Posts tagged titles

ARTICLE TITLES – THEY WILL MAKE OR BREAK YOUR ARTICLES, PERIOD! – (DO YOU DISAGREE?)

If the concept of first impression holds any water whatsoever, it can be clearly demonstrated with an article’s title. In the world of business you have no more that 3 seconds to get someone to do what you wanted them to do.

Don’t believe that? What are you doing right now? Reading this article!

Why though?

The title caught your eye. It is that simple. How did it do that though?

o It made a bold statement with the word … Period! Suggests a position of authority (I not saying that to pat my own back).

o The question (Do You Disagree?) challenges the reader.

o “Article Titles – They Will Make or Break Your Articles …” Clearly states what the article is about.

You might have said to yourself, “Wow, who is this guy?” then clicked through

Either way you clicked through to the article, which is the whole point of writing the article in the first place.

If you are reading this far, the article is still keeping your attention (that’s good) but the one the thing you have to do in your body of the article is backup the title. If you make a bold statement, you need to defend that statement.

The title of an article of the most important component to article marketing second is your resource box. When you become effective at getting people to do what you want them to do (in this case getting a real person to click on the link to your article) you will succeed.

Well, do you disagree?

Author: Francis R Murray
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Pressure cooker

TOP 3 SECRET PSYCHOLOGICAL TRIGGERS TO USE IN ARTICLE TITLES TO ATTRACT TRAFFIC

I will probably get into big trouble for letting the cat out of the bag in sharing these secrets.

In my opinion writing articles for ezines such as EzineArticles.com and leaving your blog url. in the resource box is one of the greatest ways to attract traffic and quality back links to your site. To create compelling article titles you need to use the AEDB formula that incorporate psychological triggers……

The internet surfers of the infosphere want fast and instant access to coercing data. They are constantly scanning for something to click on, you have less than 3 seconds in which to grab their attention. For this reason your article title is “king” and so need to understand and incorporate the psychological triggers that follow.

The AEDB formula. (A= attention, E= emotion, D= desire, B= benefit)

1. Attention.

To get instant attention, the psychological trigger would be to be up front with words that either, question, shock, or are controversial, cause curiosity (what killed the cat? get your audience thinking), exciting and shows enthusiasm or tease. Use bold words and odd numbers, ” now what could the top 3 be? ” or even ” The top 10 “. From time to time try to off balance your audience by being controversial like, ” 7 ways to get your Pit bull and cat to become best friends”

2. Emotion and Desire. Powerful driving forces, so use words to match.

Warning! the 7 biggest article title mistakes you can’t afford to make… Emotions such as fear, desire, greed, compassion, revulsion, hate, love can be generated using carefully selected powerful words.

3. Benefit your reader.

You need to understand what the searcher wants and then figure out a title to match their needs. Article writers biggest need is to get a audience or traffic to that article, so after deciding where to place it, the greatest hurdle is getting attention by delivering a solution, solve or cure a problem, find fulfillment, in the quickest, cheapest, leased painful way. Tell them “What’s in it for them.” Tell them what they will get.

Give handy, useful, tips, lists, reasons or psychological triggers for reading your article and so attract traffic. These are article writers secret weapons that they don’t want you to know about. Use them with care in creating your titles in future.

Author: Christina Saunders
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Make PCB Assembly

7 TIPS OF HOW TO WRITE GOOD TITLES AND WHAT THE BENEFITS ARE

Every blog post has a title. It doesn’t matter how good or how bad you are creating the title of your article in the end you’ll end up with something. What I’m trying to stress out in this article is the importance of a well written title and it’s big role in obtaining better Google ranking and also being the main element that could make the readers click on your article. That’s right : the title is the most important element of an article. Learn how to create a good one and you solved the biggest part of the equation and that is getting people to click on your content.

 

Why the title of an article plays such a big role
Now days many blog readers don’t even go to the blogs they like : they simply have RSS readers and receive the titles and a snippet from the latest articles on every blog they are tracking. Some people track so many blogs and to have a chance to get your article to be read you need a catchy title and a smart first paragraph. The title of an article plays a huge role in how Google will index your content. This is the place where you’ll use your main keyword phrase for that particular page. This is what you do for better ranking in search engines. But what about the people. Every article you write is created with only one thing in mind : to get the attention of readers and receive as many comments as possible. That means you need to take into consideration the human factor. So you’ll have to try and find a balance between the placement of keywords in your titles and finding an interesting way to express the essence of your article.

