Comments on: Why I Write Blog Titles Before Blog Posts

By: Ari Herzog

Ari Herzog — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 23:33:37 +0000

You raise a good point, Susan, and one I typically forget. I sometimes presume people know what I know, but that’s not necessarily the case. Thanks for reminding me that I should explain things more carefully!

By: Susan Greene

Susan Greene — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:23:25 +0000

I’m surprised no one has mentioned search engine optimization (SEO) yet. While your #1 priority in writing titles is to entice people to read your blog, don’t forget about search engines. The right title influences how the search engines rank your posts. And the higher your ranking, the more traffic you’ll get to your blog.

By: Ari Herzog

Ari Herzog — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:25:01 +0000

I hear you on books, Craig, and I don’t have an answer for that as I’ve never written one. In the newspaper world, editors typically change reporters’ chosen titles, which sometimes are better but usually worse due to spacing constraints or other story titles on the page.

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:59:24 +0000

Blog titles need to gain attention or build awareness right away. Like most people I view hundreds of titles a day, and of course can’t read everything. The ones that stick out I’ll at least click into. the funny thing is if you ask a lot of traditional authors, they will tell you to write the title last. Because the content can change and help you with the direction for a compounding title. Have you ever went with that approach and found it usefull?

By: Ari Adler

Ari Adler — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:46:05 +0000

Blog titles, newspaper headlines, email subject lines — they all serve the same purpose. They are used to catch a reader’s attention so they will veer off from their world of message bombardment and give you a few seconds to prove they should be reading your stuff. I usually start with a blog title because it helps me stay focused, but I sometimes change them once the blog is done so that they serve their purpose even better.

By: Michelle Lawson

Michelle Lawson — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:09:01 +0000

Speaking as a consumer here: blog titles are like the subject lines in e-mails. I have a limited attention span; you have to get to the point pretty quickly to capture it. In the title is a good place to do that.