Most of us know the title to our blog entry is important in getting readers to click on the link to come read it. Some of us don’t want to look like “Click Bait.” How do we find that balance between writing a title people will want to read without misleading them about the content? I started looking around for a freely available analysis tool when I discovered the one I’d used about a year ago was now charging for access — at least in the sense that I needed to submit personal information to be able to use it.
That search led me to Sharethrough. Sharethrough is simple to use. Go to the site, type your proposed title in, and click on the Analyze button. It will churn for a second and provide a number, the higher the number the better. It also explains how it arrived at that number and suggests how you might improve. It lists the strengths of your title and offers a few suggestions (note the positive term as opposed to weaknesses).
I find it interesting that my first thought usually scores around 30-something, but with just a few modifications, I can get my score into 60-something (an average range). I just started playing with this, so maybe I’ll be better with a little more practice.