The Article Title - 3 Key Components

Jan 17
19:13

2010

TJ Philpott

TJ Philpott

  • Share this article on Facebook
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Share this article on Linkedin

Writing your article titles is an often overlooked and undervalued function of writing articles. The article title however is the key to getting people to open up and read your article so therefore it is a very important component. Read on to discover the 3 rules or principals every title you write should abide by in order to maintain your integrity with the readers.

mediaimage
Your article title is what gets many readers attention and is generally what they use to decide whether they will even read any further. When writing articles for promotional purposes online it is important to attract the attention of people and catchy titles help do just that. What we want to address here today is NOT so much how your article titles catch someone's eye but something more subtle and fundamental. There are certain basic requirements your titles need to address so as to not mislead the reader or misrepresent your content.

Here are the 3 key components you will want to be sure all your article titles have before you submit them online.

Accurately Descriptive

Your title should always give some indication of what the content contains. One thing you do not want to do is deliberately mislead readers into thinking the subject of the article is something other than what they will actually find. By doing this you have lost the faith of your reader and also some integrity along the way. You also stand the risk of damaging your reputation online and this is something that can be hard to restore.

Clear and Understandable

Using 'tongue in cheek' references or subtle humor in your titles is fine as long as it is clear enough to the reader what the article contains. You do not want to make people have to 'decode' your catchy titles in order  to figure out what the subject is. More times than not when confused by a title people will simply leave the page.

Another point you want to observe with article titles is to not make them overly wordy. The easier your title is to understand the better for you as the author and for your readers as well.

Content Must Deliver

What ever your article titles indicate you must be absolutely sure that your content delivers on the promise. Some people develop a title first and then start to compose the body of the article and this can work very well. The danger in this approach is sometimes it can be easy to stray from the original topic of the article. When actually composing the article body the author can 'lock down' on a particular point they are trying to make and thereby never return to the intended subject.

It is always a good idea upon completion of the article to quickly review the content to be sure it is in 'sync' with the title itself.

The article title plays a very integral role when writing articles online for promotional purposes. You definitely benefit from catchy titles that will attract the attention of readers but there are more subtle requirements you will want your titles to meet. The 3 key components we spoke of above can be considered the foundation upon which every article title should be written. Catchy titles are great for getting someone's attention however your title stills needs to contain these 3 components. Otherwise you risk the chance of leaving the reader feeling like they have been misled and will likely not even bother reading your article!