Since this series began in January 2018 there have been over 1100 Posts from Your Archives where bloggers have taken the opportunity to share posts to a new audience… mine.
The topics have ranged from travel, childhood, recipes, history, family and the most recent series was #PotLuck where I shared a random selection of different topics. This series is along the same lines… but is a ‘Lucky Dip’
In this series I will be sharing posts from the first six months of 2021 – details of how you can participate are at the end of the post.
The first post in the new series is from Hugh W. Roberts who shares his blogging expertise and in particular how to attract readers by creating the perfect title for your posts.
How To Write The Perfect Titles For All Your Blog Posts #BloggingTips
What do you believe is the most important thing to get right to attract new visitors to your blog or website?
I expect many of you will have given ‘content’ as your answer.
But guess what? Content isn’t always king.
There’s something that just about every visitor will read first before deciding whether to read a blog post.
Why top-notch blog post titles matter…
“On average, 5x as many people read the title as read the body copy. When you’ve written your headline, you’ve spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
David Ogilvy
Yes, it’s all about your blog post titles. Give your blog posts amazing titles, and you will see lots more new visitors flocking to read your posts or visiting your website.
Why Blog Posts Titles Are Like The Titles Of Books and Movies
I look at blog post titles like I do the title of a book or movie. If they entice me, I’ll start reading the book or watching the film.
Blog posts titles are as important as the content of blog posts. Get both right, and you’re on to a winner.
If your blog post title isn’t enticing, how many visitors looking at it move on without stopping by to check out your post?
I do it all the time. I look at a blog post title and move on quickly if it does not entice me to click on the ‘read more’ link.
Okay, I could be missing out on reading some great content, but ask yourself how many more visitors to your blog or website are like me and move on quickly?
Tip – When creating titles for your blog posts, ask yourself what title would make you want to click on the ‘read more’ link.
How To Make Your Blog Posts Titles More Enticing
Certain words in blog post titles entice readers to want to find out more. Here are a few –
- How
- How to
- When
- Have
- Have you
- Don’t
- Did
- Do you
- This
- This is
- Who
- Why
- What
- Where
Other things you can use in your blog post titles to entice readers
Numbers
Yes, numbers work just as well as certain words do. For example, which of these two blog post titles do you think have more of an impact?
Some ways to get people to read your blog posts.
7 blogging tips that will get your blog posts read.
According to blogging guru Janice Wald of MostlyBlogging.com,, odd numbers do better than even numbers in blog post titles. And prime numbers do even better.
Odd numbers generally perform better than even numbers in blog post titles because they appear less conveniently packaged than even numbers.
It’s why you’ll find the majority of my blog posts titles (that contain a number) have an odd number in them.
Tip – When using numbers, make sure you use a numeral rather than spelling out the number. Digits stand out better in headlines and take up less space.
Hashtags
Do hashtags work in blog post titles? Yes, they do. Not only can they help boost your blog post on SEO sites such as Google and Bing, but they help catch the eye of visitors who may be looking for specific information.
It’s certainly worth checking out what hashtags are trending at the time of publishing a blog post. Twitter is an excellent source for checking out trending hashtags, but never add a hashtag that has nothing to do with the subject of the post.
Warning – using too many hashtags in a blog post title can result in SEOs considering your post as spam. As with adding hashtags to tweets, don’t add more than three hashtags in a blog post title. More than three will make your tweet or blog post look spammy.
Twitter Usernames
If you’re adding the name of somebody who has a Twitter account to the title of a blog post, always include their Twitter Username. Why? Because every time somebody shares your post on Twitter, the person you’ve included gets a Twitter notification. In turn, they may retweet your tweet to their followers, giving you and your post more exposure.
Here’s a great example from author and blogger Graeme Cumming.
Adding Twitter Usernames to the title of your blog post will give it a boost
See what Graeme’s done? He’s included three Twitter usernames of those mentioned in his blog post.
Word Count
According to CoSchedule.Com, blog post titles around 55 characters long tend to earn the highest click-throughs. Blog post titles between six to ten words also tend to achieve the highest number of click-throughs.
To get you started creating some great blog post titles, here’s some suggestions.
