Blog Titles of All Types for All Types of Readers

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Thought it’d be decades before any material in the AARP Bulletin might be of interest to you? Think again. For content writers of every age, the October issue of the AARP publication serves as a complete 301 course in creative titling…

  • Newsy titles
    “Medicare Costs Rise Slightly for 2024”
    “AARP Launches Disaster Prep Site”

The word “news”, when it comes to content marketing, can include several different things: a) “your own” news about you and your business or practice (new employee, new service offer or product line, an award, participation in a community event, etc.) b) news from your industry or profession.

  • Topic titles
    “Fixing the Caregiving System”
    “Super-Agers: How They Live Longer, Think Stronger, Enjoy Life More”

Each of these is an example of offering solutions to a problem, with the second title using the theory of social proof, meaning that, as humans, we are simply more willing to do something if we see that other people are doing it, referencing the behavior of others to guide our own behavior.

  • Question/Challenge titles
    “Are You Addicted to Junk Food?”
    “Can a Crook Steal Your Entire Home?”

People are online searching for answers to questions they have and solutions for dilemmas they’re facing, and often we can help searchers who haven’t specifically formulated their questions by presenting a question in the blog post title itself.

  • Huh? Oh titles
    “Punch In, Pay Taxes”: Programs Allow Older residents to Work Off Property Taxes”

From all my “reading around” – magazines, books, blogs, textbooks – you name it, I’ve come to the conclusion that many titles have – and need to have – two basic parts: the “Huh?” and the “Oh”. The “Huh?s” need subtitles to make clear what the article is about; “Oh!” titles are self-explanatory. In the AARP article, the “Punch In, Pay Taxes” part grabs our attention, but doesn’t tell us enough about what we’re about to learn.

  • List titles
    “Ways to Save at Department Stores”
    Property Deeds: 4 Things to Know”

That lists and bullet points in general are a good fit for blogs is actually something I stress in content writing sessions.  (By most accounts, search engines like lists and bullet points, too.)

You don’t have to qualify for membership in AARP to realize one thing – there are titles of many types to attract readers of all ages!

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Blog to Give Them a Taste

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“New Garfield Park business Skosh seeks both coffee fans and home décor shoppers,” the IBJ reported last week, looking for customers “who appreciate a pour-over coffee while in the mood to buy a couch, lamp, or piece of art”.

Appealing to one or more of a prospect’s five senses is a great way to increase sales, Tru Vue marketing analyst Audel Ortega believes.

  • Sight – a well-structured layout of a store will guide customers, and showcase the most creative aspects of the merchandise.
  • Hearing – music should fit the brand identity.
  • Taste – offer finger food and drinks during events and sales.
  • Smell – candles, flowers, and fragrance oils can enhance the visitor experience.
  • Touch – It’s very important for buyers to feel the texture of a product.

The Skosh store gets all that and then some. “Skosh encourages you to embrace the art of slowing down, presenting an authentic blend of craft beverages and lifestyle furnishings for a unique experience.”

Product demos are a great way to give prospects a taste of what your product or service can do for them by showing them how it works and what benefits they can expect, Anibal Mijangos writes in LinkedIn. Similarly, we teach at Say It For You, think about how online visitors are going to experience your blog posts, and how your content can offer a “taste” of the benefits they stand to enjoy when using your products and/or services.

Just as visitors to a coffee shop need an “experience” – crackle, aroma,and  color, (and as visitors to a furniture store experience plushness, dimension, design, and color), online visitors to your blog need to get a sense of what they are likely to experience as a customer of yours. Word tidbits, unique points of view, special how-to tips, links to unusual resources, humorous touches, and particularly success stories –combine to make a blog post visit an “experience” for readers..

Coffee and lamps? For Skosh, that works. Can a similar tactic work for your blog marketing? In his book, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, Gary Vaynerchuk points out that content writing doesn’t always need to be about your brand, but can explore other topics, making unlikely, but interesting and memorable connections.

To give a blog that needed extra boost, for example, the content can reflect topics trending on social media, using marketing touches, or “jabs” to establish connection between entrepreneur and reader, giving them a taste of the relationship to come.

