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.

Rethinking Everything

You're still here, I see. How about this, are you still running a home business? Are you loving it? Does it pay your bills or provide what you need it to provide?

If you are unhappy, rethink your business. Do you need to reimagine your role? Is there a possibly the market was oversaturated and it's difficult to compete? Are you a lazy record-keeper?

There are a few things you can ask yourself to help decide if you should continue to push forward or if you should consider cutting your losses.

Are you in love with the idea of working from home, running your own business, or are you simply passionate with something that happens to be run from home? Chose one, two, or all three; it doesn't matter as long as you are honest with yourself.

Is it YOU that is faltering? Is it the economy where your product or service is falling short?

Whether you lack the passion or lack the skills there are so many things you can do but one of them is probably to stop what you are doing and change it. You see, if your way isn't working, you MUST try another way--even if it hurts a little.

Freelance Writers
I've gotta say this: Do not fall in love with your words unless you are only writing for yourself (have at it!). If your goal is to earn money, yes, you have to write what you know and it's also good to be enjoying it, but you'll sell nothing if you are not satisfying the market. And when I say "market" I mean what your market really is/who they are not what you believe it should/they would be.

All Others
It's a new year and a new you, make it a "like-new" business where you work harder to succeed where success lives.





Still here? I'm just rambling because I am so dang tired and busy trying to figure out if I should change that I tithe 90% of my work because you know what? My needs completely changed but my work and my business didn't. Time to grow up.

Love Technology

The biggest boost to my home businesses, aside of hard work, integrity, and dedication, is technology.

Thanks to the geniuses who took chances and shared them with the world, I not only can have a business operated from home much more easily than my predecessors, but I also have the ability to know my true market for each aspect.

For the blogs, which I write for myself, to stay accountable and on top of things, for example, even those who come here "anonymously," share terrific information. These days, even your website or your blog can tell you so much about who's interested in your product or service.

At a glance, each day I can see who is visiting, where they live, their Internet and computer information, including what browser they're using, how long they've stayed on the website, each page they are looking at, etc.

This information is invaluable, and as you know if you've ever been at a public retail store requesting only your zip code or phone number, not easy to come by normally.

Technology is good; embrace it and use it to the fullest.