You might have the best content in the universe but without the right headline, only a few people will end up reading and discovering you. This is an attempt at helping you get better.
There's nothing worse than spending a large chunk of your time crafting a top quality post only to get zero interaction and zero views.
I was going to write about the art of crafting titles for your posts but I really needed to be sure my tips worked in real life and not just in my head.
So when the opportunity came up, I decided to use the amazing @mz-fisteganos' post as a test rabbit.
Before You Choose A Title
- Your title/headline needs to basically answer two questions; what's this post about? And what does the reader stand to gain from it?
Social media is generally fast paced and Steemit is not an exception! With the increasing number of accounts being created daily, and a limited attention span, you maybe have just 3 seconds to hook or lose a potential reader.
Let's pass this example "My Boyfriend Told Me About Steemit And I Joined Within 30 Minutes.", through our test questions.
What's this post about? It's about someone's experience with joining Steemit.
What's in it for me? Well a story of how they got an account within 30 minutes while others had waited longer. (Well maybe you didn't get to read about that exactly but you still enjoyed reading the post.)
Your potential reader has very limited time to decide if your post will be worth her while. Make this process very easy by making your title speak for you.
- Don't Rush This!
I really can't scream this enough. You should never gloss over the process of crafting a title. It's your ticket into people's space.
A malnourished title, not well fed with love, diligence and patience won't appeal to anybody.
You don't have to always go with the first title that pops up. Most times, it's just plain rubbish.
Take your time. Write out every idea that comes to your head then choose the one that blows your mind. If your title does not impress you, you don't have a title yet.
Example
With this post, I had some silly titles I discarded immediately like "How To Title Your Post" then I wrote down "Crafting The Perfect Title" because it sounded more "classy".
Then it occurred to me that this could be a part of a series so my title became "The Key To More Views On Your Posts; How To Get Your Title Right."
With that, my target audience have been identified; folks that want to increase number of views on their posts.
This process took a total of two days and i'm very sure I'd have done better with a little more time and focus.
- Don't Be Scared Of A Long Title
I know there's the tendency to want to be cryptic or some form of cool but there's nothing cool in having a generic title.
You can't write about your life and just title it "My Life". People will rarely stop to read it when there are other posts with titles like "5 Words That Changed My Life Forever" or "I Went To The End Of The World And You Won't Believe What I Saw".
You see the difference?
- Capitalizing The First Letter Of Every Word Makes Your Title Look Better.
Yeah sometimes your title might feel like a sentence but never forget this tip. It might not be that much of a strong determining factor but it sure makes your title look and feel better.
You want to know how important a great title is? When you scroll through Steemit, how many posts do you stop to read? Why do you think those posts caught your attention? Does that mean the other posts you didn't read weren't quality posts?
-- as I was writing this, I remembered that one of the first lessons the very nice @kus-knee gave me was on headlines/post titles. Once I got the idea, I was on my way to making it work for me.
Once you get this right, you're on your way to getting Steemit right!
I hope this made any sense to you. Feel free to ask questions here or in Steemit.chat
There are more tips you can always find on my blog. Check them out.