The great thing about blogging is the freedom that comes with it. Depending on what you blog about, you develop a specific audience that is keenly interested in what you have to say. One of the best reasons to join BlogBurst is to expand your readership and drive more traffic back to your site. Once your blog is featured on a publisher’s site, readers can click on your blog link or byline to click back to your site.
But just what hooks the reader (aside from your brilliant post)?
The title of your post, of course
A well-written title can mean the difference between readers losing your headline in the busy content on publisher pages and enticing the reader to click through, exposing them to your post and your blog. A great title is the starting point that just might turn a new reader into an avid fan of your blog. Keep it succinct, give it some punch and help draw the reader in to all your blog has to offer.
Check out a few of these title comparisions:
The Bad vs. The Good
Bad: “Happy New Year!!!”
Good: “Welcome to the New Year: Kathryn’s Fashion Predictions”
Bad: “Weekly Book Review”
Good: “Book Review: How The Dead Dream by Lydia Millet”
Bad: “How to Dress Fashionably”
Good: “10 Ways to Blend Hipster Chic With Classic AND Trend Pieces!“
Bad: “The [Blog Name’s] Top 10 List”
Good: “Bye Bye Microprints! (And 9 More Trends We’re Happy to Leave in 2007)”
Bad: “Breaking News”
Good: “Iowa Caucus: Prognostications, Results and Breaking News“
Bad: “News Roundup”
Good: “Yer’ Drug War Roundup”
Bad: “Blog Carnival”
Good: “Carnival of Financial Goals #2 - A Walk With Sam”
Bad: “Links for the Day”
Good: “Daily Links: Moses to Sandy Koufax”
Bad: “Month/Year in Review”
Good: “Year in Review: Best Homebuilding Products of 2007″
The Ugly
“Untitled Entry” - No explanation necessary. Always title your posts.
“–==Mu$IK C0Ncert ReVieW$==–” - There was once a time when Internet users placed punctuation marks before their screen names in order to move their name to the top of instant messaging and directory lists. The trend later evolved into using multiple punctuation marks and crazy capitalization as a form of artistic expression. For me, I can think of no better expression than a well formulated post that presents a unique point of view and is creative in nature. Aside from looking bad, wacky formatting can also trigger dirty word filters that prevent publishers from using your content.
Unnecessary profanity - When using profanity in your post, ask yourself if it is really necessary. Can you emphasize your point without it? Profanity, regardless of whether it is spelled out correctly, abbreviated, or has characters replaced with punctuation, triggers a filter that prevents your posts from being picked-up by publishers.
Hey, at first I thought you were over here talking about us ;).
I totally agree it is all about the title, at least as far as blog I am not a ‘reader’ of. Give me an interesting title and ten to one I will check out the blog. Even if I know nothing about it, where as something general or boring gets passed over. Characters in the post always make me think of spam and I will pass that over if I am not familiar with the blog.
I try to keep it short (not always successful), provocative (when topic allows), with a dose of humor, sometimes just useful.
Recent examples of all these options on my blog ‘Serge the Concierge’ are ‘Hey! Get Cooking, Offer Seth Godin great Meatball Recipes? (not ‘a dog dinner)’, plus ‘Fancy a Three Some, Here’s one from Napa’ or ‘Anarchy in the US, Punk House’ and ‘Disaster Proof Tips to Doing Business in Dubai, Shanghai and Mumbai’ to name a few.
See you in Austin for my ‘Just Over 50 and Not Dead Yet’ Panel (South by Southwest).
Serge
‘The French Guy from New Jersey’
Blog:
http://www.sergetheconcierge.com
Hmmm…I have lots of New Year’s resolutions about my blog, and I’m going to add “Review my titles” to the list. My blog is political, so my titles are often dark. Good suggestions, thanks.
I’ve tried to swing into more illectually challenging thrusts with my headlines (”You don’t have to be a victim.”), but am still too general.
Good suggestions.