5 Ways I Improve my Post Headlines

Online we all share our content and we also forward the content that others share to our contacts. But the real question is what triggers  to share a post someone has already shared via our contacts.

In Most occasions aGood Headline can make a difference.

This is one of the areas where I struggle. Since I like going into long explanations making an effective short headline can become a complicated task for me. Most of the content that I publish is reviewed by @lucymfel and in many occasions she modifies or chooses a better headline for me (which I 99% of the time agree was better than my initial selection.

I have come to the conclusion that many of us don’t click on a headline that is of no interest to us. There is always more content flowing around us than time we have to consume it.

It is similar to walking into a Library and bookstore and only having one day to read 30 books. Time is against us so we have to choose what catches our eye or interest.

Here are some tips on what I do when I can’t find a good headline:

Share with People I Trust

If I am not convinced that the headline sends the message I want I send my content to people in my circle of trust and I make them create an opinion around it.

First Idea

Normally I leave the first headline that came up to my head unless I find another one that does a better job.

I read Comments left on my Blog Posts.

By reading the comments left on your posts you can get an idea of what people understood and which part of the post was more interesting to them. Then I can use that for future posts.

Listen to Other Conversations Regarding the content

When I take a look at other conversations either on Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook I can also get an idea of what where they key points that people where interested out of the content. 

I Review the Key Points in the Content

By reviewing the Key Points I can see which one is the strongest and I try to think of something that might attract other people interested in the content.

There are many other tricks that I have read from other sources such as using a title with the number of items on a list (for example “5 Ways I Improve my Headlines”).

If your headline is to long you might want to consider creating a sub headline with a longer explanation to start your content or blog post. By adding this sub-headline people can get a good idea of what you are talking about.

What other tips do you find work for creating headlines?

photo credit by @jbtaylor