Writing Effective Headlines

Quietly Controversial

No. Such. Animal.

Total oxymoron (you know, like “jumbo shrimp” or “loose tights”).

I dare you to write a post with the intention of being quietly controversial!

And good luck.

I tried it once. IT DIDN’T WORK (that’s a story I promise I’ll share with you at a later date). So hold that thought.

Today I want to encourage you to head over to Newbie Lifeline and check out the Headline Blog Challenge Sheila Atwood is hosting. Yes! There are cool prizes being offered.

(By the way, this is not a lengthy, ongoing type of challenge. You will need to submit ONE headline and post — that’s it!)

Headlines are powerful.

Did the headline of this post make you at least a little bit curious? Were you thinking, “What the heck is Melanie going to say about this strange combination of words?”

I hope so. Because that was my goal.

You can craft the most wonderful posts imaginable. But if your headlines don’t grab people by the lapels and pull them in to read on, you’re sunk. Headlines are where the engagement with your audience begins.

Got an idea for a compelling headline? A HOT headline?

Then get over to Sheila’s blog and read about how you can participate in her headline-writing challenge.

I’ll see you there!

Filed Under: Blogging, Creativity, Social Media Marketing, Writing effective headlines Tagged With: blog challenge, Headline, Newbie Lifeline, newbies online, oxymoron

20 (More) Blog Post Titles for You

By Melanie Kissell 14 Comments

If you missed the last twenty titles I gave away, you can find them here: 20 Blog Post Titles for You.

Sometimes coming up with ideas and topics to blog about is a cinch (By the way, you can record your posts on CinchCast – it’s easy!)

And other times you may find yourself stuck in a “blog fog”. Know what I mean?

If you participate in blogging challenges or article-writing challenges, tuck this list away for those moments when your brain is drained and you need a place to start.

20 Blog Post Titles for You:

1.) Take Your Brilliance to the Bank

2.) Stress-Reduction Button I Can Push Anytime I Want

3.) Good at Talking vs Doing

4.) Claim a Life of Fun-Filled Contribution

5.) Accountability Power

6.) From Some-day to Pay-day

7.) Visibility Equals Profitability

8.) Develop a Rhythm to Blogging

9.) Ordinary Content versus Extraordinary Content

10.) How About a Chocolate Donut? A Danish, Maybe?

11.) Tribes and Communities and Camps, Oh My!

12.) Is An Empty Wallet Weighing You Down?

13.) Don’t Confuse and Dilute Your Message

14.) Did You Know People Are Talking About You?

15.) Kiss Your Life Hello!

16.) Time and Money are Two Sides of the Same Coin

17.) Words that Make You Tick

18.) Tiny Steps to making a big impression

19.) Your ideas and my ideas – how we play together

20.) Addicted to Novelty

See any titles that catch your eye?

Anything here you’d like to blog about?

Enjoy!

5 Ways to Improve an Old Blog Post (howtospoter.com)
20 Ways to Repurpose Content (fathomseo.com)

Filed Under: Blogging, Writing effective headlines Tagged With: Blog, Writer's block

Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 11 – Are You Still Going Strong or Running Out of Steam?

By Melanie Kissell 20 Comments

We’ll soon be arriving at the halfway mark of this season’s Ultimate Blog Challenge.

If you’re a participant in this event, I wanted to check in with you to see how you’re doing.

This is not my first blogging challenge and I’m more than aware of the highs and lows of making the commitment to craft 31 posts in 31 days.

How are you holding up?

Are you still as excited as Day 1?

Do you have lots and lots of ideas and topics to blog about?

Are you staying on track or falling behind?

Are you feeling energized or overwhelmed?

If, by any chance, you feel as if you’re “pushing” yourself to get a post written or staying up late at night just to “get it done”, that’s not good.

If blogging every day is starting to feel more like a “chore” than an exhilarating challenge, it may be that you need to re-vamp your strategy or tap into some easy, creative ways to get a post on the page!