What is the purpose of the title
Simply put, a title should determine the reader to click on the article and read the first paragraph. This first paragraph is also called the introductory paragraph in which you basically create a small summary of the entire article. So in essence what you express in the title should be also found in your first paragraph. The other purpose of titles is to get you to the page 1 of Google. Think of your titles as the most important thing you could do for your content. This is the thing that make people click on your article and read the first paragraph. If you succeed in creating great titles and first paragraphs then you have nothing to worry : you’ll get just fine.

7 Rules of thumb for great titles
You can create the most extraordinary article in the world containing the secret of the holly grail. If you can’t create a proper title for your article that would rise people’s curiosity your article will just be one of the millions that appear every day. This is what I consider to be some of the secrets of titles :

  1. Promise some kind of benefit(State clearly what you offer): it’s true. People will always want to find something that could help them in some way. And if they can achieve whatever they are after by following a few easy steps then for sure they’ll give it a try. The benefit you promise should be also present in the first paragraph.
  2. If possible begin with a number: starting with a number will transmit a clear thing about how many things you can learn if you read the article. I prefer numbers bigger then 5 and smaller then 13. Anything above that I tend not to read it.
  3. Your titles should transmit something different: in some way you’ll have to create an interesting title: and by that I mean a title that sounds different or creates a strange analogy. All your actions are meant to get the potential reader curios.
  4. A call to action title: this has to be the oldest trick in the book. If you ask people to take an action, to do something and you also promise a benefit if they’re doing it then you have a killer combination.
  5. Use the words that get readers click: there are certain words that will increase your chances of getting your title to be clicked. Here are a few of them and how to use it: everybody is …, get rid of… , the secret of… and so on and so forth.
  6. If possible use the name of a well known person that is in some way related to the theme of the article: that is something that can get your article to be read. You have to be careful and ask the permission of that person before you do it. Or, if that person made a clear public statement that you can use in your article then it’s fine. This kind of attracting readers could be tricky and there are moments when it can get you in a little bit of trouble. So use carefully.
  7. How to or How not to articles : using both the positive as well the negative form of this type of articles can let you explore different angles and sometimes a how not to … could be more interesting.

Of course that these are not the only ways of writing titles that made readers click. So if you have some suggestions I’d love to hear them in your comments.

Author: Toma Bonciu
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Cool mobile gadgets

SEO BASICS – TITLES, FILE NAMES, AND META TAGS

In an earlier article, I covered why content is important to your SEO rankings. This article will cover what you can do behind the scenes to make sure the HTML code on each web site page is optimized for search engines. Updating HTML code can be done using a web editor program such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver, but it can also be done by hand using Notepad.

There are literally dozens of techniques that SEO consultants employ to optimize each variable that makes up a single web page. For example, at the bare minimum, you need to pay attention to researching and creating effective page titles, researching and creating effective file names, writing effective description meta tags, properly using heading tags and alt tags for each hyperlink and image file. This goes for every link, every picture, graphic, image, and for every single web page. As you can see, it is no small task to optimize a web site – even a small one!

While each variable plays a small part in the overall optimization – think of it as a recipe with each variable being a single ingredient – and all ingredients being important to the recipe, I want to cover three items: page titles, file names, and the description meta tag.

Page titles

Page titles are the hyperlinked words that show in the search engine results and also display at the top of the browser page. They are not only vital but greatly influence page ranking in the search results, so it’s important that the page title is rich in keywords. You add the title of the page in between the “title” tags in the HTML code at or near the top of the page.

Example:
This is the page title
Make sure every page has a different title. If you feel that you cannot pin down one title for a page because it has too many sections of information, then it would be best to create more pages and categorize accordingly. For example, if you sell widgets in different colors and you put them all on one page and name the title of the page “widgets,” this isn’t going to do much to help in your page ranking because your page will be competing with thousands of others that contain the same word.

Instead, create one page just to showcase your red widgets and title the page “Red widgets.” Think about it … when someone is doing a Google search, they will most likely be as descriptive as possible so as to narrow down the search results. Another rule of thumb is to keep the title to a maximum of 60 characters.

File names

Choose file names that correlate with your page titles. These should also be keyword-rich as they do have a positive impact on search results. When choosing file names, use all lower-case letters and do NOT use spaces. I have read that using hyphens instead of underscores is preferred and nowadays having no hyphens or underscores in the file name is acceptable as well – the search engines should treat them as the same.

