The Title to anything – whether it is a blog post, an article, or your web page, is a vital element in your internet marketing efforts.
Think of the last time you clicked on an online advertisement or were anxious to read a full news story or article. Chances are it was the title that first grabbed your attention.
The Importance Of The Title
Think of a title as the first impression. The very first time you meet someone in person, your mind perceives that person in a certain way based on how they look. The title does the same thing in the virtual world. It is the first impression a visitor gets of your website or blog. If it’s a good one, the visitor will stay and look for further information, if it’s a bad one, they will leave immediately.
A title is also important to search engines. As you may have learned in other search engine optimisation articles, bots give more weight to an H1 title than to the rest of the content on the page. Using keywords is a good way to achieve higher page rankings.
How To Create A Good Title
If the topic you are writing about is a popular one, chances are there are lots of titles already in use. Using the same ones is not only boring, it doesn’t tell the reader what is new and different about your content. Try to come up with a different spin on the subject.
Certain words or phrases in your title will capture more attention than others. These include “The Secret to…”, “How I…”, “Top 10…”, “Myths About…” and “XYZ Celebrity Name Finds…”. This not only incites interest, it tells the reader what the rest of the article or page is going to cover. Be careful, though. If it contains a lot of “hype”, your page may be perceived as spam from the title alone.
Consider these two titles for a web page that sells an e-book on making a crossbow. The first one is “How to Make a Crossbow”. Not bad, but it’s pretty bland. The second one is “Learn How to Make Your Own Crossbow for Under $20”. Now you’ve told readers that you are going to provide instructions for a do-it-yourself project and that it’s going to be cheap. Which one would you click on?
Be Honest
The Title must be relevant to your website or content. Refrain from tricking online users by writing an attention grabbing headline only to make them think your page is about something different than it actually is.
Spammers use this often in their box of black hat techniques. They create pay per click advertising campaigns based on keywords that have nothing to do with what they are actually selling.
Most of us have probably clicked on a link related to some innocuous keyword only to find ourselves at an adult website. This does not endear people and convert them into customers. In fact, this is a great way to alienate visitors, the result is often negative viral marketing.
It is not wise to make false claims, either. If you create a title such as “World’s Greatest Wrench”, be prepared to explain its superior craftsmanship or materials and add lots of testimonials from satisfied customers.
You should spend some time thinking carefully about how to word titles so that they incite visitors to learn more. This is one of the secrets to converting visitors to paying customers.
Have a most outstanding day.
Sean RasmussenAussie Internet Marketing
www.SeanSEO.com © 2008 - 2010
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I have found through the participation in an online community the importance of headlines. I work hard at trying to get it right. The more I learn about SEO the more I like it.
Hi Sean,
The more I read your posts the more I realize that the title is a vital element of online persuasion. A great title will make me want to read the article. I haven’t been great at writing eye catching headlines in the past. But, I read your earlier post on ‘Copywriting Tips for Sizzling Sales Pages’.
I’m hoping that by using some of your suggestions in that post as well, I will get a lot better at this.
The title is highly important from both a persuasion perspective and also and SEO perspective, in fact it is one of the main things a search engine will take into account for ranking purposes.
Up to now I was fully concentrating on the keyword I chose for that post as my title, but it looks like I can improve on that and incorporate my keyword. Lots to learn