Inbound Marketing Insights

As a business, whether you are B2B or B2C, your blog is one of your most important digital assets. One of the most important aspects of your blog is the title. Having the right title generates the initial interest in your blog. The blog title is also the first thing search engines see when they crawl your website. In addition, the blog title is the subject line of the email you send to your database to re-engage your existing prospects. Finally, the blog title is the primary content shared when you post your blog on social media. I recommend starting with three months of blog titles, so it’s a manageable list, and you can then continue to redefine your keyword strategy every few months. Here are five primary tips to keep in mind when crafting your blog titles.

1. Consider Questions You Receive in the Sales Process
Every day, prospects ask questions about your products or services, best practices in the industry, and more. Your sales team spends time answering these questions on every sales call. Ask your sales team for the questions they are asked regularly, and then use that information to help answer those questions in a blog format. This will help you get found online through SEO because your prospects are searching for these answers. The content will also give your sales team helpful insights to share with their prospects in real-time.

2. Use Numbers in Your Blog Title When Possible
Including the number of subtopics in that blog is a great way to capture attention quickly in search engines, by email, and on social media. Example: If you have a blog sharing tips on improving a company's annual performance review, the blog title could read, “5 Tips to Improve the Annual Performance Review.” This tells the viewer exactly what to expect when they click on the blog.

If possible, use bullet points or numbers in your blog to align with your topic. It helps focus your reader on the most essential content. It also helps the reader skim the blog and decide if they want to bookmark it. Bullet points and numbered lists considerably outperform blogs that do not utilize these formatting tips. You will start to see your readership go up because your content can be easily read, and the time on your site will begin to increase because people will start to browse other blogs. Keeping people active and on your site for more extended periods of time is a vital part of your content and search optimization strategy. When visitors stay on your website longer, it increases your ranking for organic traffic and keeps those visitors engaged with your brand.

3. Keep Your Blog Title Short
Your blog title should be no longer than 70 characters, so your title doesn’t get truncated in search results. According to HubSpot’s research, headlines between 8–12 words in length receive the most Twitter shares on average. As for Facebook, headlines with either 12 or 14 words received the most “Likes.” When creating your blog topics, keep these statistics to receive the most social media value when sharing your content online.

4. Make the Value of Your Content Clear
Adding language that precisely showcases the content people will read in the blog drives click-through rates. For example, if you release a new infographic, put “[Infographic]” in the title, so "infographic" is shown on all social posts and in your email marketing. Since video is a popular way to consume content, you can also embed videos in your blog to make your blog content more interactive. In video blog titles or vlogs, you can showcase that it’s a video by adding “[Video]” in the title. It’s all about clear communication to capture attention and bring visitors back to your website.

5. Align Your Blog Title with Your Personas
Ensure that the wording you use in your blog titles, and your overall content, align with the content your target prospects are searching for online. Your blog title is important because it is how people will find your blog and decide if they will visit your website to learn more.

Remember to brainstorm the list of blog topics with your team members. It’s essential to ensure you are not doing this part of the process in a silo. People on your team may have additional feedback to help create the most relevant blog topics for your audience. It’s always better to get an outside perspective to capture all possible titles and topic options. 

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