How To Create Perfect Blog Post Titles That Grab Attention

Without a good title, what good is a blog post? No one will read it. No one will click on it in the search results on Google. No one will care about it if it sounds boring.

Having an incredible blog post without spending time crafting the perfect title is like having the best movie of all time with a crummy title and movie trailer. No one would watch it.

To get people to read your blog posts in the first place, you have to draw them in, capture their attention and make them have to click on your post to read its content.

There are a few surefire ways to do this…

Use “How To” In Your Title

People are always looking up how to do stuff on the internet. This is why some of the most popular Youtube channels in the world are full of makeup tutorials, video game walkthroughs and things like that.

Use the words “How To” at the beginning of your post and you are almost guaranteed to get a boost in clicks and views.

Here are some examples:

• How To Think Like A Billionaire And Make History
• How To Brand Yourself As An Expert In You Field In 10 Steps
• How To Your First 1000 Facebook Fans

Be Controversial

Have you ever noticed how news TV stations and websites always go after controversy? Why do you think that is? It's because people LOVE it and can't get enough of it.

These titles are opinionated and spark a lot of emotion, good or bad, from your audience, so use them at your own risk. They can definitely get you a lot more post views though.

Here are a few controversial title examples:

• Why A Social Media Policy Is Stupid
• Why Successful People Are Douchebags
• SEO Is Dead. Link Building Is Dead. Your Pony Is Dead

No, I'm not making these up.

Use Numbered Lists

Numbered lists in blog posts seem to be my go-to move lately. Just about every time I publish a numbered list post, I get TONS of shares, comments, visitors, etc.

Why do they work? Because you're specifically telling people what they're going to get and if the list is big, people plan on learning a lot from the post, so they click it.

Using a number at the first part of your title is a great way to get more post clicks. If you are interested in Facebook marketing tips, would you click “55 Facebook Marketing Tips And Tricks For Doubling Your Social Traffic” or “Facebook Marketing Tips – Get More Traffic”?

The first choice sounds much better doesn't it? It just sucks you in and makes you click. You really can't say “no”.

Here are a few more numbered list post title examples:

• 56 Blogging Communities For Getting Your Blog Discovered
• 62 Email marketing Statistics And Metrics That'll Boost Results
• 100 Ways To Make Money Online Legitimately

Use Statistics From Case Studies

People love it when you show that you did something and prove it with numbers. It builds trust and credibility for your brand that can be pretty hard to come by in most cases.

Case study posts are easy to make great titles for because they are so straightforward. Just about any blog post title that contains a number will get more clicks than others, and this is no exception.

Here are some great statistical case study title examples:

• We Analyzed 37,259 Facebook Ads And Here's What We Learned
• How I Generated $332,640 In 3 Months From Instagram
• What We Learned From Sending 1,000 Cold Emails

Use The Words “Step-By-Step”

When you tell people they are getting a step-by-step guide, they expect everything to be broken down, so that anyone can do it by just following the steps.

In other words, it tells them you made it easier for them to achieve the desired result they want by showing them exactly how to do it. Titles with “step-by-step” in them tend to perform well.

People like specifics and they want to know how to do things themselves. This is exactly what you give them with a step-by-step guide.

Here are a few examples of step-by-step posts:

• A Step-By-Step Guide To Turning Around A Failing Organization
• A Step-By-Step Guide To Generating Clients By Writing Case Studies
• Step-By-Step Guide: How To Pay Off Debt For Good

The Ultimate Guide To…

What do you think of when you see the words “the ultimate guide to…”? You assume that it is supposed to be one of the best guides on that subject you will find, right?

Be careful when calling your post the ultimate guide to something because people will expect a lot from it. So, you better deliver and give them the most comprehensive guide they've ever seen.

Using these words in your title will get you a boost in clicks because of the high expectations that come with these types of guides.

Here are some ultimate guide post examples:

• The Ultimate Guide To Learning Anything Faster
• The Ultimate Guide To Creating Visually Appealing Content
• The Advanced Guide To Content Marketing

You can even switch the word “ultimate” with others like: “advanced”, “complete”, etc. and you will still get big click-through rates.

Title Length

Your blog post title should never be more than about 60 characters or less. You need to make sure your entire title is viewable in Google and other search engine results the post might not sound as interesting because of a few words being left out.

I recommend downloading WordPress SEO by Yoast if you have a WordPress blog, so that it will tell you when your title is too long or if it is okay.

Keywords

Obviously without keywords, your blog post won't rank in search engines. The main place you have to have these keywords is in your post title. Don't forget to include them in there!

But don't just put one targeted keyword in their, put variations of them that could help you rank for multiple keyword phrases with one blog post.

You should find a phrase that contains multiple phrases with decent search volume that you could possibly rank for. An example of this would be the post I'm about to break down below…

Notice how many keyword phrases I can rank for using the title I did.

Breaking Down A Blog Post Title

Each part of your blog post title has a purpose. If they don't, you're not doing it right and will not maximize your clicks.

Take this post that I did for example: 41 Common Blogging Mistakes To Avoid For Better Results

I didn't come up with the title for it by accident. Each part of the title has a specific purpose. I used a fairly large number at the front to show readers that this is a big list and will have lots of valuable information.

I used the phrase “common blogging mistakes to avoid” because it has multiple keyword phrases in one that perfectly describe the post topic and relate to my industry.

Within that phrase there are multiple terms I can rank in search engines for like:

• blogging mistakes
• common blogging mistakes
• blogging mistakes to avoid
• common blogging mistakes to avoid
• common blogging mistakes

Each one of those phrases is covered within my title and I can rank for them all with a high-quality post and plenty of engagement.

At the end of the post title, you will notice that I put “for better results” after my keyword phrase. This tells readers that they will be able to get better blogging results like engagement, traffic and conversions after reading this blog post.

That kind of sures things up for you by telling you that the result of learning about the common blogging mistakes will allow you to address them and get better results with your blog.

On top of all that, the title is short enough to fit every letter of every word in the search results margins of Google, Bing and Yahoo, so that people can see the full title before clicking it.

This is how you create a blog post title with multiple parts that all serve a certain purpose towards getting people to click and read it.

Another example of a popular blog post I did with all of these parts rolled into one is “How To Brand Yourself As An Expert In Your Field In 10 Steps“.

The title has “how to” at the front to suck people in and grab their attention. It has a phrase in the middle “how to brand yourself as an expert in your field” that is used to rank for multiple keyword phrases while also demonstrating what readers will learn by reading.

And another attention grabber is at the end “in 10 steps” that specifically tells readers the process will be simply broken down for them to easily understand.

Conclusion

Great bloggers know that the title is extremely important to a post's success because without a good one, it would never get read. If a post never gets read, you will never get the traffic, subscribers and sales you need to build a strong business out of your blog.

Each time you create a title from this day forward, I want you to include phrases at the beginning that create curiosity like “how to” or a number.

I want you to include a phrase in the middle of the title that will contain multiple variations of keywords that you can rank for, while perfectly describing what the post is about.

Last, but not least, include some kind of short phrase at the end that will tell your audience what they will gain from reading the post. Make every word in the title serve a purpose and remember to keep it around 60 characters or less.

If you are aware of this and practice this with every blog post title, I guarantee you will see a dramatic increase in clicks and traffic over time.