How To Come Up With Interesting Titles?

How come your articles should have interesting titles? Many people say that it’s important for articles to have interesting titles in order to draw readers to check them out and read them.

The title is usually the first thing that people will see or notice when they come across an article especially if said title is of a different or bigger font than the body of the article.

Creating titles is easier said than done

The problem with saying something like that is that it’s easier said than done. How can you come up with interesting titles that will grab or catch the attention of potential readers?


Some articles about this topic might give some examples, but it might not be all that helpful because the title of a post really depends on what the article is about.

Say no to misleading titles

The contents of your article will dictate its title because you can’t have misleading titles. Your titles should convey what your article is about without revealing the entire contents of your text (if people already know what your post is about based on its title, then why would they have any more reason to read the entirety of said article?).

You need to be a bit descriptive when it comes to your titles and yet, at the same time, you can’t be too descriptive. There has to be a balance. Do you think there’s some sort of secret formula or way in which people can come up with awesome titles? If there is, I definitely want to know.

I find that I have a bit of a hard time in coming up with article titles. Sometimes, it really seems that writing the body of the article itself is so much easier than trying to come up with an appropriate and yet interesting title. Sometimes, the titles might seem to be a little too long or maybe even a bit vague.

What about you? Are you having a hard time coming up with titles for your articles and blog posts, or do you find this to be an easy task?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize someone trying to come up with interesting titles since the figure in said image looks thoughtful
- YouTube video talks about some things that can help you make your titles less boring and more interesting and catchy
- This was previously published elsewhere

Why You Need To Use Paragraphs When Writing Articles?

This post is also known as "Why huge blocks of text are annoying?" and "Why is it important to use paragraphs when writing articles?".

Articles with huge blocks of text

What do you think or feel when you come across articles that have very long paragraphs or, worse, that have the contents of the article written in one huge wall of text? Who wants to read huge blocks of text? Don’t you get turned off or feel miffed, frustrated, and annoyed when you see articles like that?

Reason to add paragraphs to your articles

They hurt the eyes, don’t they? And they can make you feel confused as you try to figure out which part of the huge block of text you’ve already finished reading.


If I see articles like that, I just leave and go look for other articles that are easier to read. I wouldn’t want to read articles with huge blocks of text unless said article is really, really very interesting. Even then, I'd hesitate to read such articles, and might only do so if there's no other article or post about whatever I might be looking for.

How to make your articles easier to read?

What’s wrong with putting spaces and paragraphs in your articles? What’s wrong with making them easier to read?

Since I don’t like articles with huge blocks of text, I make sure my own articles are separated into small paragraphs and that there are plenty of spaces to make them easier on the eyes.

This should definitely include the need to add spaces between paragraphs, so your article won’t end up looking like one huge wall of text

The spaces might make the article seem longer, but they are easier to read, which is what’s most important. If people like what they’re reading and find that their eyes aren’t getting strained and that the contents of the article are interesting, then they likely won’t even notice the length.

What about you? Do you also write articles and make sure to separate the text content into small paragraphs?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by CoDLia (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize someone writing articles
- Second image is from Amazon.com; link shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads card format widget
- YouTube video shows you how to add spaces between paragraphs using a word processor like Microsoft Word
- This was previously published elsewhere

Do You Like Being Forced To Subscribe To A Newsletter?

Also known as "Do you like those newsletter popups, which may not necessarily be an ad, but which could technically still be considered an advertisement anyway?"

So, what exactly am I talking about? You know when you find what seems to be an interesting article online (at least interesting enough to get you to click it and check it out) and then you go to the site where it's located to read it?

When you get to said article, there are some sites which will suddenly display either popup ads or a popup newsletter subscription form. These things will just suddenly show up, and you won't be able to read the article because it will be kind of grayed-out, so you have to close those popups (or sign up for them or something, but who'd do that?) first before anything else.

What do you think about that? Do you like those popup ads or those popup newsletter subscription forms? For me, I don't like them at all (totally an understatement, by the way). Seriously, doesn't anyone find these annoying?

And also, don't you think they're really kind of intrusive? I mean, you arrived at that site to read an article and not to sign up for some random newsletter or click on some ad or something. Isn't this kind of tactic really irritating?

Or does it actually make people want to sign up and subscribe? If they'd placed these on the sidebar or footer of their site, it would be less intrusive, and I wouldn't mind them at all. So, what about you? What do you think?

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

MsBiz wrote on January 28, 2015, 11:32 AM:
I typically don't like any email newsletters in general. If I want the information, I'll go to the website and look it up myself. Being forced or even pressured to subscribe really annoys me.

FreyaYuki replied to MsBiz on January 29, 2015, 4:17 PM:
Same here. I prefer to just go to the site if I want the info. I especially hate it when a popup ad or email subscription form suddenly shows up like you're being forced to sign up before you can read the article.

arthurchappell wrote on January 28, 2015, 11:32 AM:
The newsletter often turns into email alerts on every slight change on their website - best ignoring most of them.

FreyaYuki replied to arthurchappell on January 29, 2015, 4:25 PM:
Yeah, this is why I don't really sign up for online newsletters.

maxeen wrote on January 28, 2015, 11:38 AM:
I loathe them and it turns me off the original article I was reading.

FreyaYuki replied to maxeen on January 29, 2015, 4:30 PM:
Yeah. Same here. I find those popup ads or subscription forms really annoying. I wonder why sites do that. Are there really some people who don't mind suddenly getting popups when they're trying to read an article?