One item I do want to stress is that I do not want you to run out and change all your file names because if a page is bookmarked or indexed in a directory somewhere and you change it, then it could not only hurt your rankings, but you may lose customers who can’t find your site because of a broken link. So consider changing the file name if the page is not yet indexed in the search engines or if the page has poor search results placement AFTER you’ve already changed the other items. If you are getting good search results placement, then of course do not change your file names.

Description meta tag

A good description tag will get you noticed! This is the blurb that is displayed right under the title tag in the search results page. It is what people skim over when viewing the search results. Too many times people will search on a term that has multiple meanings and the page titles may help a little, but it’s the description that will get their attention and let the person know that your is the site they are looking for! Its placement is right up there at the top of the source code, usually right under the title tag and looks like this:

Don’t forget to add key words and key phrases here as well. : )

Quick Start Assignment

Take just one of your web pages and optimize it for search engines. First, do some little research for keywords to use for the titles and descriptions. It’s important to use words that your target audience is actually searching, not what you THINK they are searching for. For example, if you think people are searching on the key phrase “certified life coach” – do some research because perhaps they are searching on different terms such as “midlife transition coach,” “coach to guide me through a divorce,” “adhd coach” etc.

Check the title tag, do you have the keywords near the front where they carry the most value? Is the title too long? Is it an effective title? Is this page title the same as all your other page titles? Do your page titles have your business name right in front? If so, make some edits.

Next, write an effective description for the page. Lastly, only change the file names if there are spaces in the title, if it is not yet indexed by the search engines, or if it has poor placement in the search results.

Of course there is so much more to do in order to properly optimize your pages, but start with just ONE page and do this for each new page you add for the next few weeks.

Get started!

Copyright 2008 Lisa Wells, Coast2CoastBusiness.com

Author: Lisa R. Wells
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Mobile device news

HOW TO WRITE AMAZING ARTICLE TITLES WITHOUT HIRING A PRO, OR EXHAUSTING YOURSELF SILLY (EASY!)

Want to know the secret behind writing amazing article titles that convert like crazy? If you are anything like most of the people reading this right now….if you AREN’T raising your hand up HIGH at this very moment, you probably don’t realize JUST how important your titles really are!

Fact: Over 80% of people will make the simple determination whether (or not) to engage with your marketing message on JUST the content above the fold.

It’s true….and if article marketing is a big part of YOUR business, simply neglecting this immensely important component of your content creation strategy is a dance with disaster you DON’T want to make.

With that in mind, and ASSUMING you already know how to do killer keyword research, (another topic, but also instrumentally important) let’s look at the 2 VERY simple strategies you need to take your article titles UP a notch, and in a hurry.

Tip #1: If it Bleeds…..it Leads

Yes, it’s unfortunate, but also true. If you can create pain in your article titles, you WILL get big open rates. People are MORE afraid of losing out, than they are of gaining. More interested in cures, than prevention. Find a way to illuminate the PAIN in your articles, and offer protection in the very same sentence, and you’ve got a guaranteed winner on your hands for sure.

Tip #2: Make a HUGE Promise

Depending on the REST of your marketing sequence, product and “proof”, this can be the BEST way to get astronomically high click through rates to boot. ” lose MORE weight in 30 days than you have in 30 years”, ” make MORE money online in 7 hours than your neighbors earned last year – combined!”, etc. The bigger the promise, the more skeptical (but curious) your readers are going to be. This is a fine line to play with, and you NEED to be creative and be careful – but if you can PROVE extraordinary results, using extraordinary titles is the best way to show them off!

Author: Ian Ross Hollander
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Programmable pressure cooker

HOW TO WRITE AMAZING ARTICLE TITLES IN 2 SIMPLE STEPS

In this article we are going to talk about article titles. The simple truth is that when I read all of the convoluted and confusing advice being recommended out there by folks who “claim” to be article marketing gurus, it almost bores me to tears. And I don’t mean that in a really bad way, as I both bore and cry far easier than most. (I spent a lot of time alone as a kid)

But – I have written WELL over 1500 articles that have been published, promoted and pushed about the web SOLELY on ezinearticles.com ( most using pen names) and can tell you that writing article titles that convert like crazy is FAR easier than those who would overcomplicate it would have you believe. Here are MY 2 simple steps to writing amazingly effective article titles, and in a hurry to boot. Read on.

