How to Create Catchy Titles That Stick

by Susan Griggs / Tuesday, 25 January 2022 / Published in Professional Services

The importance of a good, catchy title for a book or blog cannot be understated. A good title will hook people’s interest, hopefully leading to more sales.

However, creating titles can be tricky. It is not always easy to develop an engaging title right out of the gate. Read on to learn more about how to create a memorable and sales-worthy title for your book or business content.

Why Crafting Titles for Content is Essential

It is easy to let the title move to the back burner when you are trying to quickly publish any type of company content. It would be wonderful to write an article, dot your Is, cross your Ts and publish. But before you do, know that the title will be the first thing grabbing customers’ attention into your content, which is the entire purpose.

I believe the title of any content that comes out of a company is critical and needs to encompass everything a company stands for, primarily identified in the company’s brand identity.

Creating titles that match a company’s identity is essential. Whether you are a business writing web content or an author searching for a book title, a title should encompass everything you dream your book, work or company should be.

So why is the title important for content creation? A well-crafted title for any content will:

1. Grab a person’s attention, leading to a greater chance of exposure to the company.

2. Fill a need, answer a question or solve a problem.

3. Reflect a company’s identity. If your title reflects the company’s identity, the better the person reading the content will remember your content and associate it with its values.

When creating content for your website, product descriptions or any media, the title’s content should mirror the same information the company holds dear. The title of anything that comes out of your brand or company’s name and image should be reflected in every written piece, whether naming a particular product model or a title for a web-posted article.

How to Create a Catchy Title

This article will first discuss how to craft titles for business content such as email newsletters and blog posts and then go into titles for books. But titles are also important for authors who write web content to market their books. Anyone looking to craft titles to market a product or business will benefit from following the steps described below.

How to Craft Names and Titles for Business Content

The first step in creating a sticky and compelling title for company content is focusing on the aspects that encompass the brand: who your consumer is and your company’s values. Although creating a title can come quickly to some people, this process usually takes some time.

1. Focus on the company’s purpose and values.

Who is your consumer, and what do you do?

You will want something relevant to the consumer’s needs and wants. For example, LuLulemon makes several models of women’s leggings, but I quickly know just from reading the hang tag that the “Swift Speed” model will work well for me for hard-run workouts.

What is the tone, and how do you operate?

Are you going for humor, emotion, or seriousness? For example, if you are a financial services business, you may want to err on the side of a business tone. You can swing the needle over to the light-hearted and funny side if you own a comedy club.

What are your values?

Environmentally friendly, respect, helpful and profit-oriented are all examples of values. Outlining your values will eventually help you develop an appropriately matching title.

2. Brainstorm

After you’ve written your business content and have a good grasp of your company’s identity and values, the best way to start creating a title is to let your creative juices flow. Making a few first drafts through brainstorming is an excellent way to craft the final title.

Here are some ideas that can jumpstart and guide your creativity.

Look for inspiration from other articles you read.
Use a title generator such as:

https://www.portent.com/tools/title-maker/

https://seopressor.com/blog-title-generator/

https://tweakyourbiz.com/title-generator

Use the five questions who, what, where, when or how at the start of your title.

According to Corey Wainwright’s article, “How to Write Catchy Headlines and Blog Titles Your Readers Can’t Resist,” including the word “who” in your headline will gain a 22% higher click-through rate than other headlines that don’t use the word “who.”

Try mimicking titles that work.

It’s okay to copy a title formula that is proven to get more clicks. If you search around, you will find an eerily similar amount of blog posts that start with the following”:

“How to…”

“Everything You Need to Know About….”

“Mistakes to Avoid…”

“Here’s Why…”

Try alliteration.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines alliteration as “the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables. For example, “Terrible Titles Take the Cake.”

Be bold.

For example, my monthly book review posts are always titled “Best and Worst Books I Read in (the past month). Although I try to steer away from negative book reviews, putting in the word “Worst” makes the title bolder and more intriguing for a reader.

