A Question of Titles

[SpikeWyatt]

I've been doing this online freelance writing thing for a while now (getting on for three years) but most of my work outside of CC has been ghostwriting. I seem to spend all my time vomiting marketing spiel all over the place. Eww, it's horrid.

Anyway, what I wondered is whether an article's title on CC makes a significant difference. I know that it's the one critical key part of getting traffic if one is writing for the web (you know, that whole "catchy headline" thing) but is it as important here?

My question is based on a couple of observations:

1. From what I've seen of stats for the big authors, the vast majority of purchases are full rights - effectively PLR or ghostwriting - so I would imagine the buyer will fiddle around with whatever they want, including the title. (Incidentally, this is my preferred sales method, since a usage purchase only happens once and just kills the big sale as far as I can see... though someone will no doubt prove me wrong!)

2. Most buyers are presumably using keyword searches to find content, not titles.

Should I be concerned about titles? Does any kind of SEO even matter any more, since Google's Grizzly update? Er, Panda?

Any thoughts appreciated. Well, the ones on topic are, anyway.

[J. A. Young]

I'm pretty big on titles--what have you got to lose by coming up with a good one? I've been known to say to my husband--"listen to this title--it'll sell," and, invariably, it does. I mean, every title can't be "Gone with the Wind," but I get that feeling when I strike on something good and know it'll sell my article. Anyway,not all my titles are dramatic or catchy--they all can't be, because, however unfortunate, I'm not Margaret Mitchell. But I think the title is more important than the short summary for marketing your article.

As for full rights--I sell mostly that. I price my usage pretty high though. I prefer to sell full rights. Often, customers do keep my title and byline in place--it really depends on what they are buying the writing for.

Hope that helps. Some writers do sell usage multiple times. I have too, but it's not my typical way to sell.

[SpikeWyatt]

That does indeed help a lot, thanks. As you may have guessed I don't enjoy marketing and SEO, so flailing incompetently in an attempt to find a title that will sell is not something I want to spend a lot of time on if it's not helpful. Like you, I try to come up with something better than "An article about ..." but I can't always think of something dramatic and wonderful.

Thanks for your input!