Words That Command Attention in Blog Post Titles

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Are there certain words, words that are quite common, yet which command a reader’s attention? Leafing through the July issue of TIME magazine, I found the answer to that question is a definite “yes”. Mind you, none of these attention-commanding, curiosity-stimulating words (or set of words) offers the slightest hint of the topic of the article to follow. Instead, these attention-commanding words hint of the tone of the content to come.

  • Finding….
  • How…
  • Could…
  • A new….
  • Singing….
  • Things just….
  • The best…
  • The impossible…
  • The hidden…
  • Is it O.K if….
  • Don’t…
  • Who is….

What these attention-commanders do so subtly and skillfully is to set expectations. The title words “finding”, “the hidden”, the “impossible” might engender the expectation of discovery or of gaining a new insight. “Things just”, “could”, and “the impossible” hint at an opinion piece, even a rant. “The best, “how”, and “don’t” imply that valuable advice and cautions will follow. “How” hints that information about the way a certain process works is to follow, while “Is it O.K if” suggests readers might be asked to weigh in on an ethical dilemma of some sort.

Between Shakespeare’s Juliet asking “What’s in a name?” and father-of-advertising David Ogilby’s emphasis on headlines, there’s simply no contest when it comes to blogging for business – titles matter! There are two basic reasons titles matter so much in blogs, we emphasize at Say It For You. First, key words and phrases, especially when used in blog post titles, help search engines make the match between online searchers’ needs and what your business or professional practice has to offer.

But after you’ve been “found”, you’ve still gotta “get read”, and that’s where these attention-commanding words can be so useful. TIME editors obviously understood this point when it comes to magazine readers. Blog content writers should follow suit, creating titles that are relevant, but which also set the tone and arouse curiosity.

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Find a Focus in Each Blog Post – So They Can

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focus in blog“Sometimes a writer can go on and on for pages with examples that prove a point…only she hasn’t quite figured out what that point is,” a writing guide from Vanderbilt.edu so aptly points out. I thought about that he other day as I attended what started out to be a fascinating talk on how smart watches and tablets are being used to collect data for predicting illnesses.

Only problem – the speaker began to ramble, “getting into the weeds” and going far over the allotted time. The result – people lost interest and some even stood up to leave. Our presenter had obviously never read the book Brain Rules, in which educator Wilbert McKeachie demonstrates that “typically, attention increases from the beginning of the lecture to ten minutes into the lecture and decreases after that point.”

In a sense, focus is the point in blog content writing. At Say It For You, we firmly believe in the Power of One, which means one message per post, with a razor-sharp focus on just one story, one idea, one aspect of your business, geared towards one narrowly defined target audience.

Of course, in blog marketing, one purpose of the content is moving visitors along the spectrum from scanner to reader, to customer/client. One technique salespeople are taught is adding an “Oh, by the way…” to describe an add-on service or product that can go along with the primary purchase. In blog marketing, there are ways to do that kind of “oh-by-the-way” without losing focus: provide a link to a landing page, or simply tell readers to watch for information on that related concept, product, or service in your next blog post.

“The simple reason a lot of blogs struggle to succeed,” writes Jeff Goins, “is a lack of focus.”
Focus consists of three elements, Goins adds – the subject, the theme (specific angle), and the objective. “Focus is the feature of effective writing that answers the question ‘So what?’”, Academic Writing explains.”By establishing a clear focus, students can craft their writing into a coherent, unified whole.”

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The Self-Help Checklist for Blog Content Writers

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This week, as I begin my thirteenth year of part-time tutoring at the Ivy Tech Community College English Learning Lab, I’m culling information from the Study Power Leader’s Guide the school offers as a resource to my students. The “Report Evaluation Worksheet”, I thought, was particularly apropos for blog content writers….

Has your topic been focused as a question, issue, or thesis?
At Ivy Tech, I often find that students have difficulty knowing the difference between the topic of a paper and its thesis. Suppose they were instructed to write about graduation cap tassels.  That’s the topic.  But what about tassels?  Are they silly? Important? Should we hold on to that tradition? (The answer is the thesis, or the “slant” the paper will take.) The same set of decisions will determine the focus of a blog post.

