How To Write Killer Blog Titles
Composing a blog post rarely begins with smashing out a killer title. For most of us, the topic or blog idea usually comes before the blog title is even conceived.
Your title's first job is to let the reader know your blog post or article won't waste their time. They should instantly feel they are in the right place.
Think of your blog title as a promise.
Beware of Clever Titles
Witty wordplay and puns have their place, but it can be risky to make people work hard to decipher your playful ways. Your title should be wonderfully self-explanatory because potential visitors will vanish in a click to someone else's blog if they have to work out what the hell you are trying to say.
The Importance of Killer Titles for Search Engines
It’s scenario time! Let's imagine you are a cool-headed grisly type and know a thing or two about murder:
You're also an expert hider of bodies – the best in the business. You’re a cool sociopath with a particular set of skills.
Now imagine a novice killer has a body to hide. This crass amateur is panicking about how to dispose of the body and needs reliable answers… fast. You've written your recommendations in an expert blog post so that newbie murderers can benefit from your experience.
This is why a concise killer title is so important. The question they type into the internet search engine must match your title.
In their panic, you can bet they type: Where is the best place to hide a dead body? If your blog post title matches their question, the internet-slash-AI will drop your blog post in front of them.
When you think about, it’s so sublimely obvious.
Carefully Compose Your Title
It can be tempting to get a tad clickbaity, but leave blog titles that make highfalutin promises to the scammers and amateur writers. Remember, you are an expert assassin and your advice about hiding dead bodies is credible. Composing a heading like You Won't Believe Where a Woman From Croydon Hid 87 Festering Corpses is just insulting to your bona fide murderer.
You need to play a smart game. Identify your audience and target them with a precise and unambiguous title such as:
The Best Place To Hide a Dead Body
What About Titles With Numbers or Listicles?
10 Best Places To Hide a Dead Body
Six Places Where Dead Bodies Stay Undiscovered
5 Best Ways To Dissolve a Human Corpse in Your Own Home
Occasionally, I like to use numbers in titles. Listicles are a palatable way to present helpful advice, how-too’s or several examples on the same topic.
There is a fine line between a listicle and clickbait, so tread carefully. If you blog regularly, reserve the listicle format for blogs that give tips or step-by-step guidance.
Get Help! Here Are My Favourite Title Tools
There is no shame in using internet tools or AI to help you write your titles. Some days, your creative juices need a boost and a hit of AI caffeine might fire you up.
Remember, it is easier to critique than create
ChatGPT, Claude, and other generative AI writing tools will generally return banal or sensationalist results. AI's phrasing might not sing with authenticity, but it could trigger ideas for you.
A query to ChatGPT about hiding bodies will return a bunch of tabloid-style titles. Still, once you've finished making snobby vomit faces, the AI suggestions can be useful food for thought.
Here's a sample of the clickbaity titles ChatGPT came up with:
10 Places You'd Never Guess to Hide a Dead Body
Six Feet Under? How Deep Should You Really Dig?
Dead End: What to Consider When Choosing a Body-Hiding Spot
Silent But Deadly: How to Choose a Low-Profile Body-Hiding Location
Personally, I wouldn't use any of those suggestions, but they got me thinking – and that's the point.
Analyse Your Titles
Another fabulous free tool is Sharethrough’s free headline analyser tool. Type your title in and Sharethrough will score it for:
Relevance + Punchiness + Clarity + Catchiness + Context + Emotional Impact.
Professional Formatting: Use the Right Case
Polish your titles like a pro! At a subliminal level, Title Case adds a sense of authority to your headings. Use Title Case Converter to correctly capitalise the words in your titles.
Drop your title into the box and the app will format it correctly:
Before: 10 best places to hide a Dead Body
After: Ten Best Places To Hide a Dead Body
Make Your Subtitles Work Hard
For tips on writing copy that doesn't blow, the 5th Deadly Copywriting Sin is assuming people read everything. If you’ve ever landed on a wordy article and bailed because you couldn’t be bothered to read it, you can bet it didn’t have many subtitles. We all scan pages at speed and subtitles give our eyes somewhere to land.
Take subtitles seriously because they help our whizzy little eyeballs grasp the relevant issues. In milliseconds, a blog subtitle can help the reader decide whether your article is worth reading.
Remember, you’re writing a blog post, not a novel. Subtitles are good blog practice.
Good Titles Are a Wise Investment
Paying attention to the most prominent letters on the screen makes sense. I promise you that spending a little time on killer titles and helpful subtitles will pay dividends. Honour your blog with a title which will help get it in front of your target audience.
Thank you for reading. I hope you found this blog post useful.
I’m Mel Barren from Wordy Girl Design. I’m a ghost blogger, author, website copywriter and designer, and am shamelessly for hire.
If you’re stuck for words, speechless or just too damn busy to write, press the brazen orange button. I’d love to help you with your words or website.
