At Yahoo Answers somebody asked a question about how to give a unique title to an article. She wanted some tips to help her out.
My answer was chosen as best answer by the asker, and I’ll bring it below.
What kind of articles are you writing? I don’t mean topic, but are you writing for newspapers, magazines or the Internet?
First of all you should always remember that the title has only one purpose: to make people want to read your article.
So use means to make them curious. Ask questions, they will only be able to answer, when they have read the article (questions that cannot be answered with Yes or No is better)
Or give a promise that you fulfill with your article, like “Seven ways to get rid of acne for good”.
If you are writing for the Internet, you should make sure to have keywords in the title. What will people search for on the Internet? Put those words into your title.
It’s also a good idea to reuse those keywords or other related in a way that you start with the main keywords. Examples: “Money Online – Are You Making These 7 Deadly Sins in Internet Marketing?” or “Weight Loss – Can You Lose Fat Playing Games on a Wii Fit?”
But then again, it depends on what your purpose is for your articles, because titles for newspapers and magazines are often shorter, and you don’t have to think a lot about keywords for them.
Hope this helps 🙂