When I coach clients at OrangeSoda one of the things I tell them is to be specific. A part of that advice is to use a descriptive title for your blog post. Many times people use either clever or generic titles. General titles are boring. Clever titles often lose people. Read the title of your blog post to yourself. If it could apply to almost any topic or any business, then you need to re-write it.

Search engines don’t take people to the home page of your blog every time. They deliver information out of context. This is good because if someone is searching for a hotel in Connecticut to spend Valentine’s Day then your blog post might pop up. They type in “city, Connecticut hotel” and hopefully your blog post shows up high on the list, they find you and give you a call. I’ve seen blog posts about a business come up higher than the official web site for the business.

Each blog post is its own entry into search engines — its own web page. Some people write as if we know who they are and what they do. Chances are we don’t. And that we don’t care enough to find out (unless we have or you give us a reason to).

Why is it important to use descriptive blog post titles?

• A descriptive blog post title is good for SEO.
  Search engines try to categorize information for searchers who are looking for information. If your title is too vague then a search engine may not know what it’s about. They might index it incorrectly (or not at all). The title of your blog post is one of THE MOST IMPORTANT aspects of blogging when it comes to SEO. Don’t ruin the chance to get more targeted information into search engines by writing a descriptive title to your blog posts.
• A descriptive blog post title tells the reader what they are going to learn about.
  Readers want to know what they’re getting and make split second decisions on what to read. If you make them think too hard then you’ve probably lost them. Don’t just tell us what it’s about – sell it a little. Your goal is to make people want to keep reading. The more they read the higher the chances are that they will care or trust you enough to call you, comment, or participate in some way. And if they do that, chances are higher that they’ll become a customer, regular reader, etc.
• A descriptive blog post title helps people.
  When you write descriptive blog post titles it helps people get what they are looking for. They appreciate that. Most likely they are not reading your blog post, they are skimming over it to see if there’s any reason for them to read more. If you tell them what they’re going to get up front, they can judge if they found what they were looking for. Don’t make us hunt for it. Cut down on frustration and time people must spend to figure out what your blog post is about by saying it up front in the title.

Example of a Vague Blog Post Title:

This blog post is titled: It’s Not Too Late!

If you read that you’re first question is – not too late for what? To learn to play the violin? To tell that special someone we love them? To lose 20 lbs. before the next class reunion?

After reading further I found out that the blog is a local business – a hotel. It’s based in Connecticut and it’s called Interlaken – at least that’s what I think. Nothing on the blog really tells me who they are – I’m unsure if the blog is about things you can do in a certain city or the name of the hotel. But I’ll assume it’s the name of the hotel.

The first paragraph is vague too: Valentine’s weekend is here, and we do have a few rooms still available, so no worries – just give us a call and we can still take care of you!  (1-800-222-2909).

New Version of the Blog Post

Here’s the new title: It’s Not Too Late to Plan a Romantic Valentine’s Day Getaway in __ Connecticut

Valentine’s weekend is almost here. If you live near by or are visiting (city name) Connecticut we invite you to stop by the Interlaken hotel. Not only do we still have some rooms available, we have many Valentine’s Day packages for a last minute getaway. Surprise the person you love, celebrate and spend time together. Just give us a call — and we will take care of you!  (1-800-222-2909).

P.S. My next tip would be – use paragraphs in your blog posts! and Links! But that’s another blogging tip. This one is just about the title.

Have any examples of great blog post titles? Please put them in the comments (along with a link).

Leave a Reply