Do you want to know the most underlying reason people are not reading your awesome blog posts?

Do you want to know why after bleeding over your keyboard for hours if not days you put out your article and get little to no response back?

Zero.

Zilch.

Nada.

Zip…

Well I'll tell you. The biggest reason you aren't getting people to read your hard fought work is because you aren't laying down the proper roadmap of where they are going to go. You aren't telling them exactly what pain is going to be remedied in the article.

When Ryan Holiday was pitching his breakthrough novel, Obstacle Is The Way, to publishers, his editor implored him to pitch the book with the title, The Way. Holiday, the genius that he is, knew this was hogwash. He knew that the latter of the two titles didn't provide any type of map for what the reader might be dealing with. The first title, however, connected with people. As humans, we are all going to be confronted with obstacles. Using that pain and having people use that as a tool for overcoming our obstacles is a huge reason Holiday is the success he is today.

You've probably seen it before…

You scroll through your newsfeed on Medium and can't make sense of so many of the headlines you see. Perhaps you have it worse (like I've experienced time and time again) and you yourself write an article headline that makes you feel at bit dizzy and vague.

As a writer and an artist like you, I get it. You want to be creative, intellectual and obscure at times. You strive for originality.

This is the bad news though, treating headlines as an afterthought is your Achilles Heel as a writer and blogger.

To help illustrate how much headlines matter, let's play around with one potential headline idea and break it apart. The idea of the article is to teach readers how to get more engagement or comments with their blog:

1. More Reader Engagement
2. How to Get More Comments
3. Eight Ways to Encourage Readers to Comment More Often on Your Posts

Which would you prefer to read?

I assume you chose the third option.

The good news is it’s not hard to get better at writing titles. There are a few straightforward techniques you can use instantly (or with just a little bit of work) to dramatically improve your titles.

Here are 6 of the best that I've used and researched:

1. Be Specific

An article titled, "More Reader Engagement" could mean almost anything. Is it about social media? Engagement at a book signing? Responses to your newsletters? It could literally apply to too vast an amount of topics.

However, an article titled, "Eight Ways to Encourage Readers to Comment More Often on Your Posts" that you come across on your Facebook newsfeed or perhaps receive via email through a business/writer you subscribe to, you'll know exactly what it means.

A lot of writers have this idea that the more vague they make a headline, the more intrigue they'll conjure up with potential readers. This mystery and intrigue will build until the flood gates open with a viral response in clickthrough and readership.

The converse is actually true.

Unless this person is a loved one or personal friend who knows how your mind thinks or perhaps reads it out of pity — no one is going to click your article.

2. Use dramatic adjectives, adverbs and descriptions

A lot of what you're doing here is sales copywriting — whether you like the sound of that or not.

You are going to use the vocabulary that's available to you in all of its wonder. Your goal is to create awe in the reader and grab their attention.

Words that help compel the reader are paramount here. Below are a list of carefully researched words that help further this direction:

Words that promise that the reader can accomplish something easy:

• Easily
• Simple
• Fast
• Quick
• Painless

Words that promise something readers (probably) won’t already know about:

• Secret
• Little-known
• X won’t tell you/afraid to tell you(e.g. “5 secrets top bloggers won’t tell/are afraid to tell you”)

Words that position the reader alongside experts and people they look up to:

• Like a pro
• Expert
• Professional (e.g. “the tools professional editors use”)

Words that promise a comprehensive resource:

• Epic
• Ultimate
• Only (e.g. “the only guide to WordPress you’ll ever need”)

Words that warn readers of danger to avoid:

• Mistakes
• Red Flags
• Warning

Make sure the words you're using are grounded in reality. We [unfortunately] are living in a "click-bait" era. What is really going to separate you as a trusted writer is if the compelling words you provide in your headline can marry the actual content being provided. If your headline of "The 6 Most Compelling Writing Hacks Top Performing Bloggers Are Afraid To Tell You About" only offers up common strategies everyone and their grandmother is familiar with, you're not being truthful in your delivery.

