How to Craft a Better Title Tag: 10 Actionable Tips #MyBlogU
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In an effort to help our #MBUstorm contestants to build up their new blogs, we’ve shared quite a few tips by now: We’ve talked about building your brand assets, lead generation, engaging your readers, crafting a great logo on the cheap…
Today we are starting to share some content tips because you should be well past the set-up phase right now and into building up your content…
We’ve talked about the anatomy of an epic article previously and here’s a quick follow up: Brainstorming the most prominent and thus the most important element of your content: The title tag.
1.Keep them short: Google will only display ~60 characters within search results (after the redesign). You can still make your title tags longer but remember that titles are also tweeted: If they are short and sweet, you get short and sweet Tweets as the result. According to Moz, the ideal title tag length is somewhere around 55 characters
Here's a great article posted about headlines too: https://t.co/q7PUnDDtl0 #myblogu
— Steffi Black #STK (@steffiblack) November 12, 2015
2. Think about grabbing attention: Title tags get clicked in search results, Facebook and Twitter feeds, etc. Make sure they spur curiosity
Headlines are so critical; I'm wishing I used a different headline – best post I've written didn't grab enough attention. #myblogu
— Gail Gardner (@GrowMap) November 12, 2015
3. Run a two-minute keyword research when crafting your title tag. Use this free tool to get some ideas.
If you can think of some bloggers with great titles, lets share some up to the end of the chat. I think examples help! #myblogu
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) November 12, 2015
@seosmarty Darren Rowse, @problogger – has good info #myblogu
— Lenie Hokansson (@LenieHokansson) November 12, 2015
4. Answer a question in your title tags: This may increase your chances to rank in “position zero” (Google answer boxes). Here are some tools to research those questions to answer.
Mention the benefits. Answer the acid test, "what's in it for me?" since that's what the readers are almost always thinking about. #myblogu
— Jimmy R – Writer (@dbjim21) November 12, 2015
5. If you do an interview or cover an event, make sure to include the interviewee’s best-known name and Twitter handle or event hashtag in the title: Organic tweets will be your ego-baiting
Here's a resource from crazyegg about email subject lines https://t.co/2DkN8HKm91 It's a good place to get inspiration. #myblogu
— Jimmy R – Writer (@dbjim21) November 12, 2015
6. You may go wrong with lists (people seem to grow tired of lists) but you can’t go wrong with “How to”.
Need blog post/title ideas? Try Portent's Content Idea Generator https://t.co/CPBA1Rj3Q8 #brilliant #myblogu
— Barry Wise (@BarryWise) November 12, 2015
7. Avoid unnecessary punctuation (especially “” -). It eats up character space and I’ve seen it being turned into weird symbols in tweets.
I've been testing my Titles with the @Coschedule headline analyzer https://t.co/vumizTuKYH #myblogu
— Gail Gardner (@GrowMap) November 12, 2015
8. Use Pauline Cabrera’s @Twelveskip cheatsheet listing 74 clever blog post title templates. This is also a good list of post title ideas (via @startablog123).
Hubspot also has a title generator https://t.co/acuICgVgm2 #myblogu
— Jimmy R – Writer (@dbjim21) November 12, 2015
9. Use MyBlogU Articles section to ask our members to suggest a better title
Choose a title / write content that is a NEW take on a topic – even if it is a new take on an existing trend like growthhacking #myblogu
— Gail Gardner (@GrowMap) November 12, 2015
10. Use your title research to improve your article. Crafting a title is the last thing I do when writing an article but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t inspire some edits, tweaks and additions.
Start with a provisional title – but change it up as u go #myblogu
— Phil Turner (@The5Currencies) November 12, 2015
@seosmarty I usually brainstorm around the keyword. Plug it into Google, see some suggestions, and get inspired. #myblogu
— Kari (@RelationshipCir) November 12, 2015
Are there any other guidelines you are using when brainstorming an article title? Please share in the comments!
Make sure your title/headline accurately relates to your content. Blowing smoke eventually makes you stink. #myblogu
— Don Sturgill (@DonSturgill) November 12, 2015
Mention your reader's problems. It makes them emotional making them want to learn about the solution by reading you article. #myblogu
— Jimmy R – Writer (@dbjim21) November 12, 2015
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Some excellent tips in here. One thing that stood out was using questions marks to try in appear in “position zero”. Definitely something that would be worthwhile testing.