So you want to know who ate my cat? mmm….
OK no one really, in fact this post is about killer headlines for blogging so sorry to disappoint those that were looking for some juicy gossip to discuss at the pub this weekend but feel free to make something up, I won’t be offended, in fact I will be glad as this post will have got you thinking and talking which is what it is supposed to do, and exactly what you want to be doing when you are blogging.
Your headline is the first and most important impression you will make on a prospective reader. You have a matter of seconds to attract their attention as they scan the blog, a search engine or maybe a social network like twitter. Online marketing is not like kicking back with a newspaper where you may have a Sunday afternoon to browse the articles and carefully decide what you read. Instead, the internet is fast and powerful and you need to be much more tiger like to catch your prey. Being boring, bland and the same as everyone is just does not work, in fact, there are thousands of those types out there already so don’t become a blogging statistic.
If your headline does not grab a readers attention then that browser will never become a reader, the rest of your words may as well not even exist. So, from a copyrighting and content marketing angle, writing great headlines is a critical skill.
On average, 8 out of 10 people will read a headline, but only 2 out of 10 will read the article.
The majority of bloggers are between the ages of 21 and 35. Specifically, 20.2% are under 21, 53.3% are between 21-35, 19.4% are between 36-50, and 7.1% are 51 or older.
Building blogging traffic takes time, you won’t win everyone in a single post. Blogging is equally popular among both men and women with 50.9% of bloggers being female and 49.1% being male. The United States has the largest share of bloggers with 29.22% of bloggers coming from the U.S. California is the Blogging State with 14.1% of bloggers. That’s nearly double the next closest state, New York, which has 7.16% of bloggers. Every part of your post needs to be compelling copy, it’s no good having a great headline and ending, you need to pad the middle out with content that will engage the reader. Not all blog traffic is the same and it’s difficult to measure, visitors from social media will be different to that from search engines, offer the opportunity for readers to follow you like you can me (wink) by clicking the follow button on the right.
Search engine visitors are usually the ones you are after as they will be actively searching for your content. Blogs are a great source of linking back to other content and will help your search engine positions for another website. Network with other bloggers and always take the time to reply to people’s questions, there’s a world of opportunities out there so don’t let them slip by. Finally if you have written any killer headlines or have some examples others you can show me then I’d love to seem them, please feel free to post in the comments.
p.s. no animals were harmed during the writing of this blog post!
