Can a catchy title ensure the success of a blog?
As I scroll through the archives of ProgressiveU, I find myself drawn to certain posts. These posts have titles that are racy, pun-tastic, and borderline offensive. I'm drawn to the carnage and the flashing lights...and I can't look away. The names call out to me "Hey! Over here! I'm worth reading!!" The blogger has managed to grab my attention, intrigue me, and make me down-right curious as to the nature of their post.
The name of your post could help to propel it onto the Highest Rated list. Check out some of the current titles "I Can't Leave Now--Someone is WRONG on the Internet!" and "Separation of Church and Hate". And I've really enjoyed a few from the past like "A Gay in the Life: Our Dastardly Plan to Destroy the Institution of Marriage" and "If God Exists, Who Created Him?" These titles have been brilliantly created to entice the reader into continuing to look at the entire blog.
Posts with inspired titles typically have more reads than those without too. Take my own small collection of posts for example. One with the showy title "Are We on Track for a Water Shortage? Let's Stop the Crisis Before It Starts!" has 329 reads, while my three-part series of posts entitled "What is Music?" have a meager 103 combined. Which would I probably choose to look at as a reader? The one with the bold title, a potential threat to the world, and exclamation points of course.
I'm sure that we all try very hard to come up with good names for our posts. This site has shown me fantastic ideas, powerful insight on current affairs, and amazing research on a myriad of topics. But sometimes its hard to sum up an entire post in a single sentence. I know which of my previously mentioned posts was more important to me, which one took longer to write, which one I really wanted the readers to consider. I guess that the name just didn't convey that to my fellow ProgressiveUers.
I am guilty of skipping over posts with seemingly "bland" names (sorry "Participatory Democracy in a Non-Profit Organization, Part I" and "China, Tibet, Olympics, and Honoring Humanity") as I'm sure many of us are. But now I realize that these authors were probably as dedicated and passionate in their blogs as I was in my feebly named What is Music series.
I vow not to overlook these posts anymore. Their content is just as progressive, educated, and exciting as their snazzy labeled counterparts. The writing is just as good and just as powerful. The messages are strong, cohesive, and researched. And the topics are important on many different levels.
You can't post a blog without creating a name for it. Shouldn't I get the option to choose which posts to read based on their content instead of on their catch phrase? Besides, what's in a name anyway?
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My titles that have been catchy have got like 70 or 80 reads at the least but my Africa series has only gotton a few reads. I thought that even though the title may be boring, Africa Part 1... Child Soldiers & Africa Part 2... Sex Slaves & Africa Part 3 AIDS, would attract attention just because what the post is about. But it didn't. I am guilty of only reading the posts with the cool titles. I personally think that is is a better idea to have a cool title.
Now that I've caught myself discriminating against posts that lack cool titles I'm going back and reading those posts with less flashy names in order to try and "redeem" myself for past offenses. So look out Africa series...here I come!
my Chuck Norris title is why EdibleWoman became friends with me. *sniff* memories...
I go through the blogs page by page because, if I just stick with the recent posts' titles, I find I don't actually click the "boring" titles. And then I miss out on good blogs.
At least going page by page, you can see the first paragraph or so. Then I only miss out on the good blogs that have boring, or very poorly written introductions--which doesn't happen too often on good blogs. ;-)
Like I commented before (because I was 1 out of 103 reads) I liked your what is music series. I even clicked those for the title. :-)
p.s. thanks for advertising my blog!
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sawaboof
"...There is a crushing guilt that comes with being a Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or you're simply... eating tacos in the park, there is always the crushing guilt."
-30 Rock-
Back when our relationship was young and exciting? Like, two weeks ago.
BTW, my partner, whose name is also "Sawa," has been saying "sawaboof" (randomly, unprovoked, and for no reason) and cracking up for two days.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
haha. my friends do that. They also stopped calling me by my first name as soon as they figured out that my first and last name combined into a babytalk word sounded funny and cute all at the same time. and they liked it so much that they just say it randomly, whether they're talking to me or not. It seemed like a good username. :-)
wow. it seems like I've been on here so much longer than a month.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sawaboof
"...There is a crushing guilt that comes with being a Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or you're simply... eating tacos in the park, there is always the crushing guilt."
-30 Rock-
Your text message post had a great title! And it made the front page! It's frustrating when you put tons of work into a post and no one reads it. I wrote one a long way back called...oh, shoot. Even I don't remember the title...something about Money and Life Saving Tips for College Students, or something like that. I worked on that thing for over an hour, even editing photos to spice it up, and I think it got four reads. Maybe not four, but very few.
After that, I decided I was going to be all style and no substance!
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Haha, you are definitely NOT all style and no substance!! You are a classy lady who gets to be both! I hope you don't mind me mentioning your title, I love the titles of your posts AND the content :-)
I don't know if I've ever been called a classy lady before...it's like the first time someone calls you "ma'am."
And who could complain about publicity?
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I have really difficult time coming up with good titles for my blogs, but I think you are absolutely correct in saying that a blog with a catchy title is bound to pull in more hits than a boring title. One thing I found that kind of helps with creating a good title is writing the entry first and then working on the title after all of the content is done. This helps me boost my imagination on title just based on the the ideas on the topic I've already written out.
I'll be honest, blogging is a lot harder than I thought it would be! I spend hours on each blog, writing it and rewriting it, almost like witing a paper for class. I've even gone back and edited a few of them because I didn't like how I worded something, or sometimes even deleting the blog all together. Maybe that's just the perfectionist in me....