(Source) When writing headlines for an article there are three different kinds of readers that you can optimize for:

1. You can write for regular readers.
2. You can write for search engines.
3. You can write for socially driven sites.

In an ideal situation you would be able to write a title that fits all three categories but that is rarely the case. There is a marked difference between the different kinds of readers and that’s why you need to market your content to them in different ways.

Ah! He’s absolutely right.

When I read this in my RSS reader, I thought Muhammad Saleem was going to tell me something I didn’t already know. Something like the three kinds of readers are Blind, Going Blind, and Half Blind. Well, not exactly, but something along those lines that would provide some insight into reader personalities.

Instead, Saleem told me something I already knew but hadn’t considered. I’ve been telling people for two years now that you write all of your content - website content, blog content, article content, etc. - for two readers. Can you guess which two?

If you said search engines and human readers you’d be correct. I knew about social media readers, but I didn’t consider them any different than the other two audiences. I figured they fit into one or the other, or maybe both. I was wrong. Social media sites are not search engines and the people who come to your blog and your website from those sites are motivated in different ways than people who arrive through search engines.

Here’s how Saleem breaks it down, and I’ll have to say I agree:

Regular Readers

These are the people who subscribe to your RSS feed and read your content on a regular basis. You are writing them so keep writing to them. Ask them what they want to read and deliver it. They are your core group of voters. Your base. You’ve got to make them happy.

Search Engines

Keywords. Links. Keywords. Links. Keywords…get the drift?

It’s all about SEO.

Social Media Reader

This is where it gets interesting. These people are not your regular readers. They have likely never heard of you. And SEO doesn’t mean squat. You can have the most highly optimized blog and website in history and it won’t matter because social media is not about SEO. It’s about what is interesting. Period.

You’ve got to grab the attention of these readers. Want lots of votes? Be compelling. Be funny. Be entertaining. Be dramatic. Be interesting. There’s no other way.

Want people to read your article, your blog post, your website? Give them what they want. They want you to entertain them, to make them smile, make them laugh, make them cry, make them go, “Oh, I wish I’d written that.”

Bottom line: All your web content must do what good writing has always done - get their attention, maintain their interest, spark a desire, and move them to action.

As Aristotle said, (paraphrasing) all content must instigate catharsis.

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