The Headline Tool That Writes Better Titles Than I Do

Get 15 headlines for your article instantly

Yes, I wrote this headline with the TitleSmith, too.

“Tom can you build a headline tool?”

After launching the NoteSmith in February, people started asking me if I could build an AI tool to help them write their blog headlines, too.

“Sure!” I said. “Just give me some time.”

I then immediately got swamped making the NoteFinder, and the Notes Underground. 😆

A month went by. Then another. Then, one April day, I finally had enough and said “I’m making this Headline tool darnit!”

So today, I give to you all, The TitleSmith.

Just copy + paste your article text into it, and it will spit back 15 picture perfect headline variations.

Yes, 15. Because I love you all.

How To Use It

Here’s how to use it.

1. Sign up for a free trial to the Writing Long Game Lab if you haven’t already.

2. Choose “TitleSmith” from the tool list on the left hand side.

3. Copy/Paste your entire article text into it.

4. Press enter, get some popcorn, and watch the fireworks.

Trial folks get 3 free tokens, or uses, per month. Paid subscribers get 50 tokens per month.

If you’re a paid subscriber, check your version of the Writing Long Game Lab. It’s already there. 😉

How I Made It

I’ve published over 1,200 articles online.

I know how to write headlines.

I actually have an enormous .csv document with every article I wrote, along with headlines, full article text, and metrics.

So, I analyzed all 1,200 headlines in this .csv, especially the ones that went viral, to see what similarities they have.

Like:

• The exact number of words that get the most clicks (9-10 words, if you're curious)

• Which power words trigger the most emotional response

• The specific headline formulas that consistently outperform everything else

• Even the perfect character count (45-60 characters)

After analyzing ALL OF THAT, I wrote a kickass prompt for this AI tool that, literally, writes headlines better than I can. It’s insane.

I never have to write a headline ever again. THANK. THE. LORD.

Headline Writing Is Very Hard

Headline writing seems simple, but, I kid you not, 95% of writers botch their headlines. It’s such a tricky thing to get right, because we’re so close to what we’ve written.

It’s even harder to write headlines in a way that generates clicks.

Bad Headlines Can Ruin A Great Article

What sucks is that a bad headline can, absolutely, derail an amazing article.

If I write a manifesto that could change the world, nobody will read it if I title it “Sunday Musings.”

Unfortunately, many amazing writers don’t get any attention on their work because their headlines aren’t so great.

This is the shitty part of writing online—you have to play the game a little bit.

But what if you hate playing the game? Well, maybe you use AI! But…

AI Normally Sucks At Writing Headlines

Headline writing tools have, historically, kinda sucked!

I mean, try to get Claude to write headlines for your blog post. They come out kind of generic, and for some reason, Claude puts a colon in the middle of the headline 90% of the time.

Here’s 5 headlines Claude gave me after copy/pasting a draft of mine into it.

• "A Decade of Digital Addiction: What 10 Years of Chasing Viral Success Taught Me"

• "The Empty Well: Why Going Viral Never Filled the Hole Inside Me"

• "From Zero Views to Rolling Stone: The Dark Side of Creator Success Nobody Talks About"

• "Confessions of a Reformed Metric Chaser: Life After the Dopamine Rush"

• "Beyond the Numbers Game: Finding Meaning When Nobody's Reading"

These….kinda suck. Claude, you’re a great writer, but your headlines are lacking.

To compare, here’s 5 of the 15 headlines TitleSmith gave me after copy/pasting the same draft into it.

1. I've Been Creating Content For 10 Years — Here's The Dark Truth Nobody Admits

2. The Dopamine Trap That's Destroying Online Creators

3. Why Going Viral Feels Like Doing Drugs — A Decade-Long Creator's Warning

4. Stop Chasing Likes If You Actually Want To Be Happy

5. I Built Multiple 6-Figure Platforms And It Nearly Broke Me

These are WAY more publishable. To me, TitleSmith wins every time.

What’s funny is, if you use the base model of Claude to write headlines, it sucks, but if you make a tool with a great prompt that runs on Claude 3.7, it becomes a freaking headline writing legend!

That’s basically all I did here.

