Content Creation Secrets

Today.com has done a good job in redesigning its Home page.

When I started this blog, I was wondering whether I had done the right thing by placing Content Creation Secrets under the Hobbies section.

Those were the days when you see your blog post (if selected) lumped together with those related to gardening, knitting or even dog grooming.

Now it’s heartening to a see a separate category devoted to writing and displayed prominently on today.com’s Home page.

It gives blog posts related to writing a better chance of getting noticed. Readers interested in writing don’t have to hunt for blogs related to the subject.

If you’re running a blog related to writing, you should thank today.com for revamping its Home page.

Chances are, within an hour of making your blog post, it will be listed in the Writing category. My blog posts have been listed for an entire day, instead of being pushed out by other incoming blog posts within a few hours.

You may be promoting your blog outside of today.com to draw readers, but I think the promotion today.com offers is second to none. If anything, traffic to your blog is only going to get better by the day with the help of the revamped Home page.

But then being listed alone doesn’t mean you’re assured of traffic to your blog.

What will determine whether readers who browse through the listings end up visiting your blog?

You guessed it right. It’s your title.

You may have written a fantastic post, highly beneficial to your readers. But if your title is Blogging, Writing or My Holiday or something like that, you don’t have much of a chance to draw new readers to your blog.

These titles sound like they belong to school essays where titles need just explain the subject of the content.

What made you read this post? You probably wanted to know which porn clip changed my life and how it did so.

By now you would have realized this post has nothing to do with the porn clip that changed my life.

That’s why the second part of the title emphasizes it’s for content creators only. I wanted to attract content creators (not porn addicts) to this post to drive home a point about blog post titles.

Work hard on your titles to benefit from today.com’s new Home page.

Better still, write a catchy title first before writing your blog post.

I’ll give you three articles to read:

Article 1: The DVD Recorder Buying Guide
Article 2: Top DVD Recorder Shopping Mistakes
Article 3: The 5 Top DVD Recorder Shopping Mistakes You’ll Make If You Don’t Read This Guide

Which article will you read first? I know which you’ll choose.

A mistake content creators make is coming up with a title that just tells what the content is about, like the first article.

A title must be able to generate a response from the reader. What’s in it for him?

Article 3 has upped the stakes for the reader. If he’s in the market to buy a DVD recorder, he would surely read it because if he doesn’t, he may make a may make a costly mistake when buying a DVD recorder.

Your content title- I don’t have to tell you this – is the most important part of the content before the content itself is read.

If your title suggests something bizarre, something extraordinary, a danger, a threat, a hard-to-get benefit, an easy or quick way to do a difficult task, it’s bound to generate interest.

Article 1: Laptop Extended Warranties
Article 2: Laptop Extended Warranties: You May Be The Next Victim

Which article would readers go for? You guessed it right.

If you’re writing for the web, titles are important because a surfer could jump to a dozen sites within minutes as compared to when he’s reading a magazine, for instance.
Your content may be superb. But if your title isn’t enticing enough you’re going to lose the battle of attracting readers to your content.

So, how do you drive readers away from your content?

Easy.

Have a flaccid, lifeless title.