10 Tips for Writing Killer Blog Post Titles

In my last post, I showcased 3 blogging best practices that I notice in the blogs that I like to read.  The first tip that I mentioned was about eye-catching post titles.  I am NOT naturally gifted at writing good post titles (just ask James, our VP of Product).  However, I do believe this is an art that can be learned, and I'm working on my own improvement.  Over the past few weeks, I've been logging the titles of posts that I find myself reading so I can learn what I think is the make-up of a good blog post title.  Here are 9 types of post titles (with examples) that consistently catch my eye.

1.  # of Ways
Example: 5 Ways to Improve Your Blog

2.  Global, Open-Ended Question
Example:  Where has social media gone wrong?

3.  Specific, Close-Ended Question
Example:  Can you manage a business blog in 5 minutes a day?

3.  Rankings
Example: Best B2B blogs online

4.  How To
Example: How to write a better blog post

5.  Top
Example:  Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012 (From OpenView Partners Blog featured here)

6.  Tips / # of Tips
Example:  Social Media Tips from a True Expert or 10 Tips for Improving your blog

7.  Action Verb First
Example: Overpromoting your posts can annoy your followers

8.  Heavy Hitting Brand
Example:  McDonalds suffers a social media crisis

9.  Industry Influencer
Example:  Mark Zuckerberg talks about his blog

10.  Tools / Tool Kit / Plans
Example:  Marketing Tool Kit for Lead Nurturing