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The Power Duo: Unlocking the Potential of SEO and Content Marketing

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Today’s guest blog post was created by Michael Bellush, founder of HighMark SEO Digital…

 

Introduction

In the magical realm of digital marketing, think of SEO and content marketing as the Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore of the online world. One, much like young Harry, brings fresh, innovative tactics and a touch of technical sorcery. The other, akin to the wise and powerful Dumbledore, offers a wealth of knowledge and captivating content that keeps audiences spellbound. Together, they navigate the labyrinth of Google’s Hogwarts, aiming for the top spots in the search engine results pages (SERPs). In this article, we’ll explore how combining the daring of Harry with the wisdom of Dumbledore in your SEO and content marketing strategies can work wonders for your digital presence.

 

Understanding the Basics

 

What is SEO and Why It Matters

Imagine SEO as a masterful potion brewer in the dungeons of Hogwarts, meticulously mixing ingredients to conjure potions that elevate websites in Google’s grand library of search results. Just as a well-crafted potion can grant visibility or invisibility at Hogwarts, effective SEO can determine whether your website, keywords, and content get found online. Why does this matter? Because if you’re not on page one, you might as well be on page none.

Now, before you start envisioning SEO as some kind of mystical dark art performed by cloak-wearing wizards in dimly lit rooms, let’s demystify it. Sure, an SEO wizard might jokingly mutter “Accio” while optimizing your website, hoping for a magical boost in rankings. But in reality, great SEO is less about enchantments and more about smart strategies:

  • Understanding Google’s algorithms
  • Mastering keyword research
  • Creating high-quality content with a keyword focus
  • Performing website SEO optimization
  • Building domain authority through backlinking

The real magic lies in blending these elements to light up your website’s visibility, much like the “Lumos” spell lights up a dark corridor in a wizard’s castle. So, while there’s no actual wand-waving, the transformation your website undergoes with effective SEO techniques is nothing short of spellbinding.

The Synergy of SEO and Content Marketing

Complementary Strategies

SEO and content marketing can form a powerful combination.

  • SEO: Boosts visibility through strategic keyword placement, website optimization, and backlinking.
  • Content Marketing: Enriches visibility by engaging and retaining the audience with high-quality, relevant content.

This synergy not only drives traffic but also enhances user engagement, a key factor in SEO success.

Keyword Synchronization

 

Keywords in content marketing are akin to the carefully selected ingredients in a potion from the Hogwarts Apothecary. It’s not about haphazardly throwing in every magical herb and creature part you can find, but rather about artfully blending them into your content, much like a Hogwarts Potion Master crafting a perfect Polyjuice Potion. The right mix of keywords can charm Google’s algorithms, ensuring that your content casts a spell over the desired audience.

Technical SEO and Content Strategy

Technical SEO Foundations

Technical SEO optimizes your website’s backend elements to improve search engine rankings. This includes:

  • Crafting clear, descriptive URL names
  • Engaging and optimized page titles
  • Optimized meta descriptions that succinctly summarize page content
  • Using image-alt tags for improved SEO
  • Structuring content with logical headings that include keyword variations
  • Strategically incorporating keywords throughout the content

These components work together to enhance both the user experience and a website’s visibility to search engines.

Link Building and Content Authority

Link building is like a high school popularity contest, but in the digital world. The more reputable sites that backlink to your content, the cooler you are in the eyes of search engines. Relevant and authoritative backlinks are what build up authority and they are crucial for SEO success.


Realizing the Full Potential


Measuring Success

To see if your digital potion is working, you need to dive into the cauldron of analytics. Tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console are essential for understanding whether your SEO and content spells are enchanting the audience or if they need a bit more magic.


Real World Example

Consider a local roofing company that wants to create brand awareness, increase sales, and service a larger area. They started creating detailed blog posts about common roofing issues, maintenance tips, and the advantages of timely repairs. By implementing focused SEO strategies, such as keyword mapping, technical website SEO optimization, and authority building through backlinking they significantly increased their online visibility. This strategic approach not only boosted their ranking in search engine results but also attracted a broader range of homeowners in need of roofing services. The increase in inquiries and customer engagement demonstrated the impactful combination of targeted SEO and informative content for a service-based business.

Conclusion

So, there you have it – SEO and content marketing, the Harry Potter and Dumbledore of the digital world, ready to take your online presence from muggle to magician. Remember, in the world of digital marketing it’s better to take off the invisibility cloak. It’s time to step into the spotlight!

 

                             

 

 For further information, Michael Bellush may be reached at Michael@highmarkseo.com.

