Quickly pull in the reader with these 2 title formulas

The title of your content – article, proposal, ad or video – is the second most important component of your piece or clip. Accordingly, many agonize about how to get it right.  Sometimes they do get it right, sometimes they don’t.  Why don’t you use some formulas instead, so that they become a ready tool […]

The title of your content – article, proposal, ad or video – is the second most important component of your piece or clip. Accordingly, many agonize about how to get it right.  Sometimes they do get it right, sometimes they don’t. 

Why don’t you use some formulas instead, so that they become a ready tool you can remove from your toolbox and get right every time?

If not, you would continue to suffer the uncertainty of not knowing what to do and go on to shoot in the dark. 

The Most Important Thing In A Title 

Remember this: the most crucial thing in a title is the benefit to your audience. That is, what would they gain by going through your content? That benefit usually comes in two forms: entertainment or information. Or will they even pick up a skill?

Here are examples of such titles from my previous posts: 

“How To ‘Win’ Every Media Interview” and 

“A Quick Lesson From Mo Salah That Will Enrich Your Life”

These titles instantly promise a benefit, even a skill. But it’s not the best; for it to grab the attention of your audience you should add something else. 

This Is A Nice To Have 

The second most vital ingredient in a title is the promise of fast results. This is not absolutely necessary. But in a world where a million things compete for your attention, it’s very useful in grabbing attention. The New York Times reported that “the average American consumes about 34 gigabytes of data and information each day — an increase of about 350 per cent over nearly three decades — according to a report published Wednesday by researchers at the University of California, San Diego.”

What this means is that there is a good of content competing for every individual’s attention. Interestingly, while the data show the content consumption of an average American, the statistic appears to show a universal reality. 

But that’s not all. Another report says that the average person reads 105,000 words per day. So with the torrent of information, it’s better to make yours stand out. And one way to do that is to promise a quick return on the time invested in your title. 

Here are some of the words to use to promise fast results: Quick, Rapid, Instant, Fast, Immediate, Flash and Jiffy. 

Now let’s put the two together to get our formulas. 

First Formula: How to + Benefits + Fast Results 

You should tell the audience how to do something that will benefit them quickly. Here are examples from my previous articles. 

“How To Destroy Your Opponent’s Argument – In 60 Seconds” and “One Word That Gets You Any Job – Instantly”

These titles are faithful to the formula because they promise a benefit and a fast result. 

Second Formula: Listicle + Benefit + Fast Results 

The only difference between the first and second formula is that one is a how-to article and the other is a listicle. 

What is a listicle? It’s a piece of content presented in form of a list. So this article you’re reading is a listicle. Other examples from my previous posts are:

“3 Things To Look For In New Leaders” and

“2 Excellent Times To Make A Request.”

These are examples of listicles.  But they don’t fulfil the formula because didn’t offer fast results. Can you change them so that they follow the formula?

We can easily change the first to “3 Things That Will Help You Identify Great Leaders Instantly.” 

And we can rewrite the second one to read: “How To Quickly Identify The 2 Best Times To Make A Request.”

In sum, in writing non-fiction, don’t be too clever by writing fancy titles. Stick to the basics and your content will stick. Your goal is to identify the benefit your reader is going to take from your piece and make a promise of that benefit in your title. Besides grabbing the attention of the reader, it also informs your potential content consumers if what you’re offering is something that interests them. 

I probably shouldn’t have thrown stones into my own glass house. I’m guilty of violating these formulas. Of course, the formula wouldn’t work for every content. But they work.