How to Write Attention Grabbing Titles
What is your Unique Selling Position? Thousands of would be freelance writers are competing for your jobs. What makes you so special? Here's how to write attention grabbing titles so you stand out from the crowd.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Time to brainstorm
- Adjectives
- Search engine optimized keywords
- A little crowd psychology
- Pop culture knowledge
- A good search engine
Instructions
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Find as many search engines as you can and make a list of the top searched terms on each. Merge the lists, crossing out any duplications. Assign categories to the top 50 most searched terms, such as celebrities, research, finance, money, love, romance, family. Once the terms have categories, try using them to create your unique "selling" position in any articles you write in that category. A unique "selling" position provides the reason readers should choose your article from the thousands of other things they could read. As a writer, you are selling yourself and your ideas both to your publisher and to your readers.
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Look through the articles your publisher has already accepted. Which ones have the most traffic? Find recurring terms in those articles and compare them to your list of popular search terms.
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Talk to people you know. What topics are they interested in this week, month, year? Make a list of those topics.
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Listen to the radio, read daily newspapers, surf the internet. What topics are being discussed? Which ones generate the most interest or controversy?
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Using the information you have gathered, create your title. As a freelance writer, you are selling your services as a writer as well as your topic. You will need to create a unique selling proposition, something about your article title that grabs the reader and makes him or her take notice. Use emotion laden, specific, descriptive words in your titles: "How to Hold the Perfect Backyard Reception" is much more likely to be read than "How to Hold a Reception."
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Use words and terms that make the reader ask questions. "How to Make Heavenly Au Gratin Potatoes" makes the reader wonder what is so heavenly about them. Curiosity alone will at least get them to click on the link to your article.
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Tips & Warnings
Brainstorm
Research top search terms and topics
Use emotion laden and specific terms
Write so that your title gives your reader questions that they want to have answered.
Do not rely on your thesaurus. Impress your readers with your thoughts, not your vocabulary.
