Show me a successful blog writer and I will point out the countless migraines they have had trying to develop those catchy titles that kept you glued to their articles.
Any experienced writer knows that the toughest part about writing a blog is usually the beginning. Cliché as it may seem, first impressions do matter and your hook or title will determine whether you will arouse reader interest at a brief glance or not.
That, by itself, is a skill set that very few writers possess. So without further ado, let me teach you how to write a catchy hook and title for your blog like a pro.
1. Understand the Demographics of Your Target Audience:
Picture this for an automotive blog title, “The best engines for a car.” Sounds silly, doesn’t it? See, although this writer is trying to talk about car engines, his hook sounds so amateurish that automotive enthusiasts would not even bother reading a single word.
The case would, however, be different if the writer wrote a more attractive title such as “Throttle and Acceleration: The V8 vs V12. Knowing and understanding your audience will help tailor your approach such that your title immediately captures their attention.
2. Develop a Luring Approach:
This usually applies to the hook. Once you have won your audience over with such an attractive title, how do you start?
The best hooks to begin a blog with are:
Catchy jokes: You can never go wrong with humor. Well, as long as they don’t touch on sensitive topics such as race, religion or Morgan Freeman’s age (believe me you can get a lethal backlash from the social media community for this).
It doesn’t matter if you are writing a medical or legal blog, everyone loves humor; Well, most of us at least. A joke will help create a relaxed ambiance enabling you to smoothly slide in for the kill.
Pose a question: Are you always struggling to come up with a catchy hook? Few will get what I did there, but the point of a hook in question format is to relate the reader to your blog.
Of course, most people struggle to come up with a catchy hook and for those who think they don’t, they would still read through to know if they’ve been doing it right. Curiosity rocks, doesn’t it?
Introduce an analogy: At the beginning of this article, I took a common phrase and put it in a context that befits my intention. That, there, is what using an analogy pertains to.
Based on that sentence, you immediately understood what I wanted to discuss. Now, if you are a beginner who’s trying to learn how to write a catchy hook and title for your blog, I wouldn’t recommend this approach to you as chances of failing to ail it’ are quite high.
However, if and when you get it right, an analogy makes you look like the Einstein of blogging.
Quote an Interesting Statistic: Nothing captures attention like a head-on statistic. Imagine starting an article with words like in every 10 Americans are susceptible to diabetes.’
Relax! It’s all made up. But picture the number of people who would immediately start reading that article with the hope of understanding the scope and nature of that statistic. This is a common trick used by media houses.
3. Write the Body First:
If you can’t seem to come up with that title or hook, chances are that it will come to you once you begin writing.
Sometimes, we are just too focused on developing that hook that the idea gets further away from us. Ever tried to remember something so hard that you felt it slip away even further?
That is how it works. Just start writing and once you relax into your content, everything else will flow.
Conclusion
Sometimes you may apply all these tips and still, lack an effective hook or title for your blog. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Contact a fellow blogger, friend or family member and ask for their input. Ask them to help you develop a catchy title or an attractive hook for your article. Chances are, you might even learn something new from them.
Josh Phelps