sites or try out a few of my favorites (capitalizemytitle.com or aioseo.com ). Remember that each one will grade your title by a slightly different rubric, so you’ll get slightly different scores in each. 

Why Are Titles Important?

A killer title will grab your reader’s attention, create a desire for your topic, and set the tone for your content. A weak title will invite your potential reader to scroll on by. With a little time and effort, you can craft irresistible titles that serve as a welcome mat to your content and invite the reader to come on in. 

It’s Your Turn

Think about your work in progress and brainstorm ten titles. Run them through one of the headline analyzing tools. Tweak them until you get a title score above 70. 

Congratulations! Share your killer title in the comments below so we can learn from your attempts.

TWEETABLE

5 Helpful Questions to Help You Write Killer Titles from Lori Hatcher on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Since she was old enough to read a Little Golden Book, Lori Hatcher has been fascinated by words. She’s woven them into seven devotionals with Our Daily Bread Publishing, including her latest, Lord, I Believe: 60 Devotions for Your Troubled Heart. She shares them in writers workshops around the country, (including Florida Christian Writers Conference in October—see you there!) and has used them to encourage women’s ministry groups in the United States, Japan, Mexico, and Spain. Connect with her at LoriHatcher.com.