The title is your sales copy. It makes your readers want to carry on. It is probably the most important bit of real estate when it comes to writing articles to get traffic with. Spend time on it. It’s worth it.

The purpose of your title or ‘headline’ is to get readers to commit to reading your article, or at least the first paragraph. It’s your hook to start the conversation.

The title is important because it allows people to quickly decide whether they want to carry on or not.. The overload of information, especially as presented on the internet, means that the reader has no time to read an article to decide whether they liked it or not. He makes the decision on the title.

Some of your readers only hear about your article via their RSS feeds or social media links. The title has to make them want to click back to your site to read the article. This means your title has to be truly compelling to get that action out of a busy person.

Here are some ‘don’ts’. Don’t use all capital letters in your headline. You want to talk to people not yell at them. It could also mean that some site administrators might have to edit your title or might even reject your article outright.

Make sure your headline can stand on its own. If your title only makes sense if you read the article then it won’t attract attention because people won’t know what you are talking about. They are not going to stop to find out. Intrigue is good, but confusion is not.

Here are some to do tips. One good way to write a compelling title is to offer a benefit. These generally start with words such as ‘How’ or ‘Top 5 ways to… In other words your title will promise to meet a need.

A good title may create controversy or debate and your reader will want to get involved in the topic. If your title states that Obama did not deliver on his election promises you might want to read on as to why not and see whether you agree or not.

Ask a question. In the reader’s mind he will want to answer it especially if you direct the question at the reader. ‘Are you wanting to lose weight painlessly?’ will attract a reader who is battling with weight issues.

Use the title to speak directly to the reader. An easy way to do this is to use the word ‘you’ or ‘your’. Titles such as ‘Make your business a success’, or ‘10 fun bath games for your baby’  will get you many readers.

Keywords are great to have in your title. These are especially invaluable if you are using your articles to drive traffic through. Search engines particular love keywords. If your keyword is hayfever for instance then your title could be ‘Great ways to prevent your hayfever’.

Use some power words and phrases. Find these on magazine and front pages of newspapers. Just to give you some to start off with here are a few power words – free, for less, stunning, discover or easy.  Lists are always popular. Use – top 10, the hottest, best ways, reason to. Also try intrigue. Use words such as – secrets, best kept secrets, little known and behind the scenes.

Keep your titles short. Many search engines and RSS feeds only display the first 65 characters or even less. You don’t want your titles to be chopped off and not make sense anymore.

Don’t use punctuation. You don’t want to stop the reader. A full stop can make the reader think that’s the end. The whole point of the headline or title is to ensure the reader continues into the first paragraph.

Your title is your sales pitch. Don’t underestimate the importance. Your title is what draws your traffic. Your content is what will bring them back for more.

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