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Can They “Hear” the Titles of Your Blog Posts?

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When readers scan the title of your blog post, their decision to click may well depend on what they “hear” as much as what they see.  That’s because similar consonants or similar vowel sounds presented in sequence tend to encourage our brains to engage with printed content.

When, back in 1813, London author John Harris published his book, Peter Piper’s Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation, he was aiming to teach young pupils proper speech habits. Modern-day marketers have a different motive in mind, having caught on to the fact that “Alliteration and assonance support the soundtrack for our words,” as Margie Lawson so well describes the effect in the Writers in the Storm blog.

When you blog, I like to say, you’re verbalizing the positive aspects of your business or practice in a way that people can understand and hopefully, remember. Educational research verified that “phenomic awareness” represents a sophisticated stage in the development of reading skills. In the same manner, as content writers, at Say It For You, we are always on the prowl for novel ways to present information to online readers, often relying on “memory hooks”, which I like to call “sticky words”.

Apparently, the authors and advertisers trying to appeal to “high-end”, sophisticated audiences understand the power of “sticky words” as well. Just this week, skimming through recent issues of three finance-related magazines, I discovered dozens of examples of both alliteration and assonance:

Forbes:

Alliteration:

  • Soy Sauce Scientist (Peggy Chang, co-founder of Panda Express)
  • Bond Ballers (Marc Lasry and sister Sonia Gadnder, co-founders of Avenue Capital Group’s heavy investment in bonds)
  • From Shoveling to Swinging (story about the Dominican Republic)
  • Prosperity in Peril (editorial) 

Assonance:

  • Zuck Grows Up (cover story about Mark Zuckerberg)
  • Collaboration for Transformation (story about the Democratic Republic of Congo)
  • Dr. Irving’s Climate Ambition (story about co-founder and director of Carbon Projects)

Kiplinger:

Alliteration:

  • Tipping Tactics
  • Make These Money Moves Now
  • Rough Seas for Small Stocks

Assonance:

  • Thumbs Up (on annuities)
  • Miles of Smiles (saving money on gas)

Investopedia Retirement Guide:

 Alliteration:

  • How to Hire an Advisor
  • For Their Future
  • Retirement Risks You Should Know

 

Now you…

Content writers, as you encounter different forms of written content – ads, magazine articles, flyers, newspapers . whatever….take notice of the way similar consonants or similar vowel sounds presented in a sequence, catch your attention, so that you’re both seeing and, in a real sense, “hearing” that content.

Can readers “hear” the titles of your blog posts?

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Crafting the Bottom Line of a Blog Post

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Earlier this month in our Say It For You blog, we noted how the editors of Harvard Business Review’s Special Issue use “Idea in Brief” inserts or “callouts” to summarize the main concepts discussed in each feature length article…..A similar technique (I noticed in a later issue of the magazine) is “The Bottom Line”, in which an insert at the bottom of a long article summarizes the primary concept emphasized in the text.

Why might you want to summarize any article in the first place? Virginia Kearney of owlcation.com poses that question and then offers several answers:

  • to show how the author’s ideas support your own argument
  • to argue against the author’s ideas
  • to condense a lot of information into a small space
  • to increase your own understanding of the article

Back in 2008, I explained in a Say It For You post that blogs, unlike client newsletters or online magazine articles, tend to be shorter and more concise, adopting a more conversational tone than other forms of printed and online communication. In that sense (as I found myself explaining fifteen years later), each blog post might be considered an “Idea in Brief”.

Still, within each blog post itself, the closing line assumes the function of an “Idea in Brief” or a “The Bottom Line”. While it’s extremely important in blogging for business to have great titles and strong openers, each post needs a catchy, memorable ending line to sum up and emphasize the importance of the content “takeaway”.

All of Virginia Kearney’s “reasons” for summarizing an article apply here, with the closing: statement serving to reinforce your stance (either pro or con an argument), and to enhance readers’ understanding of the material.

Over the years, I’ve often referred to the opening line in blog content writing as “the conductor’s downbeat”. Using that analogy of a musical performance, while the blog post itself may take the function of a a “Bottom Line” or “Idea in Brief” insert, the closing line of each blog post itself represents the final “Ta-dah!” notes of your “symphony”.

To achieve maximum impact, carefully craft the bottom line of each blog post.

 

 

 

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