What Chocolate Milk Can Teach You About Writing Attention
Grabbing Titles
If you asked seventy-five professional copywriters the question, “What is the most important
ingredient of an article?” Overwhelmingly, they would tell you the title. Think of your title as milk.
Now let’s take a brief journey into American grade schools during lunchtime.
The kids are very hungry and extremely restless. As they pass through the cafeteria line, the
main course meal is pizza and fries.
For fruit, they get their choice of fruit cocktail or jello.
And finally, at the end of the line is their choice of milk.
Skim milk… boring
2% milk… double boring
Regular milk… just regular
Chocolate milk… ooh baby, baby, yummy to my tummy.
Why do the majority of the kids choose chocolate milk over the others? If you have kids, you know
the answer to that question. Because it’s S-W-E-E-T! As in Nestle chocolate sweet and Haagen Dazs Mayan
Chocolate sweet.
Your article titles are like the various milk flavors. They are going to be either: regular,
boring, double boring or ooh baby, baby… The good news is, you decide. Want provocative, bold, attention
grabbing titles? Then you’ll need to know how to pass the title test.
Title Failure Equals Little Web Traffic and No
Profits
If your titles fail
the “title test” your article marketing and writing career will last about as long as the Yugoslavian Yugo. Not
passing this test and your articles may be classified as bona fide sleep therapy concoctions.
When readers and potential clients read
your article titles, what do your titles say? Do they scream, “Read me?” Do they inspire readers to, “E-mail this
page to a friend?” Do they say, “I’m going to add this to my favorites or bookmark this article? Or, do they scream
skim milk and nachos at the Super Bowl? Ugh!
The title test is a simple test. It merely gauges the
pulling power or lack their of, of your titles. This critical writer’s scale looks like this:
1). Boring
The only way to describe these titles are dull, uninteresting and unimaginative. Every now and then curiosity seekers may click on the links, but only to
quench their morbid curiosity. Remember the old proverb, “Curiosity killed the cat?” The only reason these surfers
clicked on the link was because their curiosity got the best of them.
2). Double Boring
These titles don’t even get a click from curiosity seekers. Internet
surfers see them, yawn and move on. Reading these titles is like hearing a boring sermon or watching the gloomy
2009 Detroit Lions play the lowly Oakland Raiders in the last game of the season. God help the authors who spew out
these titles.
3). Regular
Newbies, amateurs, mundane writers, and those experiencing the dreaded writer’s block, blurt these bland titles
out. They get clicks and even readers, but nothing to write home about. Their earnings reflect the fact that their
titles are just average and nothing more.
4). Ooh, Baby, Baby…
These titles
are magnetic; they draw Internet surfers like a flower draws bees. They get casual lookers and search engine
seekers to anticipate reading the articles. People literally feel as though they are cheating themselves if they
don’t click and read these titles.
Here are some examples of sizzling hot titles that instantly grab the reader’s attention and creates an atmosphere
of anticipation and expectation:
Save Thousands at Auto Auctions - Without Marrying a Car Dealer!
The Broke Man’s Guide to Starting a Profitable Home Business
How To Snag a Beautiful Girl Without Getting Burned
Bounce Back From Bankruptcy in 96 Hours
How To Swim With Sharks - Without Being Eaten Alive
What Loan Brokers Will Never Tell You – Unless You Own a RE License!
These Scripts Will Have You Dancing In The Rain
To your success,
Joe
Elliot
©
Copyright 1998 - 2009 by Joe Elliot. All Rights Reserved
About The
Author
Joe
Elliot is Managing Editor of www.articleexperts.info. He currently manages 30 high-ranking
websites and has written over 300 articles related to monetizing your Internet and home based
businesses.
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