If you’re struggling along or feeling somewhat bogged down or in a blog fog, here’s what I’d suggest:

Relax – Begin by listening to this short meditation from blog challenge member, Janet Nestor. It works!
Read Part 1 and Part 2 of Michele Scism’s “10 Minute Blog Post System”.
Head on over to Tristan Higbee’s Blogging Bookshelf and read “How to Turn a Lousy Headline into a Great One”.
Learn the best and easiest ways to find and add images to your posts. Michelle Shaeffer will show you how – plus she can show you how to do about a million other things, as well!
For inspiration, motivation, and an occasional kick in the butt, subscribe to Martha Giffen’s Blog. Martha’s a savvy marketer and seasoned blog challenger.
Go and grab a little gift from me! 20 Blog Post Titles for You

Filed Under: Blogging, Improving writing skills, Writing effective headlines Tagged With: Blogging Bookshelf, Janet Nestor, Martha Giffen, Michele Scism, Michelle Shaeffer, Ultimate Blog Challenge

How I Write A Blog Post (If you’re curious and need a laugh)

By Melanie Kissell 16 Comments

After midnight – the magic begins (and the neighbor’s dog has finally stopped barking)

Don’t know why. Gave up years ago trying to figure it out. I don’t have a creative bone in my body until the clock strikes twelve! Go figure.

(Right now it’s 1:57 AM)

Coffee is my friend.

Title first – always

It’s not like the blogging police are going to knock on my door if I write the post first and the title last! Just can’t help it.

I refuse to write one word until I’m totally pleased with the title. (Being a recovering perfectionist, this could take hours)

I know. They have support groups for this sort of thing.

Outline – never

Note what I mentioned above. Perfectionists should never write outlines for blog posts – could take days to complete.

Yes, I wrote the required outlines for my college thesis and my term papers in high school.

It was painful.

Keywords – probably not

I don’t really pay much attention to keywords. Surprised? Did I just add some shock value to this post?! I’m a writer – not a keyworder. I much prefer to rely heavily on “latent semantic indexing”.

And anyway, it sounds fancier.

Has a nice ring to it, don’t ya think?

Content – whatever my readers want, need, enjoy, and find valuable

Let’s face it. I’m a people pleaser.

Call to action – same one every time

I don’t formally include a call to action in my posts – I just pray for one.

Keeping my fingers crossed, I say a little prayer people will enjoy my posts and come back to read more.

Filed Under: Blogging, Writing effective headlines Tagged With: Blogging, Melanie Kissell, Ultimate Blog Challenge

20 Blog Post Titles For You

By Melanie Kissell 27 Comments

Need a blog post idea or two … or twenty?

Whether you participate in blogging challenges or not, you need to be posting fresh content consistently on your blog. You have that strategy written down in your online marketing plan, right?

If you’re currently stumped for ideas and you’re feeling like your well has run dry, look over these twenty titles and see if something resonates with you.

Maybe these ideas will help get your creative juices flowing again and your blogging engine revved up!

1. My Mother is On Facebook

2. Books I Want to Write

3. Social Media Marketing vs Traditional Marketing

4. My Community and How You Can Engage It

5. Just Jump into Podcasting- Here’s How

6. Technology That Empowers Me

7. Should My Town Use Social Media?

8. Ways to Save a Bad Time at a Conference

9. My Children Will Do it Differently

10. If I Were a Television Producer

11. What I Spend Money On

12. Ten Guilty Pleasures

13. The Internet Application I Haven’t Seen

14. When I Feel Frustrated

15. Friends I Can’t Wait to Meet

16. When to Cut Back on Web Habits

17. WordPress Plugins I Use And Why

18. How I Drive Traffic to My Site

19. Downtime – What I Do Offline to Recharge

20. How I Went From Very Shy to Less Shy

You may be thinking, “Melanie, don’t you want to hang on to these titles for your own blog posts? You need ideas, too, right?”

Yes! I need ideas, too, but I never seem to run out. I find ideas at the turn of every corner in everyday life – online and offline.

Help yourself!

And will you come back and let me know if you use any of these ideas?

Filed Under: Blogging, Internet Marketing Tools, Social Media Marketing, Writing effective headlines Tagged With: Blog post ideas, Blog titles, Blogging, Marketing strategies, Online marketing plan

Blog Food Recipe

By Melanie Kissell 10 Comments

Ever consider that feeding your blog is just as important as feeding your pets?

