How To Write Killer Blog Titles That Convert

How To Write Killer Blog Titles That Convert

Blog titles and headlines are the first thing a potential reader sees when either landing on your blog or when doing a search on Google. Killer blog titles will sell, awful blog titles will get you ignored. In the end, blog titles basically represent the whole content. That’s why they are so important. As a matter of fact, writing good content is great, knowing how to write killer blog titles that convert is even better! In the end, that’s what you want, people clicking on that title.

True that as we dedicate a lof of time creating the content, we often consider blog titles as an afterthought. Blog titles your readers can’t resist might not come to mind straight away. As far as a I am concerned, even if I have a rough idea of what I want in the title, it is often something I got back to after the content is ready. To make sure it gives the best representation of my article possible. Because, again, in the end, killer blog titles are what get people’s attention and entice them to click. Thus, great blog titles contribute to generating leads. And today, we will focus on getting around creating killer blog titles to help you increase your blog traffic!

How to create blog titles that get clicked

1. Make your blog titles keyword rich

Keywords are at the center of written content creation. It does not matter how long the article is (at least 300 words though) nor the topic of the post, you will have to write it around a set of keywords related to that topic. As it is difficult to rank for a short-tail keyword like “blog titles” for example, you will focus on long-tail keywords. “Killer blog titles that convert” for instance. By picking longer keywords, you will make your content more specific and more likely to rank higher up in Google search. Since less people will rank for that particular long set of keywords.

When it comes to writing killer blog titles that convert, it is the same. You will always have to insert keywords. First, it will give search engines a better idea of what the content actually is about. Second, it will give a content summary to the person doing the search.  Third, it will help you optimize for SEO as a whole. If your title is vague and does not contain keywords, people will not click on it because they will think you will not be able to give them the answer they are searching for. If you ever show in the search results anyway.

Remember, make sure your blog titles are keywords rich, thus making the best indication of what the content is about. That’s the first stage to write titles your readers can’t resist. You can either focus your keywords on what you want to write about or check out Google trends for ideas of what to write about.

2. Put yourself in your ideal reader’s shoes

Before writing killer titles, you must first decide what to write about. That stage was covered above with the importance on keywords. Next, you need to think of how yourself would perform a search should you want an answer to a question or more information on this particular topic. How would you type it in Google for example? What first words would come to your mind? A few words or a question? The thing is, most of the time, when someones does a search on Google, they will probably not know what terms they should be using to find the results they want.

That’s why it is so importance to understand who your ideal reader or “buyer persona” is. You can find information on your current readers in Google analytics: location, language, age, interest, smartphone they use, browser they use, etc. This will give you a better idea of who your ideal buyer persona is. They are likely to be your age with common interest so it may makes it easier for you to come up with title ideas since it’s basically how you, personally, would perform the search. Be careful though, as it may not always the case, depending on your niche. But it still helps.

For example, when I was a student trying to choose a university for my master’s, I searched testimonials and posts written by alumni on their experience, i.e. “why study at the University of Edinburgh” and find pieces titled “5 reasons to study at The University of Edinburgh” or “Why choose Edinburgh” or “10 reasons you should study in Edinburgh.”

As I am working on writing a similar blog post about my experience and the reasons behind my choice, I will write the content around the terms I use to search back then, and create a title that will match the content. I will also think of what information I wanted to see back then.

How To Write Killer Blog Titles That Convert

3. Check out the competition

A great way to write killer titles that convert is simply to check out what other people write about and how they write about it. When comes the time to work on my headlines and titles, I always perform a search on Google using the keywords central to my post. Thus, I will get results similar to what I wrote about and see which titles are ranking first. This is a very good indication of which titles work and which do not.

Most of those titles will be keywords rich, have the same syntax and phrasing, and will contain at least one buzz word to entice people to click. When looking at the results, you can analyze the first page, look at all the titles and see which one you personally would be more likely to click on. Then think of your audience and which title you’d think they’d like better. In the end, it is for them that you are writing this article.

You can also use the search bar to see suggestions. When you type in your keywords in a certain way, Google will suggest other search terms, whose phrasing ans syntax you can use in your own blog titles. 

4. Use numbers and proven formulas

How to write blog titles your readers can’t resist sometimes is based on a tiny difference between two titles. Sometimes it is the phrasing, sometimes it is something else. Some blog posts are known to bring in much more traffic than other and to catch people’s attention faster. Because they seem more likely to give the right answer to the question asked.

When it comes to phrasing that are known to be the most performing blog post titles, we have: how to, reasons why, case study, lessons learnt, questions, news headlines, command titles, irresistible titles, numbered  lists or anything playing on the reader’s emotions. You can find examples below:

How to write killer blog titles that convert.

