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“On the average, 5 times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent around 80 cents out of your dollar (2.159064 Indian rupees).”
-David Ogilvy
So here are some basic things that should be kept in mind your mind writers, while writing a title:
1. Creating a ‘Catchy’ yet ‘Crispy’ Title
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A title is understood to be interesting and eye-catching when it is actually intended for the right target audience as well as, it is short and crisp enough for sustaining the attention of the viewers.
For example-
A. ‘Is CA the Only Field for Commerce Students?’ or, ‘Details about CA for Commerce students’
B. ‘Does Psychology only consist of aspects about Counseling?’ or, ‘Different Fields of Psychology’
Which of the titles do you think will catch more attention?
As you can understand, here, we are not only making an article for a specific audience but also making sure that the question that everyone has in their minds is in our title itself to bring more audience and make it worth reading.
2. Keep it Short, Simple and to the Point
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Great titles could go directly to the point of your content. Don’t ever try to be over-the-top clever or sort of intriguing. Clearer titles wouldn’t play with words or, rather waste time trying to make a joke out of it. Most people ought to miss it. So, avoid doing it. Get to the point!
3. Tell them What To Do
Create a title in such a way that it offers a command in it. Demand from your audience what they should do to get the value you are offering to them. Be direct and demanding in action.
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You, being the expert of your content, should tell them to act in a certain way for further progress. You make them ask “why” and that will, in turn, make them curious about it and will lead them to click upon your article.
4. Use ‘Numbers’ in Titles
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This is a very prominent key ingredient to write catchy titles for your articles.
But why?
Let me tell you. The concept of Numbers is like a bridge between confusion and clarity for skill-based or information based contents. Numbers produce an order out of confusion and make the content in such a way that people can read it quickly anytime and anywhere.
For example-
A. '7 Best Online Book sites'
B. '5 Ways of How to Learn a New Language in 12 Hours'
Here, the usage of numbers enables the reader to quickly read all the sites and its benefits that will suit his/her needs.
5. Put Questions in the Title
It’s very important to target your audience with the questions they want answers for. The title should be prominent with something that your readers want to know. To be more interesting and eye-catching, you should look forward to tying the question to their main benefits.
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To make your title more irresistible, not always you need to pose the questions directly. You can simply just imply or hint towards it.
For example-
A. 'Your Boss Wants to See You in his Office for Something Urgently? Read this!'
B. 'Do You Want to Know the Top 5 Mistakes Most Bloggers Make?'
6. Better to use the formula of ‘FOMO’
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Creating an appropriate title which invokes a sense into the readers that they might be missing something really great in their lives, could count to be probably one of the best ways for grabbing attention.
For example-
A. ‘Why should you Visit Grub Fest Once in Your Lifetime?’
B. ‘Why is Commitment not the Only Way to Feel Attached?’
As you can observe, here, readers who have gone as well as those who did not go for a grub fest or, didn’t think about relations without the fear of getting committed, will be intrigued into knowing what it will be like. And people then probably are going to share it with their friends and family.
7. Appeal to your Reader’s Hunger for Knowledge
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If you could learn to do something in XYZ with easy steps, then you would definitely want to know how; most people do. Use your titles in such a way to tell your readers that they can learn something through it. You have to make it sound easier somehow.
Don’t include the whole process into the title since it will tend to sound like a lot of work to people. Target the prominent result and your reader’s real motivations. Write titles in such a way that it forces people to share your content with others.
For example-
A. 'How to Stop Smoking Right Now (For Good!)'
B. 'Making Money by Carefully Investing for the Next 50 Years!'
8. Promising Your Reader Something ‘Valuable’ is Important
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The title of the article should induce a sense that whosoever reads it is in for a solid knowledge takeaway. Maybe ask yourself once- ‘Whether my title is doing any justice to my content?’
Making sure that the reader is persuaded enough to read your article just by its title is the actual art of mastering content writing.
For example-
‘Is studying English Honors All About Becoming Teacher or Lecturer?’
Now here, the writer has invoked a questioning sense that there might be other things as well to keep in mind and teaching is not the only factor. It gives sort of a sense of hope to your reader. It helps in connecting them with your content.
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Besides writing good titles, good content is also very prominent to justify it. For any good title, these 4 pillars of successful content should also be kept in mind-
I. Is this a topic the readers will be deeply in learning more about?
II. Is the content deeply searched for sharing uniqueness and better information than any other source available?
III. Did your content turn the researched words into actionable justifications?
IV. Was the keyword correctly chosen and optimised throughout the content for better traffic?
The Bottom Line- In a Nutshell
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It’s indeed very important that your content, its words, the inherited ideas, the hard work you put into framing it so that it makes sense, is seen, acknowledged and appreciated.
And for that not only is writing good is important, but writing smart is necessary as well. Push yourself to be more inclined towards working smarter with less resources.
Writers, you can bring in use these simple yet effective tricks for instance, which are really helpful for your future deals in writing and eventually you would see yourself writing altogether varied and different provoking content yourself.
Happy Writing!
Read more - The Four Types of Titles: Which is best for your story?
Written By - Pavas Shrigyan
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