My two dogs wouldn’t be vibrant, strong, and full of energy if I neglected to feed them. And since they can’t feed themselves, they HAVE to depend on me. It’s my responsibility and a necessary part of my daily routine. Because I love them and I want them to thrive, I can’t forget to feed them.

Blogs need to be fed, too!

And even though you can’t feed your blog “actual” food, you can still provide it with the essential nutrients it needs to stay healthy.

By the way, don’t forget to feed yourself during the day or you won’t have enough energy to feed your blog! My good friend and blogging buddy, Jane Lee, wrote a quick commentary on “Taking Time Out” for nourishment. Jane knows that she can become very lethargic and unable to focus on her work if she forgets to eat.

Does that happen to you sometimes?

And your blog will get really sluggish, too, if you don’t feed it.

Use the following ingredients to cook up the very best Blog Food:

Creative and compelling titles
Fun and interesting graphics
Lots of white space
Unique content that educates, engages, enriches, and entertains
A call to action

Be sure to feed your blog at least twice a week! To find out more about some delicious and nutritious blog food, check out this FREE Five-Part Video Course, “Get the Best out of Your Blog”.

What are you going to feed your blog today?

Filed Under: Blogging, Copywriting, Improving writing skills, Writing effective headlines Tagged With: Blogging, Coach Jane Lee, Food, Nutrients

Are Your Blog Posts End-to-End Thrills?

By Melanie Kissell 12 Comments

Gee, I hope not.

Now don’t get me wrong here. People may be thrilled to read your posts, but they don’t have to be thrilling.

Maybe you’re like me.

I spent years studying literature, journalism, and creative writing – my favorite subjects!

Great. But when I started a business blog, I quickly realized I needed to throw a lot of my cherished language arts skills and rules out the window.

Not so easy to do. Business blogging is nothing like writing a short story for a magazine, a press release, a thesis, or a newspaper article.

However, it’s okay to add a little vim and vigor and let your personality shine through in your blog posts!

You want a blog with loyal readers – where people want to come back for more. You want to attract visitors with attention-grabbing headlines and compelling content.

Here’s a cleverly-written post you’ll enjoy about the essential elements of a business blog:

“How to Bake a Blog: Recipe for Business Blogging Success”

And remember your blog posts don’t need to be end-to-end thrills.

Filed Under: Blogging, Building relationships online, Improving writing skills, Social Media Marketing, Storytelling, Writing effective headlines Tagged With: Blogging, Free marketing tools, Internet business success

7 Tricks For Creating Powerful Ad-Copy

By Melanie Kissell Leave a Comment

Post by Jessica Swanson, The Shoestring Marketer

As a small business owner, at one time or another, you will need to create a compelling ad. It doesn’t matter if your ad is a sales brochure, email announcement or a newspaper ad, ultimately, your ad-copy must grab your prospect’s attention, produce a desired emotional response that urges them to take action.

Here Are 7 Key Points To Keep In Mind, When Writing Ad-Copy:

1. Choose Your Words Carefully

There are over 175,000 words in the English language and, if used wisely, have the power to sway people’s thinking, change their perspective and even motivate them to take action.

Selecting your words thoughtfully and with precision will create an enormous difference in the quality and performance of your ads.

- Words that create a feeling of safety: peace, relaxed, serene, secure, warm

- Words that create a sense of control: confidence, mastery, balance, self-assured, composure

- Words that create excitement: edgy, exhilarating, explosive, juicy, sensational

Who else wants to craft grab-them-by-the-collar headlines?

By Melanie Kissell Leave a Comment

Whether you want someone to visit your blog, view your videos, read your articles, subscribe to your list, attend your teleclasses, or grab your freebie offer …

It all starts by crafting grab-them-by-the-collar titles and headlines that compel people to Take Action!

Instead of writing my own “take” on this topic, I’d like to share two incredible resources and an amazingly helpful tool.

READ THESE COOL POSTS:

3 Rules for Writing Effective Titles by Daniel Scocco

10 Surefire Headline Formulas that Work by Brian Clark

CHECK OUT THIS FANTASTIC FREE TOOL:

Free Headline Analyzer

By the way, I entered several possibilities into the free headline analyzer tool before I decided on a title for this post.

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Magnifying Glass Image from Daniel Rizzuti’s portfolio