Proof The TitleSmith Can Outperform Substack Pros

Look, the TitleSmith is something you have to see (or use) to believe. So, I found a few articles on Substack and put them through the TitleSmith to see whether it wrote a better headline than the original.

To me, it wins every time.

Here’s an article from Tic Toc trading, which is the #1 rising Finance publication on Substack. It got over 150 likes.

And here’s 5 headline variations for that same article made by the TitleSmith.

1. Why Trump's "Flip-Flopping" On China Is Actually Brilliant Market Strategy

2. The Real Reason Trump Changed His Tone On Tariffs — And What It Means For Your Portfolio

3. How Trump Saved The Market From Crashing — My Contrarian Take

4. 5 Key Levels To Watch As Markets Reach A Critical Crossroads

5. Trump's China Strategy Isn't What You Think — Here's The Truth Behind The Headlines

Honestly? I think #1 on this list is better than the original.

But this is just a finance article. What about an article from a publication in another category.. like fashion?

Here’s another article title from Julia and Thomas Berolzheimer. Their publication is #1 rising in Fashion right now on Substack.

This headline is actually not that bad at all. Let’s see what TitleSmith can do, though. Here’s 5 variations it suggested.

1. Why I Stopped Spending $8 On Lattes — And You Should Too

2. The $2,000 Mistake Coffee Drinkers Make Every Year

3. 3 Ways To Make Cafe-Quality Coffee At Home And Save Thousands

4. The Real Reason $8 Lattes Are A Complete Waste Of Money

5. How To Break Your Expensive Latte Habit Without Sacrificing Quality

So, for me, the first 3 headlines on this list are already better than the original—and the original was good! I don’t even have to read the rest of them.

Let’s do one more, just in case you aren’t convinced yet.

Here’s an article from Jakob Sanderson’s publication in the Sports category, which is also #1 rising in Sports.

And here are the 5 headlines that the TitleSmith created.

1. Why Geno Smith Is Actually A Top-10 NFL Quarterback — Despite What Stats Say

2. The Truth About EPA And Why It's Lying About Geno Smith

3. How The Raiders Just Stole A Top-10 QB For A 3rd Round Pick

4. 5 Reasons Geno Smith Is Much Better Than You Think

5. The Vikings, Raiders, And Seahawks Just Reshuffled The NFL's QB Deck — Here's Who Won

Yeah, so, again.. I like the first headline from the TitleSmith more than the original.

We just proved that, across vastly different niches like finance, fashion, and sports, the TitleSmith can, to me at least, produce a better title every time.

And not just one better title… but three, four, five+ better titles.

Don’t Believe Me? Try It Out

Look, I know you might think 'Sure, but my niche is different' or 'AI can't really write better headlines than me.' I get it. I used to feel the same way. That's why I challenge you to try it once — you'll see.

Here’s a challenge for you.

If you’re not a paid subscriber, sign up for a free trial to the Writing Long Game Lab, and copy/paste your most recent article into the TitleSmith tool there.

Compare your favorite suggestions to the original headline you wrote and show me, down in the comments:

• Your original title.

• Your favorite suggested title.

• Which one you prefer + why.

Let’s put it to the test today!

You can prefer your original title if you want, too. It won’t hurt my feelings.

"But is it worth the price?"

Paid subscribers get 50 monthly credits to use the TitleSmith, NoteSmith, and NoteFinder tools.

Trial folks only get 3 monthly credits.

Is it worth the upgrade?

Let's do the math. The average writer can spend up to 30 minutes banging their head against a wall, agonizing over crafting a headline.

At an hourly rate of just $30, that's $15 of your time per headline. TitleSmith gives you 50 opportunities to save that time each month for $18 total. Even if you only use it once a week, you're saving hours of frustration and getting better results than you would on your own.

Not to mention, you get access to the NoteSmith, NoteFinder, and Notes Underground as part of your paid subscription, which is easily worth $100+ per month.

And, trust me, I got A LOT more tools in the pipeline to help you write better articles and Notes coming in 2025.

Right now it’s $20/month and $160/year to become a paid subscriber, but that price will only increase as I add more tools to help you dominate Substack and Notes in 2025.

It’s worth it to upgrade now.

Your ideas deserve better headlines. Headlines that actually give them a chance to be seen. That's why I built this.

I hope you try it out.

Tom Kuegler