The headline of a blog post is often the most important part of that blog post for a few reasons:
- A catchy headline can entice people to click and read.
- A good blog headline can incite discussion.
- A clever blog headline is essential to using blog posts as linkbait; attracting natural links to your blog posts.
Yet many bloggers struggle to write compelling blog headlines. In an effort to simplify the process, I’ve put together a list of 11 easy to use blog headline templates (as well as showing them used in a few samples). Feel free to use them and alter them when crafting your own blog post headlines.
How-To Blog Headlines
How-to blog posts (or guides) are popular, and often well-received. Here are some sample blog headline templates you can use or adapt for your how-to style blog posts:
How to ______
This is about as basic as you can get, but simple how-to posts are still effective.
- How to Write a Press Release
- How to Get One Million Visitors to Your Blog for Free
- How to Lose 10 Pounds Without Diet or Exercise
Guide to ______
This is another very simple blog headline template that remains effective, and that can be used across pretty much every niche.
- Guide to Growing Indoor Herb Gardens
- Guide to Building Your Own Computer
- Guide to Choosing the Best Web Hosting Company
Beginner’s Guide To ______
This is an effective blog headline when you want to emphasize that a post is for newbies in the niche. It’s also an effective headline to use for a directory-style post, where you simply link to all of your beginner-oriented posts on the blog.
- Beginner’s Guide to CSS
- Beginner’s Guide to Bird Watching
- Beginner’s Guide to Setting Up Your First Blog
Complete Guide to ______
This blog headline template can be used for more elaborate posts, or how-to style articles aimed at a more advanced audience.
- Complete Guide to Becoming a Six Figure Blogger
- Complete Guide to Starting and Running an Online Business
- Complete Guide to Online MBA Programs
How to ______ on a budget
This variation on the basic how-to post allows you to appeal to the side of most people that has them wanting as much as possible for as little as possible. You can use it to offer how-to pieces that allow readers to save money or simply not spend what they don’t “have” to. Here are a few samples, with variations:
- How to Take a Family of Four to Disney World on a Budget
- How to Start a Small Business On a Shoestring Budget
- How to Market Your Website Without Spending a Dime
Self-Help Blog Headlines
Self-help is always hot. People constantly want to learn how to improve themselves or something in their life. Here are a few self-help oriented blog headlines to get you started:
Improve Your ______ Today
You keep it simple, tell the reader what you plan to help them with, and you make it timely or more immediate with the addition of one little word (or change the “today” part to any time constraint that makes sense). Here are a few variations:
- Improve Your Blog Headlines Today
- Improve Your Sex Life With Your Spouse in Just One Day
- Improve Your French in Just 30 Minutes Per Day
Fast Fixes for ______
People don’t just want to improve things; they want to do is right now! So tell them how they can make improvements quickly, and you’ll have a better chance of enticing the sometimes-lazy Web reader.
- Fast Fixes for Your Leaky Roof
- Fast Fixes for a Poorly Optimized Website
- Fast Fixes for Frizzy Hair
______ Your Way to a Better ______
Tell your readers specific steps or strategies to reach specific goals, and they’ll love you for it. For example:
- Walk Your Way to a Better Body
- Blog Your Way to being a Household Name
- Write Your Way to a Six Figure Income Online
Attack / Confrontational Blog Headlines
You can’t be nice all the time as a blogger. The fact is that controversial posts can often bring a lot of traffic, not to mention discussion and repeat visitors (especially those who agree with you). It can also serve as a simple linkbait tactic, and even lead to press or other exposure. Here are some attack and confrontational blog headline templates (especially for those who aren’t naturally controversial bloggers):
[Number] Reasons Your ______ Sucks
This gives you not only a confrontational post directly targeting potential readers, but also a helpful post (if you expand to tell them how to fix whatever it is that “sucks”), and a list (which tend to make good blog posts on their own). You can vary it, even to show specific failed goals:
- 10 Reasons Your Web Design Sucks
- 7 Signs That Your Press Release Sucks
- Five Reasons Your Blog Earns No Income
Was ______ Wrong?
This kind of blog headline template can be used to attack something a particular person said, or even a social, scientific, or moral issue. The added bonus is that the post directly asks a question, which will hopefully encourage discussion among readers in your blog comments. For example:
- Was the US Wrong to Invade Iraq?
- Is Google Wrong in Discouraging Paid Links?
- Was Darwin Wrong With His Theory of Evolution?
The Worst ______ Mistakes Ever
This blog headline template lets you go a little bit beyond finding potential fault with individual readers, and instead focus on larger (or industry) problems or common mistakes made by newbies in a field:
- The Worst Blogging Mistakes Ever
- The Worst Fashion Mistakes of the 2007 Oscars
- The 10 Worst Diet Mistakes Most Women Make
This post was originally shared on September 24, 2008.
