Create Article Titles that WORK!
See through the eyes of an EzineArticles Editor to discover the secrets to writing great article titles.
Have you ever wondered what an editor was thinking or how they made their editorial decisions regarding your article? In this post, the first of many blog posts that will give you a “through the eyes” view of our editorial thought process, we’ll share (5) fictional article titles that each contain a common title error. We’ll then give you an EzineArticles Editor’s thoughts on how those titles can be improved.
- Good Title: Stress Management: 7 Great Habits For You to Learn
Great Title: Stress Management – 7 Behaviors to DiscoverIt’s important when evaluating an article to look for delivery on the title. If it says “7 Great Habits”, it should indeed deliver 7 great habits! If it’s unclear, or you have to fish too long to find the (7) habits, then the title does not deliver and the reader will not get what they expected. Deliver 7 Tips that are easily identifiable. Bullets and headings work well for this.
You’ll notice we also polished the title with positive words like “Behaviors” and “Discover” versus words with a more negative connotation like “Habits” and “Learn”.
- Good Title: New Zealand Real Estate!
Great Title: Real Estate – New Zealand Offers ValueThis is a niche or locale-specific title. While focusing the content of your articles on niche markets can be highly effective for increasing the flow of high-quality traffic, the article has to follow through on any claims made by the title. Some authors use article titles that suggest niche articles, but only include a liberal sprinkling of niche keywords and provide no specialized content.
Keep in mind: A good niche article should be locale-specific throughout. If your article loses its value with the loss of the locale, then your article was niche/locale specific.
- Bad Title: WAY COOL BEATS
Great Title: Way Cool Beats – How to Acquire RhythmTitles should not be in all caps. The first letter of each major word should be capitalized only. If you submit a title in all caps, we will change it.
Although acceptable, this title does not deliver the whole picture. Understand that your readers see your title first, then your article. Your title should be attention-grabbing and tell your reader exactly what they will be receiving when they read the rest of your article.
- Bad Title: *Big No More, Lose Wiegt by eating a Bushel of Apples, Latest Wiegt Loss Diet is Successful*
Great Title: Latest Successful Diet and Weight Loss Tip – Lose Weight by Eating a Bushel of Apples!The bad title will get your article hard rejected. Hard rejections mean that your article will be removed. Looking at this title tells us that you did not take the time to review our editorial guidelines or check your spelling and grammar to build credibility. It’s also obvious you don’t want to take the time to fix or review it.
As an aside, remember that these titles are fictional. There is no “Bushel of Apples Diet Plan”… we hope. ;-)
- Good Title: DIY Sheds – Choose the Best Shed for your Shed Storage Needs
Great Title: DIY Sheds – 9 Tips to Choosing the Best Shed for your NeedsWe would consider rejecting the good title for excessive keywords. A great title can have multiple keywords… if cleverly placed. The keyword here is used twice, but cleverly. This is both good for SEO and delivery to your readers.
Download this PDF file to discover more about the effective use of keywords.
We’ve only scratched the surface in this post. There are literally hundreds of tips for writing great, effective article titles. Have you got a few? Share them by leaving a comment! Then go write some great titles and, better yet, write and submit the great articles to go with them!
In one of the previous posts about creating titles, one man had a great system of creating a title for an article which was very smooth–it didn’t require a “gap” or 2-part title. I hope he will comment again.
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