With brings me to my next strategy…

3. Refrain from "Click-bait"

Your headline is a promise.

Like stated earlier, it is a glimpse into the roadmap that will help them solve the pains their experiencing. Too often in today's blogosphere are we seeing people over-promise with lofty, click-baity titles.

Maybe I'm a pariah, but take a look at the below example:

Many of you will know this Medium writer and perhaps will scorn me for signaling the alarms.

I'm taking a stand that this writer's article headlines are dishonest and click-bait. Too often does he conjure up hysterical, over zealous promises that aren't delivered in the actual content of the piece.

I don't want to worry you about your headline generation. I will invite you to take inventory in how you feel when crafting the headline. It can be lofty and powerful but make sure you deliver what you say you are going to deliver.

4. Use numbers when applicable

If you look at any successful magazine, you will see that numbers are an advantageous tool used by the publishing Titans.

Numbers are a great way of illustrating specificity. A numbered list of 10 ways to accomplish [blank] is drastically different than 100 ways to accomplish [blank].

Generally, in the "How To" arena of headline generation, you will see numbered lists that again will help the reader know what type of path she is going to be guided down (i.e. How to get readers to pay you for your blogging content in 10 simple steps).

Here are a few example of how different types of titles could be adapted to include numbers:

How to Set Up Your Medium Account
How to Set Up Your Medium Account in 5 Simple Steps

My Top Lessons Learned from My First Year of Blogging
My Top 10 Lessons Learned from My First Year of Blogging

How I Dramatically Increased the Size of My Email List
How I Increased the Size of My Email List by a Dramatic 500%

5. Don't make the headline longer than necessary

There are no principles governing how long a headline needs to be in order to be effective.

"6 Bulletproof Strategies Top Performing Bloggers Use to Generate $1,000,000 Annual Revenue" is roughly 70 characters long and 12 words long. This is something that compels a reader to click in (the pain they're experiencing is not monetizing their blog — here's a list of real world strategies to accomplish such) and it could be read briskly and succinctly.

On the flip side, generally illustrating the same idea, "The Thorough Research I Conducted That Outlines 6 Simple Strategies Ultra-Successful Bloggers Use To Generate Over $1,000,000 In Annual Revenue Revealed" is unbelievably choppy, without flow and sort of confusing — even though it strives for the same message.

Again, there's no rules that stipulate what is the best amount or correct formula to use. It comes down to common sense and reading it out loud to yourself.

If you're having trouble with brainstorming and generating the "right" length and formula, you're going to love my last technique…

6. Steal [headline ideas] like an artist

Paying homage to the great present day blogger and Bestselling author, Austin Kleon, steal like an artist.

"Wait a minute!" you might be thinking to yourself, "Isn't this kind of debauchery illegal and immoral?"

Um… No and no.

Nothing in the creative realm is created in a vacuum. Everything that is brought into the world has to be drawn off inspiration from something else — sorry.. you're not that original.

Of course I'm not encouraging plagiarism here. I am simply advocating for seeing what is in the blogosphere that is actually working and use that content to your advantage.

Let's be honest for a second, the Titan blogger that you're stealing from doesn't know you exist anyway… most of the headlines in your specific writing niche have probably been written and content written about. You're just adding your unique spin and voice to the cause.

Congratulations — you've made it to the end. You now have a better arsenal of tools to work from.

Writing is war, we all know that. There are days where you come out the winner. More often you come out the loser.

The beautiful thing about all of it, is in the end, win or lose — the world needs your voice (probably now more than ever).

With the ease of exchange in information, you are able to share this gift of yours to the masses.

The rub in all of this is are you doing your best so that the people that are actually looking for your life-altering content is actually received?

A headline is the first and most important step in doing this.

So go forth and write your masterpiece!

Just make sure you guide your reader to it…