Better Business Blogging » CopyBlogger

Post titles – who are they for?

Mark White, Blog Consultant — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:50:41 +0000

As you sit down to pen your next post, you’ll probably already have a clear idea of what you want to communicate and how you want to go about getting that message across. Nevertheless, unless you can entice people to read what you’ve written, then all of your hard work will have been in vain. So take care with the title you use for the post as it plays a key role in that process.

Why are Post Titles important?

Well, they’re important in the same way that a newspaper headline is – they attract our attention, offer an insight or a “teaser” as to what the post contains and hopefully encourage us to read the full article. We have a huge amount of information presented to us every day, and so it’s really important to grab peoples attention in the short space of time that we have before they move on to something else. It the case of our blogs, we generally only have the post title at our disposal to achieve this.

However, there is an added complication. We need to remember that we are in fact trying to attract the attention of two groups: readers (or should I clarify by saying human readers) and Search Engines.

If they both reacted in the same way to words then things would be easy, if a little boring. However, they dont and nor are they attracted by the same things. While human readers are attracted by humour, nuance, plays on words as well as information, Search Engines are attracted purely by the words which we provide. Ideally, we need to find a way to cater for both.

Where do we see the titles?

However, we also have to bear in mind what people actually see in different situations and places – bear with me here, its important! The first obvious place is on your blog itself – at the top of your post is the title which will hopefully inspire you to read the post below it. Nevertheless, you are already on the blog, so in some ways the battle is already half won!

The title of your post also appears in the main Blog Search Engines such as Technorati or Google Blog Search and in the RSS Feeds that people receive in their readers. As people browse here, then the title is critical in attracting their attention as they skim through the articles on offer. The more information that we all try to process in as short a space of time as possible then the less time we’ll have to attract attention and the more critical it will become.

Post Titles and Title Tags

However, when it come to the main Search Engines, things are slightly different. What appears on the results pages of Search Engines such as Google and Yahoo is not actually the title of your post but the Title Tag. This is distinct from your post title and something which you can control separately. The Title Tag is doubly important because it is an important element that the main Search Engines look at when ranking pages – they do take note of the title of your post, but they take much more interest in the Title Tag.

So which way to go? My own preference is to keep the title interesting without making it too cryptic, and I always try to include the main keyword for the article. In addition, I make sure that, where necessary, I modify the Title Tag to ensure that that is keyword rich. (More details in my SEO series and a great Wordpress plug-in from Stephen Spencer to help you).

In other words, I try to appeal to both audiences. You are best placed to know what will appeal to your readers and you can guess that, for Search Engines, the principal keyword phrases for the post are going to be key. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to combine both as well as you can.

This you have to read

So where to find more information about titles, headlines and how to write them? Well, if you only go to one place, then head on over to Copyblogger’s posts on Magnetic Headlines. Highly recommended!

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52 of the Best Ways to Promote your Blog and your Business

Mark White, Blog Consultant — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 10:20:13 +0000

I’ll admit that usually I’m not a fan of lists, hence you won’t find many long ones here at Better Business Blogging. However, when they are recommended by people like Brian Clark at CopyBlogger or Darren Rowse at Problogger then who am I to argue?

Although I have presented this as a single list, there are really three distinct groups of techniques that I would recommend that you consider in here – firstly what I would call “Blog methods”, then the more general online marketing methods and of course offline marketing and PR techniques. We’ll be looking at all of these on an ongoing basis at The Blog Coach.

In the meantime, here are 52 Great Ways to market your blog:

Submit your site to the main web directories – you�ll find a good list at Directory Maximiser

Make sure that the whole of your blog is indexed on the main Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN/Live

Get a Google Sitemap on your blog to help to get it fully indexed

Participate in online business networking sites such as Linked In, eCademy and SoFlow

Make it easy for your readers to bookmark your blog on the social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Del.icio.us, Furl etc.

Make sure you submit your blog to the main Blog directories (Good list here and here)

Also submit your blog to the main RSS directories

Ensure that you automatically ping the main blog Search Engines and Directories suach as Technorati and IceRocket to get instantly indexed – good list of pinging addresses

Join a number of relevant online communities or discussion groups for your market area

Maximise the design of your own blog: highlight posts or subjects that will attract and retain readers

Add comments – relevant, useful comments – to other people�s threads or blogs

Use Pay per Click (PPC) advertising like Google Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing

Advertise on sites such as Gumtree or Craigslist

Make sure that you run an ezine (e-newsletter) alongside your blog and make the two work together

Make sure that you link out to other blogs in your blog posts and, for special recommended blogs, in your BlogRoll

Join MyBlogLog to be able to make contact with other MyBlogLog users and develop relationships

Set up a social network part of your blog with Ning

Write your own e-book (perhaps using content from your blog) and give away free chapters to encourage visitors or subscribers

Start your own meme or viral networking idea (such as 2000 Bloggers)

Attend local networking groups such as BNI, BRE etc – tell them about what you do and reference your blog

Set up and develop a profile on online social networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo etc.

Create a free account on BT Tradespace

Interview people for your own regular podcast – perhaps you could make it like your own online radio show

Contact other relevant ezines and offer to write articles for them

Submit your articles to article directories (Ezine Articles, Article Alley etc.)and link to your blog in the signature

Submit your own ezine to ezine directories such as Ezine Directory or Best Ezines

Include podcasts as part of your blog to distribute interviews, informational pieces etc.

