What Makes a Good Article Title (Quorafied)

Before I say that simplicity is best, the truth is, it depends on the article, the target audience, and where you will be publishing the article.

Back in the day, when I once judged writing for various contests, the title was how you captured my attention. You could drag me down with the wrong title or you can draw me in.

Are you informing, persuading, entertaining, or educating with your article?

Using true crime as an example-your title would be marketed to a specific audience who already (more-than-likely) knows the ending. In this case, there is no surprise, so your title must catch a reader’s eye who is already looking for something similar to what you wrote and the only differentiation would be some great hook like:

Who Killed Grandma? (who on earth kills Granny?)

Machete Mother Strikes Again (a woman who is made to give life taketh away)

My Brother, the Serial Killer (insider information)

However, if I am writing a technical/how-to article, the title let’s the prospective reader know what the article is about because the only other way they’ll know is by reading the article… a must-have lure.

How to Dismantle a Time-Bomb

Healing a Sick iPhone in Less than 10 Minutes

Six Reasons to Grill Your Burger in the Kitchen

If the article is purely for entertainment, this is completely subjective as half the readers will like what you name it and the other half will skip it completely. You’ll have to go with gut instinct, but maybe including a hint of what’s to come along with what type of writing it is (if the publication doesn’t make it obvious) is best.

A Night Darkly Fallen from one Comedian to Another

What She Didn’t Tell Me

Clouds in my Coffee and Other Dreams

All in all, your audience comes first, but you have to get it in front of them before they can even reject it off the title alone. 

A title grabs your attention, sets the tone, explains what's to come, and possibly even answers the phone when you can't get to it. Okay, so it's not everything, but it's most things.

Beginning Article Writing (Quorafied)

Practice:
Choose a book in the public domain—one that interests you and is well written. Find something in the book, just one part of it, and rewrite the story but as an article. Discover your purpose before and while writing--are you informing, entertaining, persuading, or serving some other purpose to the reader? When you are finished, read out loud. Change anything that doesn’t sound right. Read out loud again.

Next, give it to someone you trust and who will follow through. Have them read it and answer questions such as did every word move the article forward, was there repetition, did you write down to the audience, and what did they get from the article—what service did they feel you were serving?

You can do this until you feel comfortable, but the best way is to write articles for real and you’ll know you’re doing a good job when you get that first check.


Other Things to Do:
Read articles

Make a list of subjects you love and write about them

Make another list of subjects that can be entwined with other subjects and write about them

Write articles regardless of having a market or audience

Find online websites, magazines, and publishers that need freelance writers and ask for writers guidelines—this shows you what they are looking for


Get Used to Seeing Your Name in Print:
Write to the editor of your local paper regarding something current that you are also passionate about

Review products—books, movies, etc. and post wherever you can

Write a blog—whether personal or professional

Share your success stories with highly niche newsletters, for instance, your company newsletter, a product or service newsletter


Lastly
Article writing is fun and can be lucrative as long as push yourself—the writers who succeed do not wait for the check before writing—heck they don’t even wait for a green light from an editor or publisher—they write, send it in, write some more, send more in, write some more… and so on

Keep good records, not just on your submissions and paid work, but on your work itself

Do not be afraid to ask questions

Figure out if you are an independent contractor/freelancer and what the laws are about taxes