Comment posted on How To Write Titles With Teeth by Lisa@ blog building basics
Sheila!
I just checked this out…never heard of it before. Love it 
Thanks for the recommendation.
Lisa
Lisa@ blog building basics also commented
- James:
LOVED this. Great sense of humor and apparently your content has teeth too. And I figure I’m weird enough for all of my readers so they must be somewhat nutzoid too.
great tips and I find asking controversial questions in my headlines works well!
Lisa
Recent comments by Lisa@ blog building basics
- Sunday Coffee with Ana: Quit Blogging Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
Hector:This response is EXACTLY why people are drawn to you. Very inspiring.
Cheers,
Lisa - Sunday Coffee with Ana: Quit Blogging Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
Ana:I have to admit it was a bit sad watching your video this morning, I din;t feel like adding the Kamchatka after that!!
I understand exactly what you mean and I do think product creation is the way to go. Another thing I have been pondering a lot lately is this:
You have built up a HUGE LOYAL fan base. I think most blogs have loyal readers. Those are not the people we market to, they are not our customers. They have seen all of our offers and heard our marketing experiences.
It’s increasing our search engine traffic that will bring more people interested in products that we use to build our blogs successfully. So I struggle myself with referring traffic/organic traffic.
And truth be told, I dont want to keep marketing to my loyal readers. They know if they are interested in something, they can come to me or ask my opinion.
I think I am babbling…lack of vodka I believe. I am pretty sure you get my point though.
Продолжение успеха (WOOT!)
Lisa
- Blog Audit Friday: Lend a Helping Hand to Traffic Generation Cafe
Jayne darling!!Okay, let me see if I can explain what I did to make Ana quiver in fear!!
First, do you have the seo toolbar installed for Firefox? If not, check it out here:
http://tools.seobook.com/seo-toolbar/ That’s where the “spying” comes into play. You can basically view anything and everything about the guts of a site. (email me if you need help with it.)Then, like Ana mentioned I used a website grader (which she had rock star results) I might add.
If you go to http://websitegrader.com/ and enter your site, it tells you about all the goods like images that don;t have alt tags. I know Ana has a post on alt tags, I just cant find it!!
But the alt tags are keywords that optimize your images for the search engines because search engines cant read images.Canonical issues is whether your site is indexed as www. or without www. This should explain it better:
https://trafficgenerationcafe.online/www-non-www/
This also explains the links left behind. If your site was indexed one way and got links, then you changed it…you can lose some of those links you built.
Which also explains a 301 redirect. If you change your domain, format, permalinks, you should do a 301 redirect and send your traffic to the new way of your site.
Jayne, when I first began this journey, I was so lost…I would get angry at all the jargon that went straight over my head. I realized the only way I was going to learn was to do exactly what you did…ask people!!
And you are in good hands with Devesh. I had to realize that there were limits to what I could do and when to hand over the reigns. Hence, my trust in Dev.
I hope this helps! I think I rambled enough.
Lisa
- Blog Audit Friday: Lend a Helping Hand to Traffic Generation Cafe
you know….like the little email envelope or the “get TGC” in your inbox! - Blog Audit Friday: Lend a Helping Hand to Traffic Generation Cafe
Ditto!! When I fell into a conversation many months ago at Serpd…it was about your photo..so of course I came over to see what all the hubub was. It’s brilliant marketing in my opinion!
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I am a wife to a great husband of 13 years (here ya go, now I have to make changes to this sentence once a year), a mother to a beautiful and, no doubt, genius little girl, and a successful internet entrepreneur. I also devoted my life to Jesus Christ many years ago, and He remains my true priority, focus, and hope.
{ 49 comments }
I like your point that your blog titles aren’t about you, James. The analogy of inviting a guest over for dinner is a great one. When we have dinner guests, there is a lot of thought that goes into the menu, seating arrangements, and activities before and after the meal. It’s only after we make these considerations that we plan the dinner. Treating our blog readers the same way is a winning strategy.