Step #1: Front Load Your Keywords

Yes, you DO have to do keyword research to succeed online, and NO you don’t have to pay for it. (Google’s Keyword Tool is NOW the best, and purest of the bunch and it’s free). Put your important keywords up front in the article title, BEFORE anything else. This can take a few weeks to pay off, as you won’t get the “curiosity clicks” in the beginning from other article authors, but from a ranking standpoint, this pays off in LARGE numbers for sure.

Step #2: Ask a Question After The Keywords, and Colon

Ask a question. Any question that your reader ( or better yet….your research tells you people in your niche are looking to solve) is asking. “How to”, “Can I Really”, “Where is the Best”, etc. You can write these in your sleep once you get comfortable, and I often do. ( believe it or not I’m napping right now.

That’s all there is to it – I’ve built a significant percentage of my online business on the broad and sturdy shoulders of article marketing, and can tell you, for FREE, that if you stick with the above, you’ll NEVER need to worry about needing a “guru” to get you in the green.

Author: Ian Ross Hollander
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty

2 SIMPLE STEPS TO WRITE BETTER ARTICLE TITLES

Who else wants to write better article titles?

If you have ANY ambition of making more online, you BETTER have your hand raised HIGH right now, don’t you think? Of course, just about EVERY real online content creation entrepreneur, every copywriter, every SEO and social media strategist inherently understand the importance of creating copy that converts. In my case, my brains kicks out copious amounts of creative, killer copy ALMOST on auto pilot, which I attribute to a vivid imagination and way to much time by myself as a child.

But if you’re like most of the people I work with online, creative article and blog post titles are one of the HIGHEST hurdles you need to leapfrog to improve your readership AND your conversions. Let’s look at my brain dead simple, 2 step process for doing JUST that below: Read on.

Step #1: Front Load Your Keywords

Yes, this is VERY important. And Yes, this ALSO can occasionally stifle your creative juices a bit, but it WILL rank well for you long term FAR better than any other method I’ve tested. Front loading your keywords only means putting the phrase you’re targeting up front, and the start of the title. Most serious students of search engine ranking.

will tell you that the closer the keywords are to the beginning of the sentence, the better off you’re going to be from a relevance and ranking standpoint on those queries. (and even if they DON’T agree…..it’s works AMAZINGLY well for me)

2)Ask a Question Your Reader is Apt To Want to Know immediately Thereafter

Keywords up front – ask a question afterwards. That’s ALL you need to know to write copious amounts of killer article titles that really COULD go on forever. Remember, contrary to what many of the article marketing “gurus” will tell you, QUANTITY is king when it comes to article marketing, and this approach is fast, easy, scalable and allows you to DOMINATE the very same phrases with different permutations of the very same content.

What kinds of questions are good to ask? “How” questions are great, “can I Really”, ” Is is True”, and so forth are all easy choices that rarely disappoint. You are TRULY only limited by your imagination – which makes content creation, fun and VERY profitable for those of us who have one…which I’m HOPING includes YOU!

Author: Ian Ross Hollander
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Benefits of electric pressure cooker

PUTTING LOCATIONS IN THE TITLES OF YOUR ONLINE ARTICLES FOR YOUR SPECIFIC TRADING AREA

Most online article marketers use article writing to attract targeted traffic to their web based businesses, but what if you run a real business, such as retail store, an insurance agency and you only do business within a specific trading area? Not long ago, a fellow article writer had asked me this question, you see he is an insurance agent in IL and only licensed in that state.

He does not want people from all over the country calling on him, he couldn’t rightfully answer their questions anyway, each state has different rules, and even if he could answer, he wouldn’t be allowed to sell insurance where he was not licensed. So he asked me; “If I left Illinois out of the title it would be so much easier, but would they find me doing the searches? I doubt it!”

It appears that he had a tough time getting his articles accepted at one of the top article directory websites. So, to answer his question; “No, you’ll still be found, I am not suggesting you should preclude Illinois and yes, you should mention that in the key-words and body of the article, even in your bio-page.”

Really, it’s okay to use location names in the title sometimes, but not so in your face. That’s why I suggested a title change from the regular “Slamming SEO Style” articles we see so much of as Internet Marketers play the SEO Game at full tilt. No sense in writing a title that screams; “I am trying to game the system” or “I want you to put me at the top of Google with this short SEO non-informational article.”

Rather, what I recommend is that everyone with this issue; concentrate on your reader, after all, remember a real person reads the article and decides if you know what the hell you are talking about or you are just trying to sucker them into clicking on your article. Indeed, I hope you will please consider all this and learn from other’s mistakes.