Convert some of your existing articles into podcasts

Create a lense at Squidoo

Distribute and syndicate your articles and podcasts via your RSS feed

Offer free white papers or specialist documents which are branded with your blog and RSS details

Set up teleconferences or teleseminars focusing on your main content areas

Write a review of books on Amazon.com linking back to your blog

Distribute press releases via online news services such as PR Web or Press Box

Add a poll or survey to your blog and post/distribute the results – try SurveyGizmo if you are a Wordpress user

Read other blogs and leave your own comments on them

Use trackbacks when you reference other bloggers� posts

Create podcasts of your best posts and syndicate them, as well as submitting them to iTunes and other podcast directories

Sign up to Feedburner and include the Headline Animator in your email signature and the one you use when you post to forums

Make sure you include your blog address on your business cards and company stationery

Customise and improve your RSS Feed using Feedburner – include special offers, sign up opportunities and make sure the feed delivers the full post

Increase RSS feed sign ups by offering a sign up bonus to subscribers – how? Just ask!

Offer readers the chance to sign up via email (Feedburner and Feedblitz offer the service

Put files and follow ups to presentations, conferences and seminars on your blog for attendees to read and download

Offer to become a Guest blogger on other blogs and invite Guest bloggers to write on your own blog

Make sure to submit articles to and participate in Blog Carnivals (more on Blog Carnivals here)

Optimise your blog where possible and particularly the Categories, Title Tags and Meta Tags

Participate regularly in conversations on other blogs

Post answers on LinkedIn Answers and Yahoo Answers

Try LinkBaiting using controversial subjects or opinions � be careful though!

Contact the main bloggers in your market area and introduce yourself or send details of a particular post that might interest them

and above all,
52. Write great content that people will want to read, recommend and link to!

What other methods (or which of these methods) do you find work best for you as you promote your Blog? Please share them with us by leaving a comment!

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What makes a Blog an influential Blog

Mark White, Blog Consultant — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 10:39:19 +0000

I really liked Brian Clark’s post The Five Essential Elements of an Influential Blog over at Copyblogger. In fact, that is generally my reaction to a great many of his excellent posts so I’d certainly encourage you to get him in your RSS Reader if you haven’t already.

In this post, he proposes that, to be truly influential and by implication gain the level of readers and traffic we are looking to, a blog should have 5 key components:

Simple - so that the core elements behind it can be easily communicated which will help your message to spread

Unexpected – so that it stands out above the others in its field either because of its different ideas or the way in which it expresses them

Concrete – so that the information the blog contains is directly useful to your readers

Credible – because your readers need to trust you and what you are communicating for the blog to be valuable to them

Story – which brings together and helps to communicate all of the other elements of the blog in a way which triggers not only an intellectual response but also an emotional one

I think that from a Business Blog perspective, I would probably also add Focus to this list – while it may already be implicitly bound up as part of some of the others, I believe it worthy of its own mention.

In some blogs, this focus can result in a blog with a relatively narrow field of content, but with a real depth of comment which makes it worth reading and hence influential. In others, the focus is more of a central theme around which other ideas gravitate and spark off from. In both cases, the focus is a key factor in the blog’s success and ultimately its longevity.

Brian also concludes the post by stating:

How you say it is important.

But what you say is critical.

Absolutely, but it is the combination of the two that makes certain blogs really stand out – Copyblogger among them, in my opinion.

Business Blogs, whether run by large corporates or individual professionals like myself, should certainly aim for this. However, we need to remember that it is an ongoing process so making any change, no matter how small, will be a step in the right direction.

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Blogging Tips: Tell them a story

Mark White, Blog Consultant — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 22:07:47 +0000

Everyone loves a story. Stories are part and parcel of our history and have their roots in the “oral tradition” which spans all cultures, when news and tales alike were passed down by word of mouth, and storytellers were as important to the fabric of society as any of the professions that we know today.

Even now, in a world where there is a multitude of different media to choose from, we still love to read or listen to a good story. We are brought up on them and we remember them. With stories, we identify much more easily with what we are being told and get involved more than we would with a simple stream of information. In turn, this allows us to remember it much more easily as well.

So what’s your point, Mark?

Well, blogging is just another of those media, albeit a relatively new one. The keys to its success are content and the way that we present it … and our goal is that people should remember what we say and pass it on to others. So give them a helping hand, and communicate your message with a story. Even at its simplest level, you can frame a story with a context and personality or at least set the scene, so that our imagination can take over.

In any case, we even have huge advantages over our story-telling predecessors because:

when we post to our blog, people can go back to it time and time again because our story and its message is always available;

it can be easily distributed and won’t suffer from “Chinese Whispers” because people can refer directly to our original version;

we don’t need to gather an audience around us in order to tell our story, there is always one accessible online.

Now if I’d been ultra clever, I would have presented this post as a story … weaving my web and luring you in to make my point, rather than stating it as plainly as I have done. Ah well, such is life – next time perhaps! However, open your minds to a great post, or indeed two posts, from The CopyBlogger who demonstrates this far more eloquently than I could, so, if you haven’t already had the pleasure, drop by The most powerful blogging technique there is and then read the follow up post.

Then come back and tell me I’m wrong if you like. Bet you won’t! Do come back, though, for the next gripping instalment …!

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