Are you struggling to write good, click-worthy blog post titles for your Christian blog? Your headline (post title) is like a marketing sign for each blog post and can be the deciding factor on which posts get clicked (and which don’t) on in a list of search results.
Do your titles stand out in a list of other similar posts? If not, here are some simple tips for writing click-worthy blog post titles to start grabbing readers’ attention and sending more traffic to your blog.
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How to Write Click-Worthy Blog Post Titles
There are several factors that make up a great headline or blog post title. Some of these are done for the search engine crawlers – others are for the readers. Both are needed to ensure YOUR posts show up in search results AND get clicked on.
The most important thing to remember is your target audience. Your blog post titles must speak directly to your audience.
Do Your Research
Before you start trying to write your own click-worthy blog post titles, see what things pique your interest in search results. Do a Google search for your main SEO keyword concept (or the title idea you currently have) and look at the results that come up.
Out of all that show up on the first page, which ones stand out to you over the others? Why? What words or styles make you more likely to click on them? Write these ideas down so you’ll be able to use similar styles in your own post titles.
SEO Matters!
Before you even begin writing the post, you should have invested time in doing SEO keyword research on your topic to make sure you’ve chosen the best keyword phrase to rank for (as well as the additional keywords to be added into the post). Before someone can click on your link, it first has to show up in a search query and this is accomplished through SEO.
Your post title should have the full SEO keyword phrase in it when possible. Sometimes, however, the best keyword choice doesn’t look great as a post title. In that case, use a variation of the main keyword phrase (or at least use the main word in the phrase.
For example, “How to Grow in Faith” would make a great keyword to rank for but is somewhat of a bland title. A better title might be “Growing in Faith: 5 Ways to Spend More Time with God“.
List Posts and How-To Posts Convert Very Well
When people go to the Internet searching for information, they are often looking for answers or how to do something. Titles that indicate “how” to address something such as a step-by-step approach to tackling their problem tend to do much better than plain, regular titles.
- OK: How to Pray for Your Marriage
- Better: 10 Things to Pray for Your Marriage
- Best: 10 Powerful Prayers for When the Enemy Attacks Your Marriage
Post Title Matches Post Purpose and Search Query
This goes along with the importance of SEO in your title. Unlike a printed book, creative titles that have deep meaning only to the writer or have “inferred” meaning don’t do well with search engines.
- Not So Good: Freedom at Last (This was the title of a post I came across regarding life after divorce for a Christian woman.)
- Better Title: 7 Tips for Living Empowered as a Divorced Christian Woman
Use Adjectives!
A strong adjective is a word that places extra emphasis on other words or thoughts in the title.
- Without: 10 Prayers for When the Enemy Attacks Your Marriage
- With: 10 Powerful Prayers for When the Enemy Attacks Your Marriage
Include Pain Points
There are many topics that can be written differently for different people. To make sure it “speaks” to your potential reader in search results feeds, add a pain point to better appeal to your reader.
In the following examples “5 ways to lean on God” is sort of a general title. Someone going through any of the struggles listed would be more likely to click on yours over others because it speaks directly to their current struggle.
- 5 Ways to Lean on God (When Your Husband is Cheating)
- 5 Ways to Lean on God (When The Cancer Returns)
- 5 Ways to Lean on God (When You Lose a Child)
Change it Up on Pinterest
Aside from making click-worthy blog post titles for Google search results, Pinterest is another place that you need to be creative and intentional.
Unlike regular search engines – where you only have one version of your blog post title – Pinterest enables you to use multiple titles for the same content. This lets you play around with your titles to see which ones get more engagement from Pinterest users. It also enables you to refresh an older post with a new image.
Writing Click-Worthy Blog Post Titles as a Christian Blogger
Your blog post titles are the first impression you have with potential readers and need to be something worth clicking on. Your blog post titles need to literally speak to your blog audience so they can’t help but want to click on it.
Your post titles must convey the “help” that your blog audience is seeking so they’ll want to click on yours over the others.
