Got 100 upvotes on Reddit - A fast tutorial on how to write a title for Indie Hackers / Reddit

Yesterday I submitted a post on Reddit, which got 100 upvotes. 🤘
The post got me my first 70 users, and I hope the number will keep growing.
But enough about that. That isn't why you click on the post title.
Or is it?

The reason you are here, reading my imperfect English is that I had a great title. A title that was good enough to stop you from scrolling and click on my post.
So basically, I could write on any subject that I want right now because I already have your attention.😉

👉 Rule Number One - The title is more important than the text.
You can write the perfect text, but without a great title, no one will ever read it.
👉 Rule Number Two - Don't disappoint the user.
The user clicked on your eye-catching title. But now he wants to get reward by the content.

We can look at it like that: From the moment the client enters your post, you're in debt to return him the time he spent on you. and that is by giving him a value
So don't worry! I'm following my rules as well. 🤓
As I said - I already implement rule number one, and now its time for rule number two.

How to write a great Title ❔
I did some research on the most upvoted posts on indiehacker of all time / of the month, and I tried to find a pattern of what makes a title - An awesome one?
What title has a great conversion rate? (From the feed to your post itself)
Believe it or not, Five patterns almost cover all the upvoted posts I looked of (more than 200).

1. The CTA (Call to action):
   • "Post your landing page and let others describe what your company does!"
   • "Hacking Twitter - Let's follow each other."
   • "What are you working on this month?"
   • "Explain what your startup/project does in under 10 words".

Let the user know that they have a part in the show. The value you offering the user can be noted on the title already, and in that way, you are helping the user to understand if the post is worth his time.

2. The Big numbers title
   • "+2,167 new subscribers in 48 hours (one tactic you should try)"
   • "0-19k email subs. How I promote my content."
   • "1st on PH and $2K in 24 hours!"

Big Numbers are like models! They are attractive.
By using a big number, you can easily make your post much more attractive and curious. Users want to understand - how you got those numbers? How you had such success?
Keep in mind that lies aren't an option!
(Remember Rule number 2). You can use that type of title only when you have those big numbers.

3. Story title
   • "How I Went from Indie Lurker to Indie Hacker"
   • "The saddest "Just Ship It" story ever"
4. Unique title
   • "All of my content is stolen by an IndieHacker"
   • "I sold my B2B business and achieved my dreamed... meaningless life?"

I put those two types together because they both have the same power - They make you curious. Let's face it - Most of us are choosing books by title because it "Sound interesting."
Make your Title, "Sound interesting."

5. Lesson title
   • "How to brainstorm great business ideas".
   • "17 tips for great copywriting".
   • "85+ places to post your startup"
   • "29 Lessons I've Learned Bootstrapping In 2018"

I kept that type to the end because I'm finding those types the best ones.
I'm using that title in that post.
These types are guarantee value from the beginning. "I'm going to teach you", "How to," "A lesson on" all of these titles Indicate that the writer has put effort into writing to give you a value.
It common that after the effort he put on the writing, the writer will ask something in return (CTA, Feedback ...) - but keep that at the end of the text!

Keep in mind that those titles aren't enough!
Targeting the right audience and choosing the exact words are also important parameters.
These title types are supposed to help you, but they are not solving the whole problem: Why is nobody looking at my post?
BTW You can use those titles in Email Marketing, Website content, Posts, and more.

Hope I helped,
If you have some suggestions, please go ahead and comment!
If it helped you, please upvote that others will see the post as well. 😇

Naveh

Oh, and as I said, sometimes the writer asks for something in return...
I recently launched a new product that helps you to speak English fluently (For non-native speakers).

Would love to hear your thought about it: https://app.fluentlly.com

Link to my Reddit post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/EnglishLearning/comments/hbepz6/how_to_speak_english_fluently_a_few_tips/