In many cases, your headline is the first impression your text has on your audience. In other cases, it is the only impression. This doesn’t just apply to the overall topic of a blog post, an article, or a web page, it applies to all other subtopics and sub-themes laced through your copy. It is important to learn how to choose blog topics that work.
Your headline should grab the attention of the reader, give them a summary of the information they are about to digest, and most importantly, make them look forward to what they are about to read. The topic or headline you have chosen should be able to communicate a value the reader would get after reading or the opportunity they would miss should they skip that article.
Your headline on its own is an advertising strategy for the rest of the text, if you fail to convince the advertiser on why they should read it, then you may have limited the number of readers your text should be converting.
Understanding your reader and the essence of your article to them will help you determine what type of topic to choose, thus making you appear more human and relatable to your audience. There are different easy hacks to write a better copy for both the headline and body of an article, however, this article aims at showcasing the different types of blog topics and when to use them. The ultimate goal is to teach you how to choose blog topics and headlines that work.
How to Choose Blog Topics That Your Audience Relates With.
Unusual Topics
Unusual topics are just topics that appear different from what a reader would expect. These topics are intentionally used to create a form of confusion which breeds curiosity. The reader wants to read the article to check out this “abnormal”article.
Apart from being intriguing to the audience, unusual topics are employed by great writers because they are not so easy to forget, days after reading the article. This may have spun out of the psychological tendencies of humans to pay attention to negatives and warning signals, compared to actual information.
Blog post by William Craig
In the topic above, the writer wrote this blog post to designers, telling them why they shouldn’t be designers. If you read the entire article, you may find out that the topic is simply a bait to attract young designers who are just starting, to tell them what they need and must do to become a good designer. Any young designer who is just starting would most likely be interested in reading this article as the topic would definitely attract them.
WHEN TO USE UNUSUAL BLOG TOPICS:
You can use these topics for almost every type of content, especially when your audience are young people with little attention span. Preferably, stick to being unusual throughout your content. Use title tags that will still enhance attention and not make users bounce back upon skimming through the content.
Testimonial Topics
A testimonial is a statement that speaks of someone’s achievements or experience. Topics in this category portray something the writer has experienced in the past and how they overcame it.
For testimonial topics, writers portray directly a particular value they know the audience will be interested in. Usually, blog posts that employ these kinds of topics are unbelievable feats, widely needed features, and sometimes, exaggerated expressions. The goal is to make the reader curious enough to read through the article. Sometimes, it’s to focus on the reader’s pain point and show a willingness to help them solve that issue.
Every freelance writer has a goal to make more income from freelancing, this title shows a testimonial of someone who did it and how she did it. It’s majorly a testimony, however, it would capture the attention of any young freelancer willing to make more income.
If you’re a Digital marketer, I bet you’re already curious enough to read this blog post to learn more marketing tips that may be relevant to generating leads for your business.
WHEN TO USE TESTIMONIAL BLOG TOPICS:
The best time to use the Testimonial option is when you are trying to give a success story that you had a direct influence on. This could be related to your business, your life, an achievement you made in the past, or something worthwhile that poses a challenge to your audience. Also, you can write a testimonial blog post for another business entirely and still achieve the same effect, a good example is how I relayed Lemonade’s story in this article.
Question Topics
The essence of topics that are in the question format is not to get an answer but to ask questions that relate to what the prospective reader needs answers to.
The success of a question topic depends on how well you have researched your audience to know the questions on their mind and what they need answers to at that particular time.
When Jim Woods was asking this question in his blog post, he definitely had me in mind. I want more readers, please.
WHEN TO USE QUESTIONS BLOG TOPICS:
Whenever you are writing an article that’s meant to resonate with your audience, share in what they are going through, to get solutions, then Questions might be the definite way to go. Never forget that the aim is not to get them to answer “yes” to your question (it’s great if that happens though), the goal is to ensure they can relate well with your question so much that they are willing to read through the entire article.
How-To Topics
This is one of the most asked questions on Search Engines, almost everyone has written on Google at one point or the other, “How to …” For SEO-related reasons, how-to blog topics work excellently well. However, it works just as well for humans too.
This is because, it is almost the same, if not the same question in the reader’s mind before they came across your article. They need to know how to do something better, how to start something, how to work on something, etc. So, a topic that portrays what’s on their mind is the right tick to make them perform the action you want.
Also, every person wants readily available solutions. The phrase “how to” gives a sense of a solution that is available and accessible. It’s more magical when an extra phrase is added behind it, as in the examples below.
GoFundMe Help Centre
WHEN TO USE HOW-TO BLOG TOPICS:
How-to topics go well with articles that are meant to provide quick-fixes and lasting solutions to readers problems. If there is a guide you are trying to provide, then how-to is your best way to go. Don’t forget to add the magic phrases like “in 5 easy steps”, “with pictures you can check”, “with explainer videos”, “with templates you can download”, etc.
Are there other topic types you know that writers use and convert easily? Or are there types of content topics that you find fascinating?
