I am going to share a story with you.
One lovely Monday morning about 7:43 a.m., I was heading to my office in a cab when I saw a sign on a building that stirred my interest.
It read “get 50% discount for all purchases made before Christmas”.
It was the festive period, a few days to the Christmas; it made sense to have a sign like that so I quickly noted the address on the sign and planned to visit it on my way back from work.
I couldn’t wait for 4 pm – the official closing time from my office. It finally came but it was not until 4:24 pm that I got to the building very eager to take advantage of what they had for sale.
I got into the shop and met other people -who had struck gold like me-shopping .I went to the book section and picked 10 books.
I went to the cashier, pulled out my wallet and gave her 4 crispy 1000 Naira note.
(I had already calculated and discounted the total price of the books myself and just gave her the discounted amount)
What she said shocked me.
“Sorry sir, the discount is only 10%”.
What?
I was mad; I was so disappointed.
The smile on my face quickly turned to a big frown.
I angrily barked at her” Why do you have that sign outside if your discount is only is only 10%”.
I was so angry I dumped all the books on the counter and walked out of the premises promising myself never to enter that shop ever.
4 after Christmas on my way to work again I saw another sign on the same building, this time it said;
“Get 50% discount for all purchases made before the New Year”.
I remembered what happened days ago and frowned again. I was deceived the first time; I was not going to be deceived again.
And that is how the lost a customer.
Well, to be frank with you, this never happened but it is what a lot of bloggers do when they make a post.
They make a promise and fail to redeem it.
A post title is a promise, it is what will attract some people to your blog but if you deceive them the first time. They will not come to your blog again and that will slowly kill your blog.
A great blog post title draws in many visitors to your blog because it is promising, controversial, unique or different.
Having a great headline is highly recommended by many top bloggers. A post on copyblogger discusses the different kinds of headlines.
But only having a great headline or blog post title can kill your blog.
Why?
If your blog post title does not fulfill its promise, it has failed.
Having a great blog post title will.
- Increase that post view
- Increase Traffic to blog
But having a great blog post title that does not deliver will
- Increase bounce rate
- Make your blog look deceitful
WHICH OF THESE SCENARIOS WOULD YOU LOVE?
Writing a blog post that brings in 100 clicks, 80% bounce rate that eventually adds only 5 new readers.
Or one that has 50 clicks and 20% bounce rate that add 20 readers to your blog.
The latter is a better scenario and will be the winner in the long run.
HOW TO WRITE A BLOG POST TITLE THAT DELIVERS.
In my opinion the best way to write a blog post title is to tell people exactly what they will get when they eventually click to read the post.
Describing what readers will get from the post is a good strategy to follow.
You can tweak the post title to be more interesting or controversial or SEO friendly but just make sure you don’t deceive people into clicking on your link only to be disappointed.
A great post title that does not deliver will slowly kill you blog.
How do you craft your post titles?please share.
I had never though of it like that before! Really makes you think about your titles. I usually just use titles that explains what my posts are about.
.-= Tom | Build That List´s last blog ..Squeeze Page Tips For Better Conversion =-.
Tom,
Titles are very important but they should always tell people exactly what they will get.and i think you are using the right strategy.
Thanks for stopping by.