All of us are no stranger to the practice of scrolling past content that doesn’t interest us—it’s a daily routine of scroll, scroll, scroll, until we reach something that catches our attention. There are just too many emails and articles on the Internet for us to stop and read all of them. Even with the good old newspaper, there’s hardly anyone who has the time to read each and every article. So how do you make sure your content is catching on to your audience?
Answer: The secret lies in your title (or headline).
It’s obvious why the title is important—it’s usually big and it’s usually bold, and it’s almost always the first thing the audience sees. Here are 6 tips to creating a compelling title to get those readers:
1. Ask your readers a question
When you use a rhetorical question as your title, as your audience reads it, not only are you questioning them, they are questioning themselves too. When they realize they may not know the answer to your question (for example, why people aren’t reading their content), more often than not they would proceed to look at your content in order to obtain an answer.
2. Relate to a wide audience
When your title relates to a wider audience, less people would ignore your content. For example, if I had titled this post “Why Aren’t People Reading Your Blog?”, it wouldn’t have caught the attention of those who do not run blogs. However, “content” can also refer to other types of content, such as emails; this will ensure that your title does not lead your audience into thinking your content is unsuitable for them.
3. Use unique words and phrases
This means you can’t have a title that is completely boring. Spice it up with words and phrases that aren’t commonly used, and this will catch your audiences’ attention. For example, the title of this post could have been “Are You Flabbergasted That No One Is Reading Your Content?
4. Focus your title on the audience instead of on yourself
“Why Aren’t People Reading My Content?”
vs.
“Why Aren’t People Reading Your Content?”
It is human nature to be self-centered. Let’s face it, your audience isn’t going to care about your readership, they care about theirs. Through your title, target their concerns directly; use you-language instead of me-language.
5. Let them know you’re providing exclusive information
Using titles like “10 Secrets To Get People To Read Your Content” or “Today We Reveal How To Improve Readership” make your audience feel like they would be missing out on vital information if they were to skip your content.
6. Use numbers to reflect the length of your post
When you tell readers you have “4 Tips For Improving Click-Through Rate”, they are more likely to read your content than if you told them “Several Simple Ways to Improve Your Click-Through Rate”, because:
- They know it is a list of tips, and they will be able to take a quick scroll through each of the 4 main points
- They do not immediately assume your content is lengthy, because you’ve told them it’s just 4 tips
Keep these tips in mind for the next time you have to come up with an enticing title, for it makes all the difference.
Aside from having a great title, your choice of font is also important in getting higher readership. Check out our post "How To Choose The Right Fonts For Your Inbound Marketing Content".
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