Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Writing Tips: Get Noticed With A Great Title

Freelance writers work just like any other business. Instead of a tangible product, writers produce content to sell to their clients. Many writers also write on their own to draw in new clients. When any writer publishes a piece of work online, the main goal is to get noticed. Either they want their name noticed or their specific content to show how they can research and put together ideas into a cohesive package. What many new freelance writers fail to concentrate on, however, is one of the key factors of getting your content noticed—the title.

Keywords and Key Phrases


The title of any article needs to describe what the reader will encounter once they delve into the article. To do this, a writer needs to use keywords or key phrases to get their point across. Keywords are also a major part of the body text. There may be a number of keywords and phrases used within the article, but a title should only contain one or two keywords or phrases. These should be the most important topics discussed in the article. For example, my blog post title is “Writing Tips: Get Noticed With A Great Title.” I'm using a keyword and a key phrase in this title. The keyword is 'title' and the phrase is 'writing tips.' Those looking for writing tips on how to come up with a title should recognize this as an option for further reading.

Catchy Titles


Having a catchy title is another way to get your articles noticed. This, however, does not always work unless you have keywords that can fit into a title that plays with words. I personally have never been great with catchy titles, so I'm not prepared with any examples. Catchy titles are great, but should also be used with caution because they may cause confusion if the title is not clear on the content of the article.

Keep It Short and Sweet


Another thing to remember about writing titles for articles you publish in print or online is to keep is short and sweet. Get to the point and get right into the meat of the article. Long titles may give you more room to tell the reader what they are in for, but no one wants to waste their time reading a long title before they ever get into the article. Article titles work well when the word count falls between 5 and 10 words. If you still need more time to explain to the reader what the article is about, use a subhead to add more information.

2 comments:

Tahlia said...

I can see how vital the right title is in article writing.
It's important in fiction too, yes? I had 4 different titles for my YA fantasy novel before I settled on 'Lethal Inheritance'. I figured it was the catchiest one.

if you're interested you can read ch 1 at http://publishersearch.wordpress.com/lethal-inheritance/

Terri said...

You're absolutely right :) Titles are vital in fiction, non-fiction and even poetry. Thanks for pointing me to your novel... I'll be sure to check it out!