We know that we shouldn’t judge something immediately when we see it. However, we can’t help our human nature and each day we must quickly judge things so that all of our time isn’t wasted. The result of this is that as a blog author, you must learn to write effective titles for your legal blog.
The content you write will not be read if you don’t make the effort to write catchy legal blog titles.
I’ve put together five suggestions for creating eye-catching titles for your legal blog posts:
1. Ask a Question – A provocative question creates curiosity. People want to find out the answer and feel inclined to click through to read more. This is especially true when the question addresses a specific need or concern and promises to answer a problem the reader identifies with. For instance I wrote a popular post a little while back titled: “Lawyer Marketing Definitions: What are RSS Feeds and Why Should I Care?”. People who didn’t know what RSS feeds were clicked through to find out and have the question addressed.
2. Check Out Magazine Covers for Ideas – Magazine copywriters are some of the best around. A magazine is located on a rack with hundreds of other choices surrounding it. They have just a few seconds to grab your attention with an attractive cover and create the desire to read more with headlines about the articles. Pay attention to the words they use and how they structure the headline. You can learn a lot from professionals that have been doing this for a long time.
3. Use Numbers in Your Title and Lists for Your Posts – I’ve said it before and it’s worth repeating: People on the web love lists. It creates concise, bulleted information that can be digested quickly and easily. If you are reading this post right now, you are seeing an example of using a number in the headline to capture a reader’s attention. There is a funny, comedy site called Cracked that does a nice job of using this technique with many of their posts.
4. Address a problem the reader might have – People are most often times focused on themselves and their problems. This is especially true of people looking for legal help. This is why by addressing a problem that a reader might have in the title of your post, you will engage the reader.
5. Give an explanation on how to do something – Take this article as an example. By explaining how to effectively write legal blog post titles, I am explaining how to accomplish something many people need help with. Even though it may seem obvious or routine to a professional, providing basic knowledge to people without your expertise is a big draw.
Remember to keep your titles short when possible. A good rule of thumb is 9 words or less. Also, be sure to capitalize the first letter of each important word in your headline.
