Writing Your Blog

One of the most important things to keep in mind when writing a blog is: You have seconds to capture the reader, and it’s very easy to lose them after the first paragraph.

Create a Great Title

Your blog needs a great title, and so do your blog posts. Whether it’s short and to the point, or long and quirky, your title has to grab the reader. Research shows that people’s decision to read an article is heavily dependent on the title of the article.[1] If you’ve read a newspaper or magazine lately (work with us here, GenY), you’re familiar with the concept. Chances are good you thumb through the periodical scanning the titles and headlines (and pictures — we’ll get to them later) until something looks good. Then you read the first paragraph and decide if you want to read more. If the article isn’t delivering what you want, you move on.

On the Web this process is multiplied a thousand-fold. If you’re lucky enough for your blog post to make it onto the front page of Google, its title must jump out as the prospective reader rapidly scans the search results. Remember: On the Web, every click is a commitment. You’re leaving the familiar comfort of the page you’re on to venture into the unknown, in the optimistic hope of finding something useful, entertaining, or informative. And if the article doesn’t deliver on the promise of the title, your reader is off to the next adventure.

Here are some title examples drawn from our own blogs. Which blog post title would you be more likely to read?

We hope you prefer the titles in the right hand column.

[1] Jack B. Haskins’ paper Title-Rating: A Method for Measuring Reading Interests and Predicting Readership: bit.ly/cfGcZl