Blog posts remain popular even though blogging has been around for over two decades. Many content marketers spend considerable time working on the blog content as it remains an important aspect of their content marketing.

However, many blog writers don't spend enough time on creating the best blog post titles.

This is a huge mistake for two reasons.

• The blog title or blog headline is the very beginning of a content piece. Therefore it's the first thing that draw readers in to read your blog article. If it's not a great title, there's no point in writing the rest of the blog article as nobody is going to go beyond the blog post title to read it.

  A reader may never even get to your article if your title is bad. They'll see the title in their Google search, ignore it, and click on another article. You need compelling headlines with trigger words that make a reader feel, "I need to read this" to get a high click through rate.

• Search engines use your blog post title as an indicator of relevancy. The best blog post titles, perhaps with a trigger word, lets Google and other search engines know that your content is relevant. Great blog titles will help a site rank well on search engine results pages.

So let's look at a few ideas on how to create the best and most catchy blog post titles to increase your click-through rates. 

The beginner's guide to catchy blog post titles

Here's our step-by-step guide to creating the best blog post titles for your content marketing, that grab the attention of both your target audience and search engines.

• Curiosity-based headlines

Make sure your blog title includes a sense of need or want for your target readers. They should be eager to learn more. 

For example, the blog post title for this blog post is How to Write the Perfect Blog Post Title (including examples).

Writers know they need to write great blog titles or blog headlines for their blog posts to have a great click-through rate. Anything that shows them how to do it well will make them want to read further. Even experienced writers will want to check that there are no new tips that they've missed.

Also, using 'including examples' raises curiosity further as it implies that the 'good stuff' is right there inside the article or blog post.

• Deliver your promise

There's nothing worse than raising curiosity only to not deliver on the promise.

Writers who focus solely on click through rate (i.e. making an article look great enough to click on when someone searches on Google) without delivering can be penalized by Google as it measures how long people stay on a site.

If most of your visitors click to read your article but then disappear fast, it signifies to Google that your content is either irrelevant or poor.

Imagine how you would feel after reading 'How to Write the Perfect Blog Post Title (including examples)' and then there are no examples or tips.

People tend to scan content instead of reading from top to bottom. They need to see that the blog content delivers on the promise made by the blog title.

• Add emotions to your blog/article title

Emotions sell, whether they are positive or negative and therefore make intriguing blog post titles.

For example, instead of writing “7 Things I Do Not Like About Work From Home” you can write “7 Things I Hate About Work From Home and What To Do About Them!”

By using 'hate,' you evoke far more emotion than 'do not like.'

Notice how the second headline also uses an element of curiosity too by using 'what to do about them,' implying that the answers are right there inside the blog post or article.

• Give priority to keyword research & search engine optimization

It's prudent to do keyword research and check the number of monthly searches. You can then use this knowledge to strategically place the best keyword into your blog title.

If someone is likely to type in a particular keyword to see the type of content you write about, seeing those same keywords in your blog title will prove to the that your article is highly relevant to their needs.

Keep in mind search intent. A short-tail keyword may have higher monthly search numbers, but a long-tail keyword could be more relevant and have lower competition, so your article can rank well on Google and other search engines.

• Keep your blog headlines under 60 characters

Search engines like Google tend to only show the first 60 characters. Longer blog titles will be cut off - problematic if your main keyword is at the end of your blog title, or the shortened blog title does not make sense.

Stick to under 60 characters for your blog title, and you can be sure a searcher will see the entire thing.

13 Blog Post Title Templates To Increase Your Click Through Rates

Let's take a look at some tried-and-tested headline examples that grab attention and arouse curiosity.

1. 'How to….' blog titles

This is a popular way to create a blog title (we used it here in this article title).

These blog post titles attract the reader to learn something valuable, mostly a skill they haven't yet mastered and need or want to learn.

Examples of 'How to...' headlines:

• How to download YouTube videos 

• How to write a resume   

2. 'X ways to solve Y' blog titles

These blog titles are great for list posts. Using specific numbers in blog titles is a great way to arouse curiosity and grab attention.

For example, "3 ways to solve anxiety" is a better blog title than "one way to solve anxiety" because it gives someone a choice. If there's only one solution, it may not be a fit.

Also, this kind of blog headline would arouse the curiosity of someone who's solved the issue to see what the 'other two' ways are to solve this problem. Here are some other headlines using this great title template:

Examples of 'X ways to solve Y' titles

• 5 ways to solve sibling rivalry issues

• 7 ways to solve dry rot in your home

3. 'X things about Y' blog titles

These blog post titles are similar to the “X ways to solve Y” blog title template as it uses a specific number. But instead of solving a problem or issue, it's used for list posts that provide valuable information about a topic. 