10 reasons why you should study in Edinburgh.

I cut sugar for a week, here’s what I learned.

Do you want to drive more traffic to your website? Read my Pinterest marketing guide now!

5 must-use social media management tools you must use to grow your brand.

And so on.

Another proven way to increase click through rate is to include numbers in your blog posts! People love numbers, especially if those numbers are backed up by an official study. It shows the blog post is serious and will give actual answers (most of the time). Numbers and facts drive 206% more traffic to your website so if  you want to write killer blog titles, you better find a way to add them in, wherever appropriate. Of course, do not add numbers to your title if they do not bring anything to it.

5. Optimize your blog title for SEO

You should always first and foremost optimize your blog post titles for your audience and phrase them in a way that will attract their attention. Yet, you also need to take into account Google itself and how to optimize your blog titles for SEO. Ideally.

There a few SEO best practices when it comes to writing blog titles that your readers can’t resist: keywords, length (under 70 characters), placing the keywords at the beginning of the SEO title, tweetability, etc. You want your titles to be SEO friendly but also to attract your reader’s attention. The Yoast SEO plugin is a great tool to help optimize your blog titles for SEO. The basic version is free. However, the premium version will cost $89/year. It will give you more guidelines on how to write titles, content, what associated key phrase to use and will give you insight on the five terms that pop up more often in your text and that search engines will focus on. Which is super helpful.

That’s it. That’s all my tips on how to write killer blog titles that your readers can’t resist and that will make them click! If you have other tips how to write killer blog titles that convert, do share with us! We can never have enough!

Why not follow me on Pinterest for some more blogging and SEO resources?

hanks a lot for stopping  by. I hope you liked this post.

See you soon,
Love,
Corinne.

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19 Comments

  1. Candice Sandler
    February 10, 2020 / 12:56 pm

    Thanks so much for these awesome tips! They are so helpful

    • whatcorinnedid
      Author
      February 11, 2020 / 2:55 am

      So happy this post helped!

  2. February 11, 2020 / 2:01 pm

    Loving this post! I’m sure a lot of people will find it very useful <3

  3. February 12, 2020 / 7:35 pm

    These are very helpful tips. Copywriting and SEO can be tricky and difficult to grasp. A little help is always welcome!

  4. February 12, 2020 / 8:51 pm

    This is very useful even for the likes of myself who has been blogging for coming up on a year now. It’s never too late to re thinking things!

  5. February 12, 2020 / 10:29 pm

    I read some time back that writing a title would make or break a good post!!! Thank you so much for the tips, they’re great.

  6. February 12, 2020 / 11:47 pm

    Oh, thank you for this! Sometimes I have no idea what to do for a title, so I’ll keep this in mind.

  7. February 13, 2020 / 12:02 am

    These are all great tips. Writing a compelling headline can be so tricky at times. Thanks for putting them all in one place.

  8. February 13, 2020 / 12:37 am

    I need to apply these tips to my website. The number idea is one that I will definitely try

  9. February 13, 2020 / 1:00 am

    Such helpful tips, I’m totally going to use these. Thanks so much for sharing these with us!

  10. February 13, 2020 / 4:43 am

    I struggle with catchy titles that work with SEO so thank you for this article.

  11. February 13, 2020 / 8:55 am

    These are tips that I keep looking for and reading to improve my blog and continue and try to bring more and more traffic.

  12. February 13, 2020 / 6:05 pm

    My friend and I have been working on making the best blog titles for some time. It is kind of our favorite thing to hash out together! We do most of the things you mentioned here. I may write a small chart with some of your word suggestions.

  13. February 13, 2020 / 6:32 pm

    I like to put “shock value” in my blog titles… Along with curiosity – I want people to be like WTF is this person talking about, thus they want to click to find out!

  14. February 14, 2020 / 1:59 am

    Wow I truly needed this! I have been working on great reach for my blog title. Thanks for sharing!

  15. Jessica
    February 15, 2020 / 1:29 am

    I am rather new to figuring all this blogging stuff out, so I found this very insightful and helpful.

  16. Sophia
    February 21, 2020 / 11:54 pm

    These tips are so helpful. I have been trying to really work on my blog growth this year and I’m going to take these into consideration. Thank you!!!!

  17. March 14, 2020 / 7:56 am

    Thanks so much for these tips. It can be hard sometimes to balance writing a good title for SEO versus one that will catch people’s attention. Subbed to you on Pinterest so I’ll be binge-reading your posts!

    • whatcorinnedid
      Author
      March 15, 2020 / 3:42 pm

      Aww thank you! So happy you found the blog useful!

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