What’s the best title for your Blog Post?

Image by Hubspot

I read on Hubspot an interesting post by Sarah Goliger, with the results from 11 title tests, and complemented it with information from the Author Marketing Experts blog. Here’s the main takeaways:

Frame your blog post title as a question to make it more intriguing.
Use broader topic descriptions to position your blog post as relevant to a wider audience.
At the same time, be clear. While using a broad title can attract a larger audience, going too broad can have the opposite effect by being too vague and not piquing interest. Make it clear enough what your post is about that your readers know what they’re getting.
Use adjectives that aren’t used frequently in other blog posts to make your title stand out more. For example, the title “Tell-Tale Signs Your Website May Need a Redesign” scores better than “Excellent Reasons to Redesign Your Website”
Craft your title language to be about the reader and what is interesting to them, not you. For example, use “You”instead of “Me”. Make sure that you address your reader in the headline. Your Guide to, or something similar will help create more exposure for your headline.
Hint at the chance to access new, exclusive information, using words like “surprising” and “reveal”make your content look exciting and unique. This tramps even takaway #1.
State Your Offer at the Beginning. For example, if your blog post is meant to highlight a specific piece of content, make it clear what that content is up front, rather than putting it toward the middle or end of your post title.
Begin your blog post title with a number to help make the post’s content more actionable and its length clear to the reader. This will also reassure your readers that they can scan through your list post quickly if needed.
Use unique descriptions. For example, “A fool-proof formula for compelling content” beats “A comprehensive guide to compelling content”. There are “guides” and “checklists” all over the internet, but how many “fool-proof formulas” have you encountered?
Use Fun titles. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Your post titles will be more enticing with a fun, light tone than a bland, serious one.
Be brief. Sometimes including more words in your post title to enhance your value proposition can actually distract your readers from what it is you’re offering them. When in doubt, keep it simple.
Caps: Headlines with the first letter of each word capped do better than a headline with just the first letter of the first word capped. Using all caps? I’d skip it. All caps always sounds LIKE YELLING.