Kicking & Punching Is Not Allowed, But Yes To Tickling

[Zendotstudio]

Didn't one of the phone companies use a slogan like "Reach Out and Touch Someone"?  So I'm gonna suggest that you reach out and tickle your customers.  No feathers required.  We're talking titles here.

That's right tickle them with your titles.  And what does a tickle do?  Well it gets attention and taps in to that happy place.  Every product needs a subject line or title and you want yours to catch a customer.  Your pictures, of course are key, but a title encourages that busy person to just pop in and take a look.  It makes them a little more curious.  "Oh I have to see this."

I will "show" you this in an example rather than tell you.  Or at least I'll try.  My first post to this thread was titled "We should kiss"  It got 76 hits in a couple of days.  Two days later I posted again with a slightly boring title "Where To Start".  It got only 37 hits in 2 days.  Only half the viewers.  The only thing viewers had to go by in this case was the title.

Of course you don't want to be rude or misleading with your title, you just want to be a little provacative, stir the old curiosity pot for potential viewers and buyers.  You want that title to add to your fabulous picture and create a little package that says "look at me".

So go out and tickle someone.  You might just make a sale.  Or a new friend!

[PillowThrowDecor]

Wow what a way to make your point!

I struggle with tittles.  Make them dramatic to the eye or make them using good replacement rich words in google.  There doesn't seem to be happy medium or is there?

[Zendotstudio]

Ah yes our friend google.  This is a good point and important to pay attention to.  I have to say I am not aware of all the implications of this.  There is a very good piece SEO on a site called Redheadwriting http://redheadwriting.com/2008/07/08/seo-copywriting-resources-anyone-can-use/ where she talks about all things googley.

So yes you want to tickle google too but again it just means choosing your words carefully.  I think sometimes we just throw up those titles  a bit carelessly (or do I speak only for myself?).

[GalleriaLinda]

Good point from both of you.

Now that iCraft allows only 64 characters for a title, we have to proceed with deep thought. That was done because only about 64 characters show up in the replacement results list links.

I used to do such creative titles until I learned that the titles are a hot piece of real estate google-wise. Now, I try to be practical and concise because these are the key words that Google will grab.

And, save my creative writing for the descriptions, still utilizing key words.

I think we can tickle the customer's curiosity within the descriptions and I love what you said in concept!

[Zendotstudio]

I agree GL, one of our missions with internet listings is to get google to pay attention to us and  google, well to put it bluntly is kind of um, dumb!  There I said it!  What else can I say about an entity that doesn't respond to images.  After all we thought a picture was worth a thousand words.  Not to google. I would not want to have a coffee with Google.

So while we need to pay attention to that blind little monster, Google,  we can try to be creative too. Maybe experiment a little and see what happens.  You can always change a title (as I did with this one) if you find you're not getting any hits.  And of course in your blog there are lots of opportunities to tickle, as enticement can be as important as information.  Watch the big boys out there in the advertising world.  They entice first, then supply info.  and sometimes there's not much of that, so it get's to be an interesting question.  With enticement imbedded in your  titles you create curiosity and you may sell something to someone they never knew they wanted!  Now there's a job well done.