Brad Harmon @ Big Feet Marketing´s last blog ..When that Guest Post Isn’t so Original
Great post James. Great minds must think alike because I recently posted a similar post on good titles. Even better is that the posts compliment each other nicely.
Great stuff mate
Alex´s last blog ..7 Reasons Why Your Article Titles Suck!
James/Ana
Great post. Titles are so important, but like you said, you need to have the stellar content to go along with stunning titles. All bark and no bite will get people to read, and then leave angry… not a good thing
Steve@Internet Lifestyle´s last blog ..Get More Blog Traffic Blueprint Week 14
Hi Ana
Not been over for a while, so many great sites and so little time.
Love the phrase “Titles form the hooks that bait us to click along the CommentLuv bunny trails …”
CommentLuv bunny trails, must remember that.
Agree with you about titles.
I use a catchy title when I first publish a post and then change it to a keyword rich title when the comments start dropping off.
Seems to work, do you see any problems with doing that?
Whoops… forgot the GASP check box - great plugin BTW.
This time…..
Keith Davis@Public Speaking and Presentations´s last blog ..Oscar Speeches and the 3 G’s
One of the most entertaining, as well as informative, posts I have read. Great work, James. I think you have just made a regular reader out of me.
Steve Stillwater@How to go green´s last blog ..Germany Leads The World in Solar Panels- Can Germany Continue As World’s Top Solar Panel User
Pardon, Steve, but those are magic words to a writer, “…you have just made a regular reader out of me.”
*ka
POW!*
[that was my head. it just 'sploded.]
Alright, all jesting aside for two picoseconds, thanks for the good word! I’m about to leave for an overdue jaunt to a cabin with my wife and kids for the next week, so this is me checking out - but you and everyone else here have really made my week stellar.
I’m still in awe that I had a chance to publish on Ana’s blog - she’s an incredible networker, businesswoman, and SEO / blogger - a fantastic host.
That has nothing to do with your comment, Steve, other than I’m thankful for the opportunity. You’ve all been incredible to write for. Thanks!
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
Titles with Teeth…. I like it! I usually start off with one title and by the end of editing my post, have changed the title several times. I try to think… “What would catch my attention” when coming up with a title. I am still trying to decide which topics interest my readers the most. I have visitors everyday, but not as many comments here lately. I like interaction on my blog? Do you have any ideas?
I agree Robert, who wants to give away their secrets. I know I don’t want my competition to know what I am learning, because I want my site and ideas to trump theirs! We’re working on our sites everyday, to build them up, not to share our ideas!
When you say you are trying to decide which topics to write on / what interests your readers, that just means you have market research ahead of you. Like Ana, I use Market Samurai for that, but a quick check in Google’s External Keyword Tool, and the Insights for Search (which is now integrated with the GEKT, you’ll see the magnifying glass in the listings) will give you an idea of what’s in demand.
Another idea is to go to Alexa.com and do some demographics analysis, pick a busy mom-type blog and input it in their search bar, there you’ll find some hints as to what topics may be of interest and a little more information on who you’re writing to.
Of course, if you’re writing to yourself (since you’re a member of your own audience), the tricky part is that you might think you know your audience better than you do.
That may or may not be true - in terms of interest / demand online, it boils down to keywords. What’s hot? Check Insights for Search, Trends for Search (in Google), Twitter’s search tool…
To simplify, you could mine the gems in Google’s keyword tools. Then the key is to write on keywords/topics that you can rank for, and for that you would need to either use Market Samurai or SEO Quake (Ana’s done a post or two on the matter).
Writing for a topic that gets 100k searches a month likely means your post will show up at # 8,987,641 - unless you choose those topics / keywords you can rank for…
And then: build links to the post you want to rank for. Blog comment on related blogs to tell the world you’re here, this is what you’re about, etc.
I bring it up because I noticed you show 135 links in Yahoo! Site Explorer - my blog didn’t take off until I had around 1,500 links showing (all from blog comments, I have to say).
