What's in a Name?

Nothing really, and everything. No matter what you call something, it is still what it is, so the name doesn't really matter much in that respect. Like 'The Bard' once said: A rose by any other name, would smell just as sweet.

So what's the big deal? What does the title matter, and what makes a good title?

First off, let's start with a distinction: What makes a good novel title is not the same as what makes a good magazine title, and what makes a good magazine article isn't the same as what makes a good Internet article, or blog post title.

Novels: Catchy, usually the shorter the better, and although should have something to do with the novel in question, can be something that fits the 'mood' rather than describes what exactly is in the book itself.

Print magazines: These titles are best if they actually convey exactly what is in the story or article itself. They can, and should, still be catchy, and have an artistic flair.

Here's where Internet stories and articles vere off in the title respect. Where Intenet articles and stories are concerned you have two things to be considerate of, grabbing the reader, and grabbing the search engines.

Short and sweet is always a good rule, but flowery and non-descriptive are deadly in good Internet titles. No matter what you are titling you need search engines to find it if you are to reach more than your regular readers. (I'm very bad at this by the way. After years of titling novels and print stories I still have a problem with going for catchy and enticing, without accurately pin-pointing the subject matter... see above title. LOL)

A MUCH better title for this post would have been something along the lines of: 'The Best Way To Title Your Posts,' or 'Giving Your Article The Best Title Possible.' Those are nowhere near as fun, but the would insure a better placement in search engines. Yes, I'm harping on that again. Remember if they can't find you, they can't read you.

Catch words are important to use. While I do attempt to do that to a degree, I still fall short in that catagory. Guys, help me here. From now on when you see a title on my blog that doesn't hit the mark of the above description, let me know about it. It's not that I don't already know, it's that if I hear it enough from others maybe I'll change it. LOL I need prompting too.