I know…the title borders on bratty.  But, it caught your attention.  And that seems to be the power of numbers in your title or headline.  Titles that promise numbered lists with an outcome seem to be all the rage in blogs lately and it got me to thinking about what it was that draws readers to those posts.

And so, here are my unsubstantiated, albeit intuitive reasons, why using numbered lists in your titles will work.

1.) Our attention span has gotten quite short.  I am not addressing the rightness or wrongness of this observation (maybe fodder for another post) but the shortening of our attention spans is compelling. And in that ever-shortened amount of time we have someones full attention, promising them an outcome in a certain number of items in a blog post helps to keep readers focused

2.) Readers are drawn to organization.  A blog post with the content neatly laid out in numerical sequence is far more appealing to most readers than content that seemingly has no direction with no clear beginning or end.  Numbered lists appeal to our order gene.

3.) Readers love to know that if they do a certain number of tasks, a predictable result will ensue.  When you tell me that you know 5 easy steps to lose 10 pounds, my brain tells me “HEY…we can do 5 steps!!”

4.) We love the ability to check off things that we have accomplished on our lists.  If you give your reader a list that they can check off as they accomplish each of your suggestions, they will feel that they have made progress.  It is always a good feeling to move on to the next item on a list after having completed the previous item.  Win.

So, there you have it in a neatly laid out, easy to decipher numbered list…4 compelling reasons why you should try creating blog titles with numbers in them….after all…it turns out that maybe capturing a reader’s attention is a numbers game.  Oh and just to for giggles, click here for a celebration of 4!