Author: Lance Winslow
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Latest trends in mobile phone

CHOOSE BOOK TITLES BASED ON METAPHORS TO SELL MORE BOOKS AND FIND MORE READERS

Book titles that find more readers and sell more books are often based on metaphors. Adding metaphors to your book titles helps the title immediately communicate the essence of your book.

Because of the power of metaphor-based titles, they often form the basis of publishing empires. In these cases, the original title becomes the basis of an entire series of books, as we’ll see below. These can grow to become world-wide brands, catapulting the authors to success with dozens–even hundreds–of different titles based on the same metaphor.

Advantages of Metaphors

  • Immediate recognition. A metaphor communicates at a glance. A well-chosen metaphor needs no explanation. It’s message immediately hits home.
  • Storytelling power. Metaphors tap into the power of stories to engage readers on an emotional, as opposed to a “factual” basis. They engage your readers’ hearts as well as their brains. They strike chords within your readers.
  • Multiple levels. A single metaphor can communicate numerous attributes and emotions. When your title includes an appropriate metaphor, your title taps into numerous nuances and details associated with the metaphor.
  • Comfort and familiarity. Titles with metaphors immediately establish a comfort and familiarity. They’re also easier to remember and–hence–easier to recommend to co-workers and friends.

Types of metaphor titles

There are as many different types of metaphors as there are emotions and different ways to describe multiple aspects of a topic. Here are a few of the different types of metaphors that have become the basis of successful book titles:

  • Comfort. At some points in our lives, we all need to be comforted. We may have lost our jobs, our spouses, our friends, or our pets. We need to connect with others who may have experienced the same loss, or are currently experiencing the same loss. Sometimes our need for comfort can be very narrowly defined, such as “wives with husbands overseas in the military,”
  • Philosophy, attitude, and resources. Metaphor-based titles can also instantly paint a picture of the challenges and resources of our intended readers. At a glance, an appropriate metaphor can target selected types of readers in a way that immediately resonates with them.
  • Complexity. A metaphor-based title can identify a book’s intended market as well as describe both the approach, and the the level of information contained in the book. Without using “obvious” words like “beginner” or “newcomer,” a metaphor can communicate that the book is intended for entry-level readers.
  • Style. Finally, the particular metaphor chosen can not target the intended reader, but can communicate that the author speaks the reader’s language, and really understands where the reader is coming from.

A series based on a comfort metaphor

One of the most successful book series in the world is Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen’s Chicken Soup series. The first title in the series, Chicken Soup for the Soul, was published on June 28, 1993.

The authors already had the materials in hand–101 story submissions, but they lacked a title. They each agreed to meditate on the topic for one hour. During one of his meditation sessions, Jack Canfield remembered his grandmother telling him that “chicken soup can cure anything!” Since the original title was designed to inspire the soul, not the body, the obvious title was Chicken Soup for the Soul.

By December, the book was a strong seller. By September of 1994, Chicken Soup for the Soul was on every bestseller list in the United States and Canada.

Today, there are over 200 titles in the series, and over 112 million copies have been sold. The title has been translated into more than 40 languages.

More important, according to Harris Polls, 88.7 percent of the public not only recognizes the Chicken Soup for the Soul brand, but knows what it is.

It’s impossible to conceive of success on this order if the original Chicken Soup for the Soul title had been replaced with “conventional” title like:

  • How to Cheer Yourself Up
  • 101 Inspirational Stories

  • How Others Have Overcome Obstacles

The power of the Chicken Soup brand is based on the near universal recognition, and accompanying emotional response, to feeling sick and needing to be cared for by someone who loves you.

Attitude, Resources, and Philosophy

Jay Conrad Levinson’s Guerrilla Marketing series is the world’s best-selling marketing book series. There are over 40 million Guerrilla Marketing books in print around the world. The series has created a market for Jay’s speaking and consulting on every continent; as this is being written, Jay Conrad Levinson is speaking in Poland, Latvia, and Croatia.

The Guerrilla Marketing brand’s strength is based on the immediate recognition the title provides. Guerrilla Marketing resonates with business owners who lack the unlimited budgets and resources of major corporations. Guerrilla Marketers succeed by making the most of whatever resources they have.

“Guerrilla” communicates the philosophy, “Marketing” communicates the topic. Together, the two words tell the whole story.

