I know as a writer that sometimes titles and headlines can stifle your writing because you've psychologically put yourself inside a box, and for some, ideas may not come as freely. Rather then letting the writing flow and let it form itself, thinking of a title for your writing ahead of time may also keep you from really developing your ideas to the utmost of their potential. I personally have always looked at developing the title after my writing is edited, complete, and ready for posting. Then and only then do I take the necessary steps to develop a title that encapsulates the post as a whole.
Picking the Right Keywords
Believe it or not, your choice of words can greatly impact your post. Rankings for your site can be greatly increased based on the right keywords that were integrated into the title. There are various tools you could use in order to discover what the search engines define as highly sought after queries. Using tools like Google's Adwords can help you select the right words based on the number of times the word has been searched for on http://www.google.com/. When you select the words you'd like to use, not only will get the ranking of those exact words, but other suggestions will be listed to give you a better pick of which words might give you more of an edge in having your post listed. Other tools that I've seen used are Good Keywords, a tool that can help you find the right words, and also manage the long lists of prominent keywords so you can return and find exactly what you need when you need it, and Wordtracker which is a simple, no nonsense site where you type in a word and it will list the most highly sought after words involving your query.
No matter what you use to find just the right word, the tools are just supplementary and provide assistance. Ultimately the decision is yours and by making the right choices you will see your post shoot up the charts!
Capturing the Reader's Interest
A blog is only as successful as the number of people that find value in it. Readers are the vital life force for a blog. Once you've got the readers you can build conversation which strengthens the community which can drive even more traffic to your site. But the first thing to capture a reader's attention is the title of your post. The title is the sum of all the parts for a blog. If you can nail the right words and attract the attention, a reader will most likely click and read the post. If you've chosen lackluster words, or if the title is just poorly written with no link to your content, the reader will either leave the site, or simply not click on your post.
Sure some will say that readers are fickle, but traditional media experienced the same problem. Journalists strive to write headlines that entice readers to pick up their paper, to read their articles, and stay engaged enough to do it again the next day. Depending on how often you post, you want your readers to come back, so essentially, the title will be the face for your site, if you can seal the deal then you've got yourself readers.
I recommend experimenting with titles, use different words, and see what attracts more readers. Using the tools listed above can give you a head start in the right direction. Depending on whether you write the title before or after, the right words can make or break the post.
Photo Credit christopher.woo