- How To ______
- How To Find _____
- How To Completly Change _____
- How To Create _____
- How To Use _____
- How To Get Rid Of _____
- How I Made _____
- How To Save _____
- How To Help _____
- How To Develop _____
- What To Do With _____
- Here’s How To _____
- Where To Find _____
- What No One Tells You About _____
- (#) Questions You Should Ask Before _____
- (#) Secrets To _____
- (#) Signs You Might _____
- (#) Rules For _____
- (#) Facts About _____
- (#) Ideas For/To _____
- (#) Essential Steps For/To _____
- (#) Foolproof Tips For _____
- (#) Handy Tips For _____
- (#) Tricks For _____
- (#) Key Benefits For _____
- (#) Reasons You _____
- (#) Wrong Ways To _____
- (#) Most Popular ______
- (#) Tips For _____
- (#) _____ Mistakes You Won’t Make Again
- (#) Things I’ve Learned While Writing My Book This Month
- Why My Weekend Was Amazing
- You’ll Never Believe What Happened To Me Last Week
- Why This Is The Only Chocolate Chip Recipe, You’ll Ever Need
- Meet _____ _____ Who Reveals Their Secrets About Writing
- Why I’m Recommending These (#) Television Shows To Fans Of _____
- Book Review: (#) Reasons Why I’m Giving _____ by _____ _____ (insert Twitter username here) 5 Stars
Insert a number where you see (#)
I’ve already used some of these titles and had great results from them. Many of my blog posts’ titles also include words that entice readers to want to find out more.
Warning – Don’t forget to add a title to your blog post. Any title is better than none. WordPress replaces blank blog post titles with a five-digit number. How many visitors would click the ‘read more’ link if seeing a random five-digit number in place of a post title? Not many!
Let’s wrap it up
- Blog posts titles are the first thing visitors read, so make them as enticing as you can.
- Blog posts titles are as important as the contents of your blog posts.
- When creating a blog post title, ask yourself what would make you click on the ‘read more’ link.
- Get the title of your blog post wrong, and you could be missing out on hundreds of new readers, likes and comments.
- Make sure you’ve given the post you’re about to publish a title. Any title is better than no title at all.
- Use specific words such as How, How To, Why, Where, in your blog posts’ titles to entice readers to click on the ‘read more’ link.
- If using a number, odd numbers generally perform better than even numbers in blog post titles because they appear less conveniently packaged than even numbers.
- When using numbers in blog post titles, use digits rather than spelling out the number.
- Don’t add more than three hashtags in your titles. Doing so makes blog posts look spammy.
- Adding Twitter usernames to blog post titles help get your post noticed on Twitter.
How do you come up with titles for your blog posts? Do you have any tips for creating them that you’d like to add to my list? Do you have any questions about creating blog post titles? Share them in the comments section.
©Hugh W. Roberts 2021
About Hugh W. Roberts
My name is Hugh. I live in the city of Swansea, South Wales, in the United Kingdom.
I’m a passionate blogger and have been blogging since February 2014.
My blog covers a wide range of subjects, the most popular is my blogging tips. I’ve learned a lot about the world of blogging since I first discovered it. All of the tips and advice I give are free of charge and will cost you nothing apart from, maybe, a little bit of your time.
I have always enjoyed writing, and the fact that I suffer from a mild form of dyslexia has not stopped me from enjoying the passion I have for writing.
Now in my fifties, I thought it about time I let my writing become public. Becoming a blogger seemed to be the perfect way for me to do this. Blogging has put me in touch with hundreds of other writers, many of whom have been supportive and helped me with my writing.
I lead a happy life and always try to stay positive. I share my life with John, my wonderful civil partner, and our two Welsh Cardigan Corgis, Toby and Austin.
I write about life because I find it so fascinating. I have many stories to tell.
You will find some of my short stories and flash fiction on my blog, and I hope you enjoy reading them. Flash Fiction has become a big part of my writing, and I enjoy participating in various writing challenges.
Books by Hugh Roberts
Read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon UK – And on: Amazon US – Follow :Hugh Roberts Goodreads – Blog – Hugh’s Views and News – Twitter: @HughRoberts05
My thanks to Hugh for allowing me to access his archive and share his posts with you.
How you can feature in the series?
- All I need you to do is give me permission to dive in to your archives and find two posts to share here on Smorgasbord. (sally.cronin@moyhill.com)
- Rather than a set topic, I will select posts at random of general interest across a number of subjects from the first six months of 2021. (it is helpful if you have a link to your archives in your sidebar by month)
- As I will be promoting your books as part of the post along with all your information and links so I will not be sharing direct marketing or self- promotional posts in the series.
- If you are an author I am sure you will have a page on your blog with the details, and an ‘about page’ with your profile and social media links (always a good idea anyway). I will get everything that I need.
- As a blogger I would assume that you have an ‘about page’ a profile photo and your links to social media.
- Copyright is yours and I will ©Your name on every post… and you will be named as the author in the URL and subject line.
- Previous participants are very welcome to take part again.
- Each post is reformatted for my blog and I don’t cut and paste, this means it might look different from your own post.
- If I do share a post which contains mainly photographs I will share up to five and link back to the original post for people to view the rest.
N.B – To get the maximum benefit from your archive posts, the only thing I ask is that you respond to comments individually and share on your own social media.. thank you.
Smorgasbord Blog Magazine 