We've just begun a new writers' contest to see who can write current events articles which attract the most readers from outside of SearchWarp. For many people this will bring up the issue of how to write for the Internet.
It's fascinating to me how there can be so much difference in writing for print as opposed to writing for the Internet. I've known many writers who excel at writing for print publications, some even earn their living from their printed work. But when it comes to writing for the Internet, they fall flat and fail to get noticed. I'd like to explore this a little in a two part series on how to write for the Internet to attract readers.
The first concept to understand is this: People must understand what information your article contains completely from your title. I've said this many times, many different ways, but we continually receive articles from professional level writers who fail to title their articles properly. At the risk of offending some, I will say that if your articles have less than 6 to 8 words in their titles, you probably don't know how to write for the Internet.
Let me say that again, if your articles have less than 6 to 8 words in their titles, you probably don't know how to write for the Internet.
Let's try something. Go to the SearchWarp home page and look at the "Most Recent" list in the right column about half-way down the page (in the blue box.) Read the titles. Do you know what the information is that you'll find in these articles? Not the general idea, I'm talking about the specific information you'll fine in these articles. While I'm writing this, about a third of these are titled properly. The rest have vague titles which may be cute or witty, but they don't indicate what information can be found in the articles themselves. They might contain a clue as to what the article is about, but if your potential readers have to guess, they will never become your readers.
This isn't good. If you don't believe me, walk through a few steps with me that will hopefully open your eyes.
Look to the left on the home page. In the left column you will see "Hot Comments" in a green box. Out of the 7 articles listed as I'm writing this, 6 have titles that state exactly what information you will find if you read the articles. The most active articles are titled properly.
Look back to the right-hand column to the green box marked "Today's Most Popular," as I'm writing this 9 of the 10 most popular articles state clearly the information you will find by reading the articles. This list is somewhat skewed by the fact that some of the articles appear on the home page, which makes them popular, but the rest of them will almost always have proper titles.
If you then go up to the "Interesting Links" section and click "What people are looking for" you will be taken to a page which shows what people are searching for that brings them to SearchWarp. If you hold your mouse over the search terms, you'll see the titles of the articles which these people were taken to. Right now as I'm writing this, all but 2 are titles which state clearly the information that the articles contain.
This is because non-descriptive titles don't attract readers.
Now if you go back to the home page and click on "Hall of Fame" you'll see the most popular writers on SearchWarp.
Kacycarr is by far the most popular writer on SearchWarp. I hate to give away Kacy's secrets, but click on her name and look at the list of articles she has written. Every single one has a title which explains exactly what you'll find in the article. You can look at all the writers at the top of the Hall of Fame and you'll see the same thing.
Now go to the control panel and click "View / Edit Your Articles." Look at the list of your articles as if you've never seen them before. Ask yourself if you would have any idea what information is found in these articles if you hadn't written them yourself. Ask what questions your articles answer. Do you see them differently? How could your articles explain what information they contain more clearly and completely?
I have to say that the editors are constantly surprised at the excellent writing on SearchWarp which is titled very poorly. It's saddening to see that these writers don't receive the readership that they deserve.
We like to feature the most talented writers on the SearchWarp home page. We often receive comments that the writers on the home page don't have the highest popularity ratings (as indicated by the little number by their names.) Look at these writers on the home page and the columnists and the readers' choice writers on Page 2. Usually the article teasers you see with the longer titles have authors with higher popularity ratings. Once you understand this, it becomes obvious why the teasers with the short, cute titles have authors with lower popularity ratings.
If you're still not convinced, I've done a little test. I've run some reports on the SearchWarp database. Here are some interesting statistics:
The average article on SearchWarp with less than 5 words in the title has attracted 3 outside readers.
The average article on SearchWarp with more than 5 but less than 10 words in the title has attracted 4 outside readers.
The average article on SearchWarp with greater than 10 words in the title has attracted 12 outside readers.
That's 4 times as many readers as the articles with less than 5 words in the title!
Here it is stated a different way:
Articles on SearchWarp which have attracted more than 1,000 readers average 11 words in their titles .
Articles on SearchWarp which have attracted 0 outside readers average 6 words in their titles.
How many words do your titles contain?
By understanding this, it is clear that the more descriptive your titles are, the more readers your articles will attract.
I hope this convinces you that informative titles are very important in writing for the Internet. Having descriptive titles alone will not make you famous, but not having descriptive titles could keep you from becoming famous.
Do you want people to read what you write? I challenge you to use at least a dozen words in the titles of your articles to describe the wealth of information found within.
Thanks, Bruce, for this fact-based article that rebukes, challenges and educates us who intend to write well for Internet readers. Your point is well taken; it will definitely affect how much effort and thought I put into my article titles from here on. ~mogama~
"Make your titles descriptive" was one of the advices I read from your article six months ago. It has worked for me. Thank you very much for sharing and for writing this very helpful well-written article. Best regards to you and yours. ~Nenita~
Great Tips Bruce! I have myself been guilty of trying to come up with "clever" titles and have realised the error of my ways. When it comes to the search engines descriptions are key, however it is also important that the article content fits the descriptiveness of the title! Really helpful article. Julian
Hi Bruce, I know that you are exactly right because I can see the results differ when I fail to title one properly. I have a little problem with it. I think of a name which I believe will do the tirck, then as I study it, can't make up my mind. Senility, you know.
Thank you for this, Bruce. I've often wondered just why some of my articles get so many reads (aside from their being on the 'home' page) and why some get so few, even though they're 'hot topics'. I must admit, titles are my biggest challenge...but you've made your point well and I'm going to give it the ol' college try. Well done, Sir!
I like to be creative with titles and I like to be descriptive. If you can get the two combined you are on to a winner. It is hard to do but I'd give it a shot.
Writers are trained to title "creatively", but the internet it a whole different beast, people don't search on Google "creatively". When I write an article, I try to think like someone doing a Google search. I ask myself what I would search for to find my article and then try to incorporate that in the title if at all possible.
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