Ana’s written a lot about that (hence the title of the blog), so you’re in the right place to learn.
Lastly, I’d say that changing the theme of your blog so it doesn’t require the reader to scroll left to right will improve your reader’s experience, a fixed-width blog or using Thesis, etc.
When I’m stuck for what to write on, I often visit others’ blogs in my niche, or I read related newsletters, etc. What’s hot? What’s evergreen and interesting?
Focus on a few ‘biggies’ and make them categories, so you can go back to visit the topic often…
Just some ideas. I find that market research, and giving a lot of interaction is what’s been the most successful in terms of posts.
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
James,
Thanks for the help. I worked on a new site theme yesterday, and will check out market samauri and the Google keyword tool. You had great advice - thanks, my husband and I had been talking about the theme issue, but I hated to change it up again since I just changed themes a month ago, but when you suggested the same thing, I figured I had better work on it. Here’s my site, http://www.BlogWithMom.com. All the sidebars aren’t completely organized yet, but I’m almost there. Could you tell me what you think of this theme? I made sure it had a fixed width. Thanks again for your help, Bobbie Anne
Mom Blog´s last blog ..Enter Your Pet In The Cute Pet Contest
“Titles Promise, Content Delivers” - is a great way to sum it up. And from what I’ve seen in my niches people could use all the lessons in this post. Hopefully they won’t though so my titles can continue to get the hits and bite them right in the butt. Oh yeah I went there.
Thanks for the validation, Robert - and for going there. Sometimes you need to go there - and I know what you mean! The trouble with having a blog like Ana’s is that you’re training your competitors all the time.
Which is why in the next 100 posts, Ana’s going to be mis-informing everyone. (That was more than likely entirely made up. In fact, I’m sure it was a flat out lie.)
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
Great Post James..
In essence more thought should go into the title than the actual blog post..
And yep write with your reader in mind, not you..
Thanks for the post..
jack foley´s last blog ..&8220Why Work So Hard For Something That You Will Never Own&8221 &8211 MLM
Well, Jack - I wouldn’t quite put it that way (more thought into the title vs. post) only because you don’t want to deliver a jaw-dropping title only to under-deliver on the content.
If the title’s a 7, the content should be an 8 or more (although, sure, you’ll get a higher CTR with a bangin’ title…you just might not end up with any readers after a month).
I’d chalk it up to bowling (because I’m super classy that way, but hey, grew up in a bowling family, good times) -
Like my dad would say, “Follow through - it’s all in the follow through.”
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
You are right James about following through with an awesome post after an awesome title. If I select a post to read and the post doesn’t match the title within the first few lines I leave that site. I am short on time and if I pick a post to read, I want to enjoy it and get something out of it. Poor writing turns me off since I work on my blog daily and know how much time and effort I put into my work. Poorly written posts, along with misspelled words and non related titles are definitely turn - offs in my book.
Mom Blog´s last blog ..Enter Your Pet In The Cute Pet Contest
Word.
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
Fabulous stuff James! I love your sense of humor and I love the way you put a new spin on a topic I’ve read about before. You have a fresh approach and that is what makes the difference these days.
I especially love the point you make about blog titles being about your readers and not about yourself.
And now I’m off to check out your blog!
Danielle McGaw@social media for freelance writers´s last blog ..50 Reasons Freelance Writers Should Be Using Social Media
Thank you, Danielle, especially considering you’re a writer by trade! Kindred spirits, with a common muse - and much obliged for your kind words.
I write best when delirious. Now I just Tweeted your post, and will have to read it in depth when I get done with my current client work. Thanks for dropping a line!
You’ll see me around on your blog (just give me about a week, vacation in 3, 2…).
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
My titles mostly coincide with my ending call to action when applicable.
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..73 Posts Published – Have I Seen Your Smile On All Of Them
Good to ‘see you,’ Dennis -
That’s spoken like a true marketer. And a sound piece of advice, that!