Bensen32 wrote on January 28, 2015, 12:26 PM:
I know exactly what you're talking about and hate them with a passion, I usually just close the whole page and figure I don't need to read the article after all. It is annoying though, I wonder how many people are like me and just close the whole page.

FreyaYuki replied to Bensen32 on January 29, 2015, 4:34 PM:
Yeah, I have to wonder the same thing. If there are lots of people like us who hate these popup ads and subscription forms, then how come some sites are still using these methods? Are there actually some people who don't mind getting ads and forms suddenly popup while they're trying to read something?

j2jworkz wrote on January 29, 2015, 3:22 PM:
I find them annoying as well! I prefer a sidebar option.

FreyaYuki replied to j2jworkz on January 29, 2015, 4:36 PM:
Yeah, I think the sidebar is a much better place for ads and subscription forms so at least they're not getting in the way of the content. After all, the people arrived at the site to read the article, not to see some ad or be forced to sign up for some newsletter.

Porcospino wrote on February 1, 2015, 1:01 PM:
The popups that you can close are annoying, but the popups that you can't close if you don't subscribe to their newsletter are worse. I usually get so annoyed that I just leave the site without reading the article.

FreyaYuki replied to Porcospino on February 1, 2015, 3:52 PM:
Yeah, I hate the popups, but at least you can close them. The ones that can't be closed are the worst. If I get annoyed enough, I don't even bother anymore and just quickly leave that site. I wonder if they even get any subscribers if they are being so forceful by shoving their sign up forms right in readers' faces? Wouldn't that just annoy lots of people?

AliCanary wrote on February 4, 2015, 3:37 PM:
Not fond of pop-up ads, and REALLY not fond of being forced to do stuff, so no, and no.

FreyaYuki replied to AliCanary on February 7, 2015, 9:46 AM:
Me too. I hate those popup ads and the popup subscribe to the site's newsletter ones. I have to wonder if there's someone who likes them though. Is that why these sites still bother to make use of these annoying popups?

AliCanary replied to FreyaYuki on February 7, 2015, 2:29 PM:
I guess it's like telemarketers--everybody hates them, but there have to be SOME people buying, or they wouldn't call! 😟

bestwriter wrote on February 5, 2015, 12:59 AM:
Honestly I have enough on my plate both offline and online that I hardly do justice to what is already there. So. No thanks 😃

FreyaYuki replied to bestwriter on February 7, 2015, 9:47 AM:
😃 I'm also really busy with a lot of stuff lately.

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Persona Paper on January 28, 2015, 11:25 AM
- Image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt

Results Of The Editing Old Articles Poll

I added an Opinion Stage poll on this post about editing old articles. For reasons which I'll talk about in another post on another one of my blogs, I've decided to delete this poll and replace it with one from SurveyHero instead.

According to my dashboard on Opinion Stage, the aforementioned poll had been created on 31 October 2014. I posted the article in question here on Tuesday, September 13, 2016 at 1:22 AM, but it had originally been posted elsewhere (either Daily Two Cents or Writedge, if I remember correctly).

The statistics page on Opinion Stage for this poll looks like this:

This is the new poll from SurveyHero:

So, what about you? What do you think about editing old articles?

Update on July 7, 2023 Friday: had to delete all my SurveyHero polls.

*Notes:
- Pics are screenshots from my Opinion Stage account

Is Your Story Or Novel Going In The Right Direction?

Are you writing a story or working on a novel? How's it going? The last post I published on Niume was on October 30, 2016. It was about NaNoWriMo. I haven't been able to log on to Niume until now since I've been busy with a lot of things. One of these things is writing a story. Yep, am doing my own personal NaNoWriMo.

In the story am writing, the main chara gets lost in a forest. He ends up encountering a griffin who tries to kill him.

I'd say it's going pretty well so far. Have been talking a bit about it on Twitter using the #NaNoWriMo, #NaNoWriMo2016, #amwriting and #amwritingfantasy hashtags. Yup, am writing a fantasy story. I've written a few thousand words already, but I've still got a long way to go before I finish the entire thing. I think it might take me more than 50k words.

I hope to be able to write as much as possible for the whole month of November and then be able to continue doing so even after NaNoWriMo ends. So, how 'bout you? If you're writing a story, what genre is it about? How's the plot coming along? What can you say about it? Hope it's going well for you too. Good luck 😃.

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

Zack Plourd wrote on 6/11/16:
I started a profile on NaNoWriMo, with the intent to write a thing, but I found the site slightly incomprehensible as to how to go about that. It wasn't very clear.

Freya Yuki replied to Zack Plourd on 7/11/16:
The site does have a FAQ (http://nanowrimo.org/faq) and how it works (http://nanowrimo.org/how-it-works) page. Note: you can't actually write your novel on the site. You can just use it to check your word count or get to meet other writers, etc.

Zack Plourd replied to Freya Yuki on 7/11/16:
^see thats the kind of stuff i wasn't clear on. thank you for clarification.

Freya Yuki replied to Zack Plourd on 9/11/16:
You're welcome.

Barbara Ciruelos wrote on 6/11/16:
Good luck! The fact that you´re trying to complete NaNoWriMo is more than impressive. I´ve always been more of a self-time author, to be honest, but every approach is effective as long as it fits your style!

Freya Yuki replied to Barbara Ciruelos on 7/11/16:
Thanks. Am trying to write as much as possible to finish this story.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) using Pablo by Buffer based on the image by kirimatsu (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published on Niume on 5 November 2016