Today I'm sharing a little secret….in fact this is the most important part of your blog post.  How well you write, how well-researched your content is, or how pretty your images are means nothing if you can’t get readers to click through and start reading your post. And the single most important thing when it comes to getting readers’ attention is your blog post title.

It’s also the most important on-page factor when it comes to SEO. So if you’re hoping for lots of free traffic from Google and social media, you need to get good at crafting great blog post titles.

Start With Your Keyword

The key with great blog post titles is to strive for a balance between:

1. a title the search engines will like
2. one that your readers will find interesting and engaging enough to make them want to click on it

To get that balance just right, I like to start with a keyword or key phrase that I want to rank for in the search engines.  Open up your favorite keyword research tool – like the Google Keyword Planner for example – and play around with it until you come up with the keyword or key phrase you want to rank for.

For the sake of illustration let’s say our keyword example is “best blog hosts” and the post will be a review of five of the best hosting companies for WordPress blogs. “best blog hosts” is the keyword we want to rank for in this example.

Make It Interesting

Now that we have the keyword, it’s time to make it interesting for our readers. There are plenty of different ways to turn our example keyword into an interesting blog post title. Here are a few ideas:

• The Three Best Blog Hosts Reviewed – Read This Before You Sign Up
• Looking For a New Home for Your Blog? The Best Blog Hosts Reviewed
• My Top 5 Best Blog Hosts Revealed – Here’s Who I Recommend
• Wondering Who The Best Blog Hosts Are?
• Is Your Host One The Best of The Best Blog Hosts List?

Do you see how this works?

Start with the keyword and then try to think about why your readers would be looking for this information. Focus on what’s in it for them by sharing content that will help them out.

Stay Authentic and Stick With Your Style

Last but not least stay authentic and stick with your own style. This is particularly important if you’re an established blogger and have fans who are familiar with your style. Balance the need of the search engines to easily find what you’re content is about, the need to keep things interesting for your readers, with your own voice.  Just keep true to you and your priorities.

 

You may find it helpful to write a few different blog post titles down and then chose the one that resonates most with you (and hopefully with your readers).

 

If I'm unsure of a title I like to post a question to my Facebook audience and see how they respond, this is a great way to come up with new content ideas as well.

 

What blog post style catches your attention?