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
Nice work James, insulted and complemented all in the same breath. HAHA! j/k
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..73 Posts Published – Have I Seen Your Smile On All Of Them
No way would I try to insult you, Dennis - but that was a good one. I had to think twice about how I insulted you, then it dawned on me. :rim shot:
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
Woot! Glad someone finally got that one. LOL
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Official Rules for Monthly Comment-Tweet Contests
HI James!
Wow, yeah I think I’ll take Ana’s advice; you certainly have teeth and are not afraid to show them!
This was pretty awesome for a number of reasons, but the one I want to comment on the most is controversy. There’s a LOT of controversy in my particular niche, and if you’re not setting off one camp, you’re setting off the other. There is no fence post-sitting in my niche! I’ve been avoiding those topics because I don’t want to make enemies.
But now that I’ve read your article, I’m starting to think that I might make a few enemies, but I’ll make even fiercer friends…within my own camp. =)
Thanks!
Delena
Delena Silverfox@Natural Parenting Blog´s last blog ..Hostgator Coupon Code
Delena -
Natural parenting is definitely going to rub against the professional medical community (my wife and I are holistic in most things, presuming it’s the same niche you’re referring to).
A bit of controversy for the sake of a stronger readership can be polarizing, in a good way. Strong opinions sell, knowing when to mix in some grace takes a wise footstep, and it’s all fun.
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
Hi James & ana
Really helpful hints in this post. Sometimes the headlines are the hardest part. I’m okay when writing for my own blog as I know my readers and my topics. It’s when I am writing for other sites that I sometimes come unstuck!
Thanks for all the tips and the other sites you have recommended. I will now go check them out and see if I can get inspired
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia@lavender oil´s last blog ..Collaboration- the new buzz word
Hi, Patricia! I have to say you’ve been busy with guest blogging (good for ya!), I have a lot of catching up to do on that end. I know what you mean about knowing your audience / feeling comfortable, and how difficult it is to write for others.
Absolutely agree! It’s the hardest sort of writing to do (because you’re trying on someone else’s shoes, so to speak, it’s intimidating). That’s good, though: it shows you CARE.
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
Hey James, very well written article. When writing blog entries and articles you really want to put some good thought into titles for sure! Make titles as enticing as you can because that is what initially will draw attention to your content.
Interesting post - I usually try to come up with some kind of catch title that might be a pun such as “Press Release Your Luck” for a post on press releases or “1,2,3 - Dip!” for a post on dipping pens.
Max West´s last blog ..101 Ideas for a Comic
Hey, Max -
I do enjoy the creative side of writing, the pun titles are always fun. It depends on your goal - if you’re SEO’ing a title (which is how I title my posts on my niche websites), then that needs to be figured in and prominent.
If it’s more for an established audience, such as at this blog or other successful blogs, then you have more leeway for the creative side (which I prefer anyway).
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
James:
LOVED this. Great sense of humor and apparently your content has teeth too. And I figure I’m weird enough for all of my readers so they must be somewhat nutzoid too.
great tips and I find asking controversial questions in my headlines works well!
Lisa
Lisa@blog building basics´s last blog ..SiteLinks- What Google REALLY Thinks Of You
“What Google REALLY Thinks of You” is enough for me to click (don’t you love SiteLinks?). Asking controversial questions is always going to get some action, thankfully Google makes that easy.
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
Hi James-
How do you know if your audience is weird….?;).
Great list of 100 Headlines. I recently read that it’s useful to pair a negative subject with a positive outcome, and vice-versa.
I’m also guilty of spending a lot of time online when seduced by a killer title. Guess I’m in good company.
Linda @talktherapybiz.com´s last blog ..Hey Mom and Dad-I’m Gonna Be A Teen One Day!
As a parent of teens, I’ll have to check out your, “Hey Mom and Dad - I’m Gonna Be a Teen One Day!” post…help!
Thanks for the tip - pairing negative/positive, that’s one I need to try (you learn something new every day).
