Do you fart in public?
First off, try not too. It’s an unpleasant habit that can do you more harm than good (usually) especially if you’re somewhere on business.
Ok, now to the whole point of this post…
Headlines!
The reason we write headlines for our articles is to get noticed. It’s important that your headlines stand out, draw the reader’s eye and get her attention! Some would argue that a headline should not only get noticed but also provide insight as to what the article is about… in general I would agree.
Sometimes however you just want to be seen and don’t care too much about goal conversions. Sometimes it’s just about getting your message out there. If this is the case, just go for attention grabbing headlines and play on the reader’s curiosity.
I’ve decided to write this because I think too many webmasters are getting hung up on SEO in articles and headlines in particular. I feel this is a mistake. Articles are meant to be read by humans (ultimately) and keyword stuffed crap with poor grammar will not impress anyone, let alone compel them to buy something.
Another problem with that school of thinking (keyword rich content)… if it’s not a good read, informative or controversial, what makes you think people will ever want to link to it? Honestly, a well written and linked to piece will always outperform an optimized but substandard page.
Because you have been so kind as to read this far into the post, I’ll reward you with a fantastic (and very helpful) link:
This is the best tool I’ve seen for perfecting headlines. It’s surprisingly accurate and even explains WHY your scores are good/bad. Remember it’s only a tool, not a teacher, but it will no doubt help you out.
By the way, have you subscribed to my RSS feed? You should because while I don’t update every single day (yet) I do make an effort to provide you with real info, not fluff.
So go ahead, subscribe… you can always remove the feed later if you’re not happy.