Examples of 'X things about Y' headlines

• 5 things you need to know about Covid

• 10 things you should know about anti-virus software before you buy

4. 'Why, what & where' blog titles

These blog post titles grab attention because they promise that the answers to a question are right inside the article.

Examples of 'Why, what & where' titles

• Why is earth called the blue planet?

• What is artificial intelligence?

5. X….you should….' blog titles

These blog post titles arouse curiosity as the word 'should' makes a reader feel like they could be missing out on vital information that everyone else knows. No one likes to be the last to know!

Examples of 'X….you should….' headlines

• 7 amazing places you should visit once in your lifetime

• 18 books you should read before you turn 18

6. 'Who…' blog titles

If you want to include examples/testimonials or client experiences in your article, these blog post titles let your readers know who these people are.

This is important as a reader wants to 'qualify' that they're getting advice from the 'right' people.

Examples of 'Who…' titles

• 24 influential travel bloggers of 2022 who fuel our wanderlust 

• 5 Twitch streamers who have been banned from the platform in the past

7. 'What no one will tell you about….' blog titles

These types of blog post titles insinuate to the reader that there's a secret inside the article, something others don't want to tell you. You can see why this kind of blog title would make someone eager to get 'insider' information. 

Of course, you need to remember to deliver on your promise, as detailed in the steps above under 'The beginner's guide to a killer blog post title.'

Examples of 'What no one will tell you about….' headlines

• 10 things no one will tell you about being an entrepreneur 

• 5 things no one will tell you about computer science engineering

8. 'X….mistakes I wish I knew earlier!' blog post titles

We try to learn from our mistakes, but wouldn't it be better to avoid making painful mistakes altogether? This kind of blog title grabs attention because no one likes being wrong and they offer a way to avoid pain - a powerful motivator.

Examples of 'X….mistakes I wish I knew earlier!' titles

• 4 skincare mistakes I wish I knew earlier

• 10 income tax mistakes I wish I knew earlier (and how you can avoid)

9. 'An in-depth guide to….' blog post titles

These blog titles grab attention because some searchers want to know they don't need to read different content from different sources to understand a topic.

When you use 'an in-depth guide to' in your blog title, you signify to your reader that this is it. This is all they need. They don't need to look elsewhere.

Why would a reader click on another article when yours has it all?

Examples of 'An in-depth guide to….' headlines

• An in-depth guide to how Google Search works

• An in-depth guide to finding a perfect warehouse

10. 'Better than….' blog post titles

These blog titles pinpoint a comparison between two subjects, usually referring to something being better than the other.

This grabs attention because we all want the perceived best. We don't want to make the mistake of choosing second best or worse.

Examples of 'Better than….' titles

• 10 reasons why Android is better than iPhone

• Is Microsoft still better than Google in 2022? 

11. 'Vs' blog post titles

These blog titles are similar to 'better than' blog titles with a key difference. They are used to make compare two or more things without saying one is better than the other outright.

Just like 'better than” blog titles, these blog headlines grab attention because we want to make the best choices.

Examples of 'vs' headlines

• Computer engineering Vs software engineering: which is right for you

• Mauritius Vs Bali: Which one should you choose next in 2022?

12. ('negative statement) 'Here’s why' blog post titles

There's a reason why newspapers are full of bad news and hardly any good. Bad news sells.

With this type of blog headline, you grab eyeballs for your article by using a bad statement, and then you arouse curiosity by telling the reader why this is the case.

Examples of (negative statement) 'Here’s why' titles

• You're using the wrong tips to lose weight, here's why

• Your content strategy is all wrong, here's why

13. 'Stop' blog post titles

This is the perfect headline to grab a reader's attention because readers feel alarmed that they're making mistakes unwittingly, and the contents of the article will help them stop making these mistakes.

Examples of 'stop' headlines

• 7 health warnings you should stop ignoring right away

• Scientists explain 22 reasons why you should stop using plastic 

Conclusion

We wrote this article as a valuable resource to help a content creator craft great headlines that catch visitors attention.

As a writer, you're paid more money when you create successful content that has a great click-through rate. The best way to guarantee a great click-through rate is by crafting headlines telling readers and search engines that your article is the best and most relevant information online.

Some pro writers will spend more time just writing titles than they do creating content because they know that a killer blog post will fail without a great title. With the above templates, crafting a great title will become second nature.

Finally, keep in mind that you can come up with new templates that are a mix of two or even a few titles to create a new title template. This tactic could win even more attention from both readers and search engine