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
I must say that picture you used it pretty funny
made me laugh a bit. lol
Tanya´s last blog ..PHP Benchmark – Memcached with pecl-memcache & php-memcached - redis with Predis & Rediska Part 2
I can’t take credit for that - I had another pic uploaded but Ana has a gift (like we didn’t know?), she surprised me with that one, and like you - I got a chuckle out of it. She reminds me of my grandmother (my mom is from the Philippines, that lady really does look like my grandma!). Minus the toothless grin, though. And the toothpaste (we’re a Crest family, thanks).
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
Hey James,
I really enjoyed reading this post. It was very informative and I liked the little humor you injected into it. I will definitely be coming back to this post later when I need a headline. Thanks for the awesome tips, and I plan on implementing some.
John´s last blog ..A Powerful Natural Method For Removing Skin Moles Fast and Easy
John - glad it could help, and for your niche I think practical is where you need to be. I know a few people I’ll be referring…
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
James,
I am the worst when it comes to writing headlines. I usually go to some fellow bloggers for help. When I don’t I sure can tell.
This a good checklist for good headline categories.
Here is a cool tool that some one suggested I use.
http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/index.htm
I hope you do not mind the direct link. You can delete my comment if it is a problem.
Sheila Atwood@www.newbielifeline.com´s last blog ..Is It Love At First Sight
Sheila - I’m not sure if Ana would have an issue with that but having looked at the reference, it looks like a great resource. Haven’t used it, but any little bit helps when writing. Thanks for sharing.
(I don’t think she would mind, it’s not a direct affiliate link or anything.) Thanks for the good word, Sheila.
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
Hi, Sheila - I’ve used that tool in the past and not sure why I stopped.
I’ll look into it again and see how helpful I find it.
Thanks for the suggestion!
Ana
Ana´s last blog ..Website Traffic Generation- Practical Secrets To Getting A Lot Of Traffic
Sheila!
I just checked this out…never heard of it before. Love it
Thanks for the recommendation.
Lisa
Lisa@ blog building basics´s last blog ..How You Lost 20 Of Your Conversions
Great titles mean great traffic and click through rates that hopefully convert into sales..
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”
TrafficColeman´s last blog ..How To Steal Content For Your Blog
You would know all about that, Antonio! I’m still catching up to where you’re at. I have a long way to go, thanks for dropping by.
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
I am fan of controversial topics, for example, someone posted an article titled ‘I’m quitting blogging’ but in his blog post, he wrote ‘… for one day’. The amount of comments he got on this post indicate that I was by far not the only curious one who clicked on the title to read that post.
I love controversial topics myself - I haven’t done the mild bait and switch like that (to my recollection), but I KNOW I’ve clicked on a dozen or more!
Those are fun, so long as it’s not a sale, “50% OFF NOW!” then you navigate there only to find…it was for last week. :/
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
Hey Andreas
You right man…some time people don’t focus on title.When some body click on title and read the article so they are shock when they read article so “guy” don’t make a silly mistake when you write an articles.
Regards
Roses Mark
Facebook Application´s last blog ..Introducing the Facebook Photo Theater- Here to Stay whether we “Like it” or Not!
Hey Ana/James
Ha ha ha ha at the very last line!
Wow, excellent tips for titles, I actually bookmarked the 100 greatest headlines page you recommended too.
I have to admit my titles are often lame, but I am working on them and surely my next one shall be a beauty thanks to everything I just learned from you.
Alex (zero pounds of belly fat, full head of hair and the breath of an angel!)
Alex Neill @ super affiliate´s last blog ..Monetize Your Blog And Get Free Targeted Traffic – Part 2
Ha! Love your last line - and your title “Monetize Your Blog and Get Free Targeted Traffic,” for the record, is far from lame. It connects with your audience and would be a title I’d click through (and I’m about to).
Thanks for dropping by, glad you got something out of it!
JamestheJust´s last blog ..Passive Income And Life Changing Happy Times
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