Is your approach original and imaginative?
Your client’s business blog, I remind content writers, is part of their brand, and it needs to put the best aspects of their business or practice forward with fresh, relevant content that engages readers. Blogging requires applying a thinking process. When business owners or professional practitioners blog (or coordinate with a professional writer), they are verbalizing the positive aspects of their enterprises in a way that people can understand, putting recent accomplishments down in words, and reviewing the benefits of their products and services. The very process provides self-training in how to talk effectively about their business or practice.

Are your ideas supported with useful examples, quotations, etc.?
You can use quotations in blog posts to reinforce your point, show you’re in touch with trends in your field, and to add value for readers (by aggregating different sources of information in one business blog). Still, I remind both owners and their content writers that the idea is to make their own cash register ring, which means it’s their own voice that must come across strong throughout the post..

Are your punctuation, spelling, and capitalization accurate?
Whether you’re a college student or a blogger, anything that puzzles readers interferes with readers’ interest and engagement defeats the purpose of the writing. Proper spelling and punctuation helps readers know what you think, what you do, and what you’d like them to do about it (give you a good grade or click on your blog’s Call to Action).

Using the Study Power Leader’s Guide worksheet can help blog content writers become leaders in their field!

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Most People Want a Story in Their Blog

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power of story

 

“Most people want a diamond ring for their 50th anniversary. I chose a titanium knee,” begins a Community Health Network advertorial, sharing the story of patient “Pat G.”, whose sole purpose in undergoing a total knee replacement was to dance with her husband at their 50th anniversary party. “At age 75” the story continues, “her next goal is to outlive the 20 years warranty on that new titanium knee.”

“The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller,” says Matthew Luhn, author of The Best Story Wins. But, if the story is not about the hearer, he will not listen, as John Steinbeck famously said. As a blog content writer, I realize that not everyone who sees that Community Health Network piece will be “shopping” for a new knee, but the story about Pat G. makes readers think about what might help them fulfill their own dream for a healthy, active retirement.

Story is passion, Luhn teaches. “The emotional juice in a story all comes back to the fears and/or deeply rooted passions that drive a character. Using the anecdote, rather than just touting the advantages of Community Health Network, is what gives the advertorial its impact. “People read, watch, and tell stories not because they are enthralled with the story structure, but because they are invested in what will happen to the characters in the story.”

In blogging for business, what’s going to have the greater likelihood of converting searchers to buyers: writing about the product or service, or writing about the business owners and service providers? I recommend including anecdotes about customers, employees, or friends who accomplished things against all odds. That shifts the focus to the people side of your business, highlighting the relationship aspects of your practice, plant, or shop.

Be sure your content includes not only HOW your product or service benefits users, but WHY. Tell the story behind the place, the products, and the people. Most people want a story with their blog!

 

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Blog Content Writers help Readers Dodge Dangers

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  • readers' fear of missing out

Redbook‘s holiday issue has a page blog content writers should see, titled “Dodge Common Dangers”.  There’s a “Trim With Care” section cautioning readers to:

  • keep lit menorahs at least three feet away from flammable items
  • avoid overloading the Christmas tree with strings of incandescent lights
  • avoid running electrical cords under carpets or rugs
  • put glass ornaments low on the tree where they can be bumped
  • let the tree stay in the house more than a month

As a blog content writer, I felt, the magazine’s editors had managed to offer these serious fire-avoidance warnings with a light touch, resulting in very readable copy.

“Great copywriting compels action, so it’s no surprise fear is used in marketing,” writes Amy Harrison of Copyblogger.  Marketing messages, she says, may be based on readers’:

  • fear of missing out
  • fear of losing something
  • fear of future threat

For a message to be successfully persuasive, Harrison explains, the threat needs to be moderate to high, with the reader feeling he’s personally at risk, and that preventative action is simple.

Heavy-handed scare tactics, on the other hand, simply don’t work, as a study done by the National Institute of Health Science Panel back in 2004 clearly demonstrated.

All human behavior, at its root, is driven by the need to avoid pain and gain pleasure, Neil Patel of Kissmetrics points out.  Of the two, we do more to avoid pain.  Show your prospects all the dangers on the road from A to Z, and how your product or service is the weapon they need to defeat those dangers and discomforts, Patel advises.

In other words, as effective blog content writers, we can demonstrate to our readers how to dodge dangers.

 

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