Look for inspiration from blogs that grabbed your attention.
Put a number in it. For example, “Top 5 Reasons You Should Read About Blog Titles.”

3. Check the title

Now that you have a few ideas for a title, make sure the title meets the following criteria:

Does the title solve a problem for your consumer?
Is the title intriguing and interesting for your audience?
Does the title get to the point of the article?
Can the title be easily understood by anyone?
Is it relevant?

“Does it Rain Diamonds on Neptune” is very intriguing, and I would click on it if I saw this title. However, if the article was not about raining diamonds on Neptune, I would be very disappointed and may even take note never to click on that company’s content again.

4. Optimize it for SEO

Don’t shy away from participating in the game to get your article on the radar and ranked on Google and other search engines. First, check to make sure your title meets SEO standards.

To do this, include a keyword from your article in the title. You may even want to consider building the title around this keyword. Next, keep it short: Search engines start cutting off titles over 70 characters, so focus on editing your title down to a shorter length.

5. Tips

Make sure your title is:

Memorable
Appropriate
Uncomplicated
Unique
Matches your content
Intriguing
Actionable
Specific

Author and Book Titles

A book title is your primary means for book sales. Companies spend significant time and money creating their brand or company name, and titles for authors are of equal importance.

I prefer going off of your gut feeling and using your creative juices. But, if you don’t know where to start creating a book title, here are some practical tips to come up with a title for your book (Most of these ideas may not apply to your genre).

1. Brainstorming

Research books in your category and notice trends in the number of words or the specific words commonly used in titles and subtitles. If you see a pattern, this probably indicates that popular SEO terms are in play, and you may want to consider using some of these keywords and phrases in your title or subtitle.
Use a book title generating tool. Here are just a few of the many title generators I found helpful:

https://www.title-generator.com/

https://thestoryshack.com/tools/book-title-generator/

https://writingexercises.co.uk/story-title-generator.php

Overcome your writer’s block and take a snippet of text from inside your book that symbolizes the theme of the entire book. A great example is “Crying in H Mart” by Michelle Zauner. Just a little way through the book, she explains what H Mart is and why she’s crying, and it all ties into the book’s plot and characters.
Make the main character the title of your book, for example, “Harry Potter.”
What is the book’s setting? For example, “The Boston Girl” by Anita Diamant or “Alaska” by James A Michener.
Experiment with creative tips from an expert at:

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-come-up-with-the-best-book-title – 4-tips-for-coming-up-with-the-best-book-title

https://blog.reedsy.com/how-to-title-a-book/

2. Check the Title

Now that you have a few book title ideas, the next step is to make sure the title is original and hasn’t been used before. Extensively research whether the title is registered or published. Also, whether or not another similar title exists note in your searches that may confuse potential readers from not finding your book in an easy search.

Another important step is to make sure your book title will be received well by others. You can ask your friends, family or local bookstore or library to see what they think. People love to give opinions, so don’t feel shy about asking for help in picking the right title.

Other things to consider when crafting a book title include:

Is the title intriguing and interesting for your audience?
Will the title help your target reader find your book?
Does the title get to the point or theme of the book?
Can the title be easily understood by anyone?

3. Tips

After you’ve come up with a fitting title, ensure the book title is:

Short, but try to make them longer than one word, so if a reader searches your book, the search isn’t too broad that does not allow your potential reader to find your book.
Intriguing
Original
Relevant-Make sure your title aptly describes the story. You don’t want such a unique name that readers think they get one story and then read another.
Memorable
Appropriate
Easily understood

Final Thoughts

Coming up with a title can be challenging to some and easy for others. The key is not letting the title process get you down. If you get stuck, ask for help. Even though a title can be the crown jewel to your personal hard work, your article or book will be made public soon, so there is no shame in asking for outside guidance.

If you are looking for guidance or extra help with your business content or book titles, please feel free to reach out to me. I work through all sorts of issues and questions with business clients and authors daily and would love the opportunity to help you.