Worried that nobody clicks your writing? Here’s what makes a title get clicked.
People are curious animals, so put that curiosity to work. We’re always thirsty for information and want to know anything useful. So a title only has to tell the reader that something they’d like exists and they don’t know it yet. The feeling is ‘I’ve got something you’d enjoy, aren’t you curious?’ A title catches interest when it 1) takes a subject the reader cares about, 2) shows there’s something in it they don’t know, and 3) shows only that. Here are the three secrets one at a time.
First, no interest means no attention
We live buried in entertaining content. Netflix, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube alone are more than 24 hours a day can hold. For your title to stand out in that flood, it has to look interesting at a glance. A reader decides in an instant whether the subject is one they care about. So the title by itself has to make that obvious. Dress the point up in a metaphor or hide it, and the reader moves on.
If you don’t know what your reader cares about, tie the piece to what people generally care about: relationships, health, and money. Relationships means how you get along with people. Friends or romance, how to be respected and loved, how to spend good time with others. Stretched wide, it covers fashion, working out, makeup, and how you talk. Health means not getting sick and living long. How to stay young and live long without pain. Health tips, diets, skincare. Money splits into how to make it and how to manage it. Side jobs, ebooks, online stores, property auctions.
If your subject is one the reader won’t care about, at least connect it to people, health, or money. It changes how many digits your view count has.
Second, the more specific, the more curious
Be specific and show 1) what the reader doesn’t know, or 2) what the reader gets out of the piece.
Here are a few you can use today.
First, use numbers and lists. ‘How to leave a lingering impression’ is vaguer than ‘Three secrets of an ending that lingers’. Seeing the second one, a reader figures there are three tricks in there to learn, so it’s worth a read. Another example: ‘Famous cafes in Seongsu-dong’ is far less specific than ‘The three hottest cafes in Seongsu-dong this winter’.
Second, you can state the payoff more directly. ‘How to read books well’ lands less than ‘A reading method that makes you smarter’, and that lands less than ‘A reading method that raises your IQ by 20’. Doesn’t the title alone tell you what you’d get out of reading it?
A variation: show what happens if they don’t read it. YouTube is full of self-improvement videos called things like ‘Don’t read this book unless you want your life to change’. That’s why those videos get the views they do.
Last, never give away the answer
A good title tells you a secret exists. It doesn’t tell you the secret. Stop at showing there’s something the reader doesn’t know. That’s as far as a title’s job goes. Spill the secret in the title and curiosity dies. “The brushing habit that adds ten years to your life” is an attractive title, but ‘Brush for more than three minutes and live ten years healthier’ falls flat. The title already settled the reader’s curiosity. Now there’s no reason to read.
‘Walking 20 minutes a day extends your life’ shows nothing the reader doesn’t know. ‘Why 20 minutes of walking a day is enough’ at least makes the reason worth wondering about. The best version, of course, is ‘Walk just ?? minutes and you can live ten years healthier’ or ‘Walk only ?? minutes a day to live past 100’. The subject is health, which everyone cares about. The unknown is how much you have to walk. And the actual number stays out of the title. So the reader is interested, and now they want to read the piece to find out how many minutes it really is.
That’s a great title.
Remember three things. A good title 1) takes a subject the reader cares about, 2) shows there’s something in it they don’t know, and 3) shows only that.
Judge the titles of the posts and videos you meet from here on this way, and you’ll be surprised.
You’ll see the pattern in the titles from YouTube channels pulling a million views and from the top-ranked writers on Brunch.
Now it’s your turn.
Once an attractive title has pulled a reader in, the next job is leading them along with a clean flow.
I cover that in the next post. Follow me and I’ll let you know when it’s up.