We all know that a catchy blog title can make you click, not only when you first publish your blog, but also when you promote on social media... it can help generate more clicks on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. But there is even more benefit to a blog title: your post can be read for years after your initial posting because of a catchy & SEO friendly title. Yep, years. If your content is evergreen (meaning it isn't time sensitive) then year after year, your post can climb in Google rankings and keep getting clicks.
So how do you craft a title that people can't resist AND google can't resist? Here are the steps I go through, but keep in mind we are no SEO experts, just bloggers! And although some may scoff, we are pretty happy that we had over 1 million pageviews in our 1st full year of blogging and most of our traffic now comes from Google searches. These are our 5 steps to creating an irresistible blog title:
1. The chicken or the egg? That is... the post or the title? For me it's a little of both: Chloe and I have an idea for a post and we write it first. Whoever writes the post creates a title, but knows it may change. You'll see why in Step 5. So, before you even start writing, think of what you (or your target demographic) would search for if you (or they) were doing a search for the post you are writing. Make that search your title.
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2. We write our post around our (draft) title. Use your keywords in your post, especially towards the beginning of your first paragraph.
3. Use free resources. My can't-miss step that changed our blog from being visited to being highly trafficked: Google Keywords and the WordPress SEO by Yoast Plugin. Once you are happy with your post, go to Google Keywords and type in your keywords. You'll get some great ideas for your post. Also type in your blog title. You might get more ideas or you might see that nobody is searching for your title, which means we take a 2nd look at our post topic. Sometimes we are ahead of our time with a topic (for instance, we might didn't get serious interest in how to make cake pops, how to make american flag jean shorts, how to wear boyfriend jeans, how to wear a denim vest, or decorating notebook covers for months), but sometimes we are simply using the wrong words.
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4. While in Google Keywords, select keywords with these requirements and jot them down:
- longtail keywords (3 or more words in a search term)
- low competition
- high searches (either local or global depending on your target demographics)
5. Write a catchy title. Now that you have a list of longtail keywords that are searched a lot, but don't have much competition, return to your post and use your favorite one to write a catchy title, using your creativity! Use your keywords in your title, but keep it concise, relevant and actionable. And use these new keywords in your post as well -- re-read your post and make sure it is relevant to your new title, and if not, make edits.
Once I decide on the keywords and title, I don't worry so much about my title being searched. My goal is that I want the keyword to be SEARCHED and my title to be CLICKED. I'm not sure if SEO gurus would agree (titles rank highly in Google algorithms), but as you scroll through search results, what are you going to click on? Yep, a title!
Voilá, the steps you have taken have just helped you craft a title that is both searchable and clickable, and will hopefully keep climbing in Google!
What are your steps to creating a blog title?
Note: We were kind of nervous about writing this post since we are "just bloggers," not SEO experts!! But we have "friends who know things" who shared their tricks with us and we have read lots & lots & lots.... ok, ok, we're geeks. If you spot any misinformation, correct us. If you have more info, share it below!
{UPDATE: 2nd in series published - 3 ideas for Blog Post Titles that get Clicks - (it has quick tips for #5: how to write a catchy title)}
