Tools to Help You Optimize Blog Headlines and Content

This is a guest contribution from Robert Morris.

The reality is harsh for bloggers and content writers: potential readers won’t waste a minute trying to figure out whether or not you have something worthy to say. If you don’t grab their attention with a great headline and captivating content, you often don’t stand a chance.

Even if you write awesome pieces that your readers love, you won’t attract a greater audience if you don’t lure the search engine to list you among the top results. Is there a way to make everyone happy?

Relax, there are tons of tools you can use for the purpose of optimizing your headlines and online content.

Tools and Resources for Optimizing Headlines

Qualaroo

There are plenty of tools that provide automated suggestions for headlines once you provide a keyword. They rarely work… most of the offered alternatives are ridiculous, and the ones that seem great have already been used by other writers. Qualaroo is not that type of tool.

This service provides actual users’ feedback. It will tell you which headlines the audience is most attracted to, but it will also inform you why the users chose to read a certain post instead of another. Thanks to this analysis, you’ll understand your readers’ behavior and you’ll be able to choose the most appealing headlines.

CrazyEgg

This tool enables you to see what the visitors are doing at your website. If you feature a list of headlines at your site, the heatmap will show you the ones your audience is most attracted to. When you see where people are clicking, you’ll be able to set your focus on a particular type of articles. If, on the other hand, you notice that some of the posts are not attractive at all, you can alter the headlines to make them more appealing.

Onalytica

Thanks to this tool, you can discover what the influencers in your niche are writing about. The main purpose of Onalytica is to connect you with these influencers and help you establish valuable connections in the online community. In simpler words, you should get them to share your content. However, there is another way to benefit from the tool: analyze the headlines of your competitors and you’ll realize why they are successful. That will help you understand and fix your flaws.

10 Questions to Help You Write Better Headlines

This is a checklist that enables you to evaluate the headline alternatives you are considering. A good headline needs to be accurate, promising, concise, and much more! The author of this article explains 10 points that test the quality of your headline. When you answer all these questions, you’ll know whether you can continue writing that post or you need to spend more time in discovering the right starter.

How to Write Magnetic Headlines

Before you can test headlines, you need to know how to write them. Most bloggers and content writers like to skip this part, so they use automated headline suggestion tools that don’t result with the desired outcome. Spend few hours of your time on this eBook and you’ll understand what exactly a great headline is supposed to look like. The edition covers important chapters that teach you about ‘how to’ posts, lists, keywords, headline formulas, and much more.

Tools and Resources for Optimizing Content

SEER’s SEO Toolbox

Since you already are a blogger/content writer, you don’t actually need tools that teach you how to write. You sort that part out by interacting with your readers and offering what you know. However, you do need to find a way to make Google happy. The solution is simple: search engine optimization. SEER’s SEO Toolbox is a set of interactive tools that enable you to pull data from many sources and build effective links that will position your posts among the top search results.

SEMrush

Thanks to this service, you’ll get insight into the strategies of your competitors in terms of advertising and link building. The set of tools enables you to compare domains and estimate the efficiency of different keywords. When you see which keywords your competitors use, you can do your best to infuse them into better content.

Rank Checker

If you want to start writing better content, you need to evaluate the performance of the pieces you’ve already published. This is a free Mozilla add-on that enables you to check your rankings in the easiest manner. You won’t have to share your data with third parties. It takes some effort to learn how to interpret the results, but you’ll understand how the Rank Checker functions without much struggle. Everything is explained at the homepage of this tool, so don’t forget to read the instructions before installing it.

Xenu’s Link Sleuth

Links are an important part of content optimization. Your readers need them because they want to get more information without wasting their time on research; and you need them for boosting the functionality of your site and ranking better on search engines. If a link doesn’t work, you get a frustrated reader. Thanks to this tool, you’ll easily locate the broken links at your website. You’ll get a continuously updated report of URLs that you can customize according to different criteria. Xenu’s Link Sleuth also detects and reports redirected URLs, so you’ll be aware if your website is a target of phishing attack.

There is an entire science behind online content creation. If you want your articles to get more visibility and better feedback, you need to implement some of the above-listed tools into your research and writing practices.

Robert Morris is a freelance editor and essay writer at custom writing service NinjaEssays. Follow Robert on Google+ or NinjaEssays on Twitter and Facebook!