UPDATE 28 March 2017: We’ve added some tools you can use to test your title ideas for free!
One skill that I’m working on this year is to write better blog titles. Good titles take a bit of time and, yes, preparation, but I always seem to leave them until the last minute. If yours are looking a bit lack lustre too, don’t worry, I’ve compile a list of recommended reading to help you start improving right now.
Quick tips and blog title templates
Whatever you’re writing about, Twelveskip have over a hundred great templates to inspire you. The article also starts with six simple tips that will work for everybody, even if you don’t have the time or the team you need to do in-depth keyword research.
Testing tools
We recently discovered Title Tester, which is a free online tool you can use to actually ask your audience which title works better for them! Very nifty. The free option is to create your poll and share it via a link to get feedback from your own contacts. Alternatively, you can pay a small fee to get votes from 50 of Title Tester’s own testers within minutes, so you don’t have to start researching to far in advance!
CoSchedule offer a great headline analyzer tool for check your title options based on the best advice around, so you can get feedback before you put options in front of an audience
Detailed guidance
If you’re looking for more detailed advice, you’ll find it in Coschedule’s post on writing catchy blog titles. Each of their five steps has lots of detailed advice, examples, and statistics, so you can really understand the difference between your different title options.
Download and keep
SmartBlogger have put together a downloadable ‘cheat sheet’ called Headline Hacks – you’ll need to give them your email address if you want it. Cheat sheet is perhaps doing themselves a dis-service, as you get 69 pages of example templates and how to use them. Come up with two or three examples for each of these, and can write a year’s worth of great headlines in one afternoon. Plus, a whole bunch of example headlines for inspiration, and clever adjectives for alliterative purposes – what more could you possibly need?!
This post was originally published 30 November 2016.
Your stories
What are your most successful blog headlines so far? Who else should I look to for advice on blog post titles?
