Much like choosing a name for your video game character or new pet, choosing a title for your blog post can be time-consuming and frustrating. There has been some debate on whether writers should aim to get their blog title down before or after they’ve written their post. On one hand, establishing your title early on can help guide and steer you through the writing process, ensuring you don’t stray from your main idea — on the other, straying can sometimes be a good thing.
Say you start writing an article on search engine optimisation and your train of thought or research leads you to include some more general search engine marketing tips. That’s fine, right? Depending on how much extra information you choose to keep in your article, your title could change from SEO tips to SEM.
With or without a title, keep in mind your objective. If you start to write an article on SEO and end up writing an ode to your ex-girlfriend who brutally smashed your heart three months ago but still looks hot in her profile photos — that’s really straying. What I’m referring to here is allowing yourself flexibility and freedom in expression and the thought process, because that can determine your title. At the end of the day, it ultimately comes down to a matter of preference.
Thus far in this article we have mentioned evil exes, pets, and video games. What if we were to expand on these topics? Let’s look at some popular title formats that we could use to publish our hypothetical blog posts.
- The How-To : How To Get Over Your Ex-Girlfriend
- The Quick Advice: How To Get Over Your Ex-Girlfriend Fast
- The Question: Should You Go Back To Your Ex-Girlfriend?
Some examples that incorporate the one other creature on this planet who loves to make your life difficult more than your ex does:
- The You-Should-Know-This: 50 Fundamental Things You Need To Understand About Your Cat
- The Interesting Fact: 35% Of Cat Owners Are Convinced Their Fluffy Companion Is Planning An Assassination
And, finally, an example that incorporates the only foolproof remedy for cat- or ex-related headache:
- The List: 101 Video Games You Should Play This Summer
To summarise, it’s a good idea to keep your title descriptive, short, and accurate. Readers like to know what to expect before they click on your article. Don’t just describe your topic — describe the value of your post. And remember, length is important not only for user engagement but also search engines; Google displays the first 50 to 60 characters of a title on its results page.
We hope these title format examples will prove useful when you're brainstorming your next article! If you'd like to chat some more about blogging feel free to contact us.