Happy Wednesday, ladies!
First, thanks for all the positive feedback on the launch of my Etsy Shop on Monday! I so appreciate the support. And apologies for not posting yesterday—so many stores were closed on Easter that I ended up running all my errands Monday night and just plain ran out of time to put together a post.
Today’s post is short and sweet, but for all my fellow bloggers out there, I wanted to share an easy, easy, EASY tip that helped me increase my page views by 36%. No seriously, my page views were up 36% in quarter one of 2017 over quarter four of 2016* and I attribute it to one simple change I implemented on nearly every post.
*A note that one of the days in Q1 of 2017 is an outlier because Charlottesville shared my Charlottesville Guide on their Facebook page and my page views doubled in a day. I excluded this outlier from my calculations to give you all a more realistic view of the change.
Ok, so this tip requires no SEO, no metadata, no backend work, no redesign—no nothing. All it requires is that you rethink how you write your blog post titles.
That’s right.
You need to rethink how you write your blog post titles.
In the past, I used to write very simple, non-compelling titles that didn’t tell you a whole lot about what was in the post—i.e. Finally Fall or Bell Sleeves. Sure, they’re fine titles—but really generic, and quite honestly, post titles you could find on other blogs.
Around Christmastime, I started reading Jess Keys’ blog The Golden Girl pretty religiously, and was trying to decide why I would always click to read her posts—even if the topic wasn’t something I’d usually take interest in—and I realized it’s because her blog post titles were so intriguing and detailed.
So I started writing my blog post titles a little bit differently—and it worked!
If you’re looking to make this change, too, you need to think like a journalist and write post titles YOU’D want to read that also accurately describe the content of your post. I like to use:
- lots of numbers—like in today’s post!
- longer descriptive phrases—A Cute Brunch Spot in Georgetown
- the first person—I Kicked My Diet Soda Addiction—Here’s How I Did It
- conversational phrases—So, I Started an Etsy Shop
A note that I don’t always make these titles the same as what I set as my targeted SEO keyword or SEO Title in SEO by Yoast—but if the rest of your post is strong enough, it won’t negatively impact your SEO. You an read the step-by-step guide I follow for SEO here.
So—give this trick a whirl and let me know how it works for you!
I love The Golden Girl blog and I’ve been using this tip too after one of the Blogging for Keeps webinars mentioned it! It’s really helped my blog as well by intriguing the reader to learn more! Love it!
Ah I need to check out their webinars! x
Okay this is crazy timing because I literally thought about this all morning while getting ready and on the bus ride and then I get to work and read your post!! So you basically wrote what I decided I was antes to implement on my blog today!! It’s a sign – going to step my game up! Great post! Xoxox!
YAY! I am so glad it was helpful J Rog! Miss you! :]
Perfect timing on this. I’ve been trying to shake up post titles a lot lately. I haven’t had the same spark you have, but this does make me think that I’m headed in the right direction!
Yes! Keep on doing what you’re doing :]
Amazing post – thanks so much for sharing this!! Also love that it was such an easy, quick read! How long did it take for you to start seeing results?
Thanks so much, Julien! I’d say it took about a month to see an uptick! But, my January was stronger than my December, which doesn’t usually happen!
Super tip! I have been struggling with how to write better titles and you gave me some great ideas!
Thanks so much, lady! Good luck!
That is such a good idea! I definitely think my titles could use some work having read this post…
Jackie
Something About That
Good luck lady! x
Such a great tip, Katie! And that’s so impressive that you’ve been able to grow that much in just a few short months! Congrats!
Ashlee | http://www.cobaltchronicles.com
Thank you so much, Ashlee! xo
This makes sense because headlines/titles are the first thing that people see. You have to intrigue them enough to read the post!
Abby of Life in the Fash Lane
Yes! Exactly – hope it works for you, too!
This is such a helpful post! I’ve been trying to write better blog post titles, too so this helps a lot! Sometimes I feel like I need a class on everything lol!
Alissa
http://www.naturallymeblog.com/
I am so glad it was helpful! x
These are all really great tips! I don’t think I have ever really written my post titles in first person, but I’m going to try that! And conversational phrases sounds like a great idea too 🙂
Definitely give it a whirl and let me know how it goes :]
Really great tips, Katie! I’ve been slacking on my SEO lately. I’ll need to try these out!
Thanks lady! Hope it works for you :]
I never thought about how titles make me click posts that I might not have clicked otherwise because of the title! Such a great tip and something I could totally work harder at on my blog. It’s a good reminder about how that makes such a difference!