Complexity

One of the most successful series of books in the writing and publishing field is Rick Frishman and Robyn Freedman Spizman’s Author 101 series. There are several titles in the series:

  • Author 101: Bestselling Secrets from Top Agents

  • Author 101: Bestselling Book Proposal

  • Author 101: Bestselling Nonfiction

  • Author 101: Bestselling Book Publicity

The “Author 101″ unites the titles under an immediately understood umbrella. Traditionally, college freshmen level classes are associated with “101″ level identification numbers, with advanced courses beginning in the 2 series. Thus, anyone who has been to college can immediately recognize that these books are for new authors who want to write a book.

Author style and target market

A book title based on a metaphor can communicate the author’s style as well as target the intended market. For example, Peter Bowerman launched a series of books using The Well-Fed Writer title. This was quickly followed by The Well-Fed Self-Publisher and The Well-Fed Writer: Back for Seconds. Consider what you already know about these titles even before you glance at their back covers or their table of contents:

  • Are these serious, or academic, books? Of course not. The title communicates that the books are colloquial and informal.
  • Are successful writers the target market? No, again; the market is writers who want to become successful.

Conclusion

It’s fascinating just how much you can tell about a book from its title, especially if it’s a metaphor-based title. When a book title is based on a recognized metaphor, the title–itself–can sell the book. By instantly communicating comfort, philosophy, complexity, or style, metaphor-based titles can sell more books and find more readers by creating an immediate resonance with them on a deep emotional level.

Ask yourself: How effectively does my proposed book title use the power of metaphor to find more readers and sell more books by communicating on an emotional level?

Author: Roger C. Parker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Mobile device news

“HOOK” YOUR READERS BY WRITING GREAT CHAPTER TITLES

It’s well-known that a title can make an enormous difference in the sales of a nonfiction book. Subtitles also make a difference, and most authors spend considerable time crafting both. But surprisingly, for many authors this is as far as it goes. If you look at their chapter titles they are unimaginative and dull, and it’s obvious that very little thought has gone into them. There’s no doubt, however, that they also play an important role in the success of a book — not in attracting potential customers, but in keeping them reading once they have begun to read.

In practise, many of the same things that apply to titles and subtitles also apply to chapter titles. First of all, the chapter titles should reflect the promise that is made in the subtitle. Second, as in the case of the title and subtitle, the chapter titles should focus on benefits, or more specifically on needs and wants. Each chapter should, in fact, address a specific benefit, or a need or want, and outline how it can be achieved. You should, in fact, always be thinking of the basic human needs that relate to your book as you outline and write it. Some of the major ones are: money, security, good health, love , and self-improvement. Third, the more person-oriented you can make the title, the more likely it is to generate interest. For example, a title such as “Making More Money — Fast,” might be good, but even better is something like “How Jack Jones of Colorado Springs Doubled his Income in 30 Days.” People like to read about other people who are successful — it inspires them. Fourth, whenever possible use power action words such as: Control, Change, Improve, Motivate, Achieve, Launch, Produce, and Generate. They help grab the readers attention. And when you use them, make sure you give examples.

In any book the chapter titles will be closely tied together. Each will deal with some aspect of the overall topic of the book. Make sure all of them not only perk the interest of the reader, but fascinate him. In particular, make sure the reader will want read on after he has read the title of the chapter. A few suggestions are:

  • Use the same words at the beginning of several chapters. End with different words (e.g. Make Sure That … Make Sure That …)
  • Humorous titles help — but they should be directed to the point.
  • Clever titles are great (e.g. How to Talk Back to a Statistic)
  • Use alliteration whenever possible (e.g. “Develop a Memorable Memory,” Get Great Guts”).
  • Shock the reader occasionally (e.g. Watch out!).
  • Study other books similar to your for title ideas.

Spend time crafting your chapter titles. This should begin when you are outlining your book. Make sure you give each title considerable thought, and don’t settle on the first thing that comes into your mind.

Ask yourself the following questions as you look over your chapter titles:

  • Do they signify benefits?
  • Are they interesting — really interesting?
  • Are they humorous or clever?
  • Are they different and unique?
  • Are they clear? Does their meaning come through immediately?
  • Do they have a “hook’?
  • Do they use power action words?
  • Are they logical? Do they make sense? Are they reasonable?
  • Are repeat words used occasionally from chapter to chapter?
  • Has alliteration been use?
  • Do they arouse curiosity?
  • Are they likely to inspire the reader?
  • Do they appeal to basic human needs?
  • Are they positive and optimistic?
  • Do they contain key words?

Combine great chapter titles with great titles and subtitles, then begin each chapter with a sparkling lead and you have a sure-fire winner.

Author: Barry R Parker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Netbook, Tablets and Mobile Computing