5 Tips for Writing Titles that Stand Out
Picture yourself in a bookstore. If you don't have something specific in mind to buy, you'd take time reading the titles of books, magazines and newspapers on display. The title that catches your attention compels you to read the back cover or feature teasers. Only then would you be able to decide whether or not you'd want to really buy and read it.
This is an excellent example of how important titles are, especially for online content. Articles, press releases, blog posts and other types of informative web content need titles that will make them stand out from the hundreds or even thousands of content that were already published before them.
Bloggers and content writers for web content and press release services have to learn how to write eye-catching titles that tells readers what to expect and intrigues them all at once.
Title Length
The best titles are short and concise. The ideal length is 120 characters max (including spaces). As much as possible, include important keywords in the first 65 characters of the title. SERPs and home/index pages of blogs and websites usually preview only the first 65 characters.
Noticeable Characters
You should make titles that create an impact to readers, both in message and appearance. Include numerals in the title if the numbers are relevant to the discussion. If there is a significant number discussed in the article, or if there are shocking statistics or a numbered list, use those numbers for the title. Also use hyphens, colons, semi-colons, ampersands, parentheses and other symbols if possible.
Without special characters and numerals, a title can look plain. These titles have higher chances of getting noticed from a list.
Include Subheadings
These are useful for lengthy press release articles. They give readers an overview of the subtopics covered in the article. Subheadings allow readers to jump to the portion that's relevant to their query to save time.
Another advantage for subheadings is they are indexed by search engines and used as basis for generating search related content. Needless to say, keywords will make them even more useful for SEO.
Professional and Neutral
Titles for press releases need to sound professional and neutral. Content writers won't have the freedom to be as expressive of their opinions as bloggers are. It is a cardinal rule not to directly or intentionally insult any party. It should give you pause to remember that your professionalism will be at stake in everything you write.
Before or After Writing the Article?
The title acts as the face of the entire article. A reader will expect to find in the article the information the title says it contains. He or she will be immensely dissatisfied if the article fails to deliver what's said in the title. Hence, it makes sense why some writers write the title after they have written the entire article or press release. The best thing to do is to back to your title once you've finished to see if it's still a perfect fit.
