Create Catchy Blog Titles That Beg To Be Read

Build A Better Blog Day 22

You've heard the old adage don't judge a book by it's cover? Well, your blog has a cover, and its your blog posts. By now you should have a well functioning RSS feed that is syndicated with several blog directory services. When someone has a number of feeds in a reader, they scan for interesting headlines, just like a news paper. Think of the last time you were looking for something interesting to read, did you stop on a catchy headline? If course you did. Its human nature. We are all curious.

A blogs title is a very important part of the overall post. The content must be powerful and engaging, but you have to get someone interested in what you have to say before they will ever read it. I suggest you read some RSS feeds or post directories to get an idea how other bloggers are titling their posts. Visit other blogs, see what bloggers are using for titles. You might find some titles have little or nothing to do with the content you read. This is on purpose. I don't suggest you do this because it may turn some of your readers off like a bait and switch.



Take some time to come up with the blogs title. Some times I change mine 3 or4 times before settling on a title. Most of the time I write the post, edit, re-read and then come up with a title. I start out with an idea but that's not the title. Depending on your blogs focus you may try powerful title with calls to action. Or you may have a creative blog that stirs emotion. You also want to use good key words which will help with SEO (Search Engine Optimization). These are key words search engines like Google will pick up on and rank your blog higher on its result pages.

Let's try a few out:

• Today I went to the library vs. Picked up the Steven King book Bag of Bones at the Library today

The second title contained several key words that the search engines will pick up on plus if I'm a Steven King fan, I might want to read what you have to say.

• Back from vacation vs. View the pictures of my vacation to Machu Picchu

The second title tells me there are pictures, which everyone wants to see, and maybe someone is getting ready to go to South America and wants to get your take on the area.

The point is to give us a taste of what you want us to read. Tell a small quick story. Use words that carry larger meanings or paint a picture. You may try using words that describe a smell or a feeling. You will get better with time. Writing great blog post titles is an art. Practice makes perfect.

ProBlogger's day twenty two post: Catch New Readers Up on the Basics of your Blog

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Use Your Site Stats To Write A Better Blog

Build A Better Blog Day 21

Today's tip is to use your blogs stats to help you decide whats popular with your readers, and write more about that. It's a proven fact people will use a search engine to find your blog more than any other way. Your blog stats can tell you exactly what words they are using to find you and what blog posts they are landing on.

Over a year ago I wrote a blog post on removing sharpie ink from a white board. Its a very common problem in offices everywhere. I had inherited a white board that had a considerable amount of permanent ink drawn all over the surface making it difficult to see any new writing. I grabbed my keyboard and typed in "remove sharpie ink from white board". Straight forward question and I knew Google would show me the site I needed. And sure enough it did. At the time, the number one site had an article that told me exactly what to do.

Once I had followed all the instructions and cleaned the board, I just had to share this with others. So I blogged about it here. And to this day, the words "sharpie" "remove" and "white board" drive more users to my site than any other. I am shocked because its the only time I've ever written about the subject and I consider it to be way off topic for my blog. So what can you do to take advantage of this phenomenon?

Right after I noticed the increased traffic to my blog I installed a Wordpress plug-in called Short Stats. This very simple blog statistics program showed me a lot about who was visiting my site, what they were looking for and looking at. A few months later I installed Google Analytics which gave me an even better view into what was happening with my site.

Some of the things I noticed was traffic for words like T-Mobile, MDA, Mobile, Windows, and posts with images. Many of my posts mention these key words and I try and link to some other blog post or web site to improve the link tree and help Google index my blog better. But most importantly I started writing more about the topics people visited my blog to read. They aren't the only things I write about, but I try and stay with the general theme.

Here are some key points:

1. Install some type of statistics or analysis software for your blog. If you host your own you can use your web hosts built in stats or try using a plug-in like Short Stats.


2. Check you stats often. I'm anal about it and check several times a day. I'll see a spike in traffic and want to know why and decide if I can capitalize on the spike.


3. Change what you are blogging about if you notice a trend. I'm not saying you should only blog about whats most popular but I would try and keep your posts along those same lines. You may find out you want to go straight up with a niche and move your other posts to a personal blog site. Many people do this.


4. Make sure you have a good search system on your blog. Whether you use the built in search or something like Google Search, it's extremely important to provide some type of search mechanism. I always make sure my search box is above the fold and on every page.


5. Try different topics. If you're not getting the traffic you want look at changing what you blog about. And make sure your blog is syndicated using RSS.

There are plenty of free stat services like StatCounter and Free Stats. These require you add some type of code to your pages. If you aren't well versed in PHP or HTML this may be a little more than you bargained for. The simplest stats program comes from your web hosting provider and can usually be accessed from an Administrator panel.

Tell me what stat software you use, what you have found interesting and what you have done with the information.

ProBlogger's day twenty one post: Make a Reader Famous

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Benefit Dinner for Injured Utah Father

Hey all, there is a dinner tonight to benefit a friend of Ash Buckles who was paralyzed from the chest down in an auto accident a few weeks ago. This man is a Father of two and has one due in a few weeks. This is an extreme hardship on the family and his friends are trying to do what ever they can. Visit Ash's blog for more details on the dinner.

To take it one step further, if you can't make the dinner, please consider donating to the Family. There is a PayPal button on Ash's website that will let you donate what ever you feel you can. I've seen this community come together to support those in need. We need to do it now. Thanks for your support.

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Track of the day: Stormy Eyes by Derek Miller

Derek Miller
"Stormy Eyes" (mp3)
from "The Dirty Looks"
(Arbor Records Ltd.)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album

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Stay The Course, And Don’t Give Up

Build A Better Blog Day 20

Todays tip is for those new bloggers and those who are feeling like their blog isn't going any where. My recommendation to you is stay the course. There are millions of eyes reading blogs these days but there are 10 times that many who aren't. Eventually, your reader base will grow.

Many people today are writing one or more blogs. Although writing more than one blog can tedious and time consuming, it has its advantages.

1. If you a feeling overwhelmed cut back on the number of blog posts you write.


2. Reduce the number of blogs you maintain. Use the process described in Seth Godin's book The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick).


3. Ask your readers to help. Give one or more the opportunity to write for you, and then go on vacation.


4. Narrow your blogs focus which may make writing posts easier


5. Start commenting on more blogs. Read more blogs. If it's writers block this can help.

The over all point here is not to give up, especially if you've invested a large amount of time and effort into building your blog. But be careful not to let the quality of your writing slip. Don't get sloppy or write pointless posts. Try and keep your goals high.

ProBlogger's day twenty post: Run a Reader Survey

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