Blog Post Titles Explained!

Throughout my brief blogging career, I have learned one thing. The title of the post means everything. You have to have that "hook" to get people to click on your link to see what you are talking about. This has never been more evident then when I titled a post "That's What she said", which was viewed over 500 times on my blog, which is about 470 more times than any other post I have scribbled. So I picked up pretty quick that the title of the post is very important.

Yet still, I sometimes have trouble coming up with something catchy, something that will make the reader (you) say, I have to know what that is about, and therefore, click my link. Sometimes you pick a good one, sometimes you pick a sleeper. It's a crap shoot quite honestly. I have tried to be creative and only had a one word title, or maybe just a number, you know, just something to peak the curiosity  Maybe it has something to do with the post, maybe not, you'll have to click and see!

I do read more blogs than I should and I admit that sometimes I skip a post if the title doesn't grab me. 99.9% of the blogs I read are all part of the triathlon/running community and over the years, I think I can tell what a post is going to be about based on the title alone. So I though we'd take a satirical journey through blog post titles and I will tell you what they are going to be about.

• IT JUST GOT REAL, WHAT DID I JUST DO  or I DID SOMETHING BAD- Right away I know they just signed up for their first Ironman distance triathlon. All three of those titles apply to the post understandably, so it is just a matter of clicking to see which one they registered for and then to sit there and be jealous that they got in.
• WHAT I ATE WEDNESDAY, aka  WIAW- To me, this means 1 of two things. It means that  'I ate so bad over the weekend that I have to post about my eating habits getting back on track, orrrrrr it means you tried the newest recipe out of the tri magazine you just got.
• THANKFUL THURSDAY- Things are going good for you, you had a great month training and want to show off the numbers
• WORDLESS WEDNESDAY- You have a cute picture to post. I get it, I have kids of my own and they are cute! You want to show them off! It's cool man!
• ANYTHING WITH THE WORD "RAMBLINGS"- Guilty!!!!  This means you have some stuff to say, but you do not know how to fit it in a single post, plus it means you haven;t blogged for awhile and are afraid that people will actually miss your words of wisdom. Basically, these posts are so random and off the wall that they are sometimes brilliant without you even realizing it.
• RACE REPORTS- self explanatory, always a good read.
• ANYTHING THAT ELUDES TO "LESSONS LEARNED"- Usually accompanied by theses letters. DNF, DNS, DFL. We have all had them, and sometimes it feels good to know that it happens to other people as well.
• GIVEAWAY...- An Attempt to gain followers or readers!  Again, Guilty as charged! Any giveaway may gain you 20 followers until the giveaway is over, then you notice 15 of them bailed on you.
• FRIDAY FUNNIES- these posts are only written on Friday and have something the author thinks is funny, usually found on the blogs with a ton of followers.
• ANY POST WITH THE WORD "UPDATE"- This means the write has suffered some sort of injury and is trying to rehab faster, dying to get back out there. I feel for these posts.
• POSTS WITH DAY X or WEEK X- This is usually a training plan type of post. I think most of these posts are for accountability purposes, but I can usually steal a workout form them.
• ANY DISCOURAGING CRANKY TITLE- This is obvious, the writer is in a taper phase of their training and hating it.
• REVIEW- This means they are lucky enough to be given free stuff to review and write about. The ones where we sit around and say, I want to do that!

So there are a few guidelines for what you will be getting into based on the blog titles I have seen. Did I miss any? If so, let me know!

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving Every one!