Source: Survival Tips for a Pandemic, aka Zombies.

We all do a certain amount of skimming across blog sites and  internet sites – who has time (or reads fast enough) to read every site you hit on? That said, it is important, as a blogger, to make sure your post title is not misleading in any way. A misleading title could result in a reader’s disappointment (if the topic proved to be different from the title’s expectation) or someone passing the article by (because the title implied a topic in which they had no interest.)

As I was perusing blog sites, I came across this title. I was about to move on, because I have less than NO interest in zombies and vampires. But, by chance, some words at the beginning of the post caught my eye and I read on. As a former public health nurse with decades in the public health field, I was impressed by the concise summary of how to protect yourself in the event of a growing pandemic. If it’s not Zika, one is bound to arise in the coming decades, so it is critical information for everyone. But I almost trashed it.

Bob Mayer, the author, also has written The Green Beret Survival Guide. I haven’t read it, but I’m guessing it expands on the blog post. I assume the dramatic subtitle that included zombies had the same intent as the title of the post — but I probably wouldn’t have considered reading it just based on title, because I wouldn’t have taken it seriously.

The takeaway message for me was the importance of carefully titling and describing both blog posts and books, since someone skimming through the overcrowded inventory of stuff to read or buy on the internet could be swayed, positively or negatively, to investigate what you have written (and maybe buy your book).