The other day in a Better Business Writing seminar a librarian named David asked for ways to generate ideas for his blog and weekly newspaper column. He was looking for creative ideas on new topics to cover.
When David asked for ideas, he happened to mention the name of his newspaper column. It was something like "New on the Shelves."
No wonder he was struggling to think of topics to cover! What's new on the shelves is just too small a category. I suggested David make the title of his column much broader. He might try something simple like "On the Shelves," which would give him great latitude in his choice of topics, things like:
--Books by an author or in a specific genre
--Old favorites, new favorites, sleeper favorites (ones that didn't get noticed when they came out)
--Books set in a place that's in the news
--Recipe books for the holidays
--Bilingual books
--Novels written in first person
--Books about presidents, musicians, scientists, etc.
--Books about elections
--Books made into successful movies
--Books that make great gifts
When you choose a title for your blog, newsletter, or news column, be sure it's big enough to hold everything you may want to write about. With the title of this blog, "Business Writing," I will never run out of things to cover. But if I had called it "Writing Procedures," I would get stuck dreaming up worthwhile posts on procedures.
My monthly e-newsletter, Better Writing at Work, similarly gives me plenty of room to grow and move. (Subscribe for free here.)
Don't fence yourself in. When you are thinking of a title for your blog, newsletter, or news column, think big.
Lynn
Syntax Training
Business Writing is a great title because it not only states exactly what the blog is about, but it has the keywords people would type into the search engines to look for this sort of information. Business procedures... well, not only would no one type that in, but even if it did come up, I think people would be asleep before I managed to click the link and check it out. ;)
For a print newsletter, a name can be abstract, but if you want your blog to get search engine traffic, it helps to work the keywords into the title.
Posted by: Lindsay | November 20, 2008 at 02:14 PM
I have a new blog for workplace learning and performance professionals. I will be giving your idea some thought. I think I need to rename mine! And I will add your blog to my list of sites.
Posted by: Debra Baxter | November 25, 2008 at 03:37 PM
Hi, Lindsay. Thank you for reminding us of the value of a precise online title. It looks as though Debra found your advice helpful already!
Posted by: Lynn Gaertner-Johnston | November 25, 2008 at 05:33 PM