If you want good response to a thread you start on Self-Storage Talk, the online forum for Inside Self-Storage, trust me: It’s all about the thread title.

You could have an incredibly urgent question, a prescient observation or a hilarious anecdote, but if the thread title isn’t good, fewer users will want to read it, and the conversation won’t go very far.
To illustrate the fine art of thread-starting, here’s an example of a recent title I really like: Hey man, whatcha doing with those bolt cutters? This provocative and humorous title, written by forum member geraldine1051, is one of the best I’ve seen on the forum in some time. The thread is receiving good response, even though it was started over the holidays, and here’s why:

The title resonates with the industry audience. The word “bolt cutters” gets the attention of any person in and around a storage facility—tenant or employees. Though the user could have started the thread with these words, it worked better to work them into a casual (and funny) sentence. Of course, the thread contains a great story for the Tales From the Trenches forum.

It’s implicative but not explicit. Unlike dry newspaper headlines that try to sum up a story in a few words, the best thread titles are a bit mysterious—as in, the readers are fairly certain what you’re talking about but not entirely sure. That’s what makes them want to click. On the other hand, a thread titled “One question I have is ...” might be too vague.

It’s conversational. The forum is a laid-back place, and I’d say storage industry people are a generally laid-back audience. However, Geraldine’s conversational thread is still understandable and free of typos or errors (with the intentionally misspelled “whatcha,” of course.)

If being clever or cute isn’t your forte, be direct. Some of the audience is seemingly mid-crisis when posting (i.e. “HELP!! Hostile tenant banging on my window!!). Those titles probably will get good responses. But most of us aren’t begging for assistance all the time, so here’s a tip for being direct: Use a verb or verb form as the first word in your thread title. Examples: “Getting pests out of units,” “Making more money this quarter,” “Improve the Website.”

Good thread titles engage the community in whatever topics are important to you. Perhaps I should take my own advice because I’ve written my share of lousy thread titles that broke several of these rules all at once.

Lastly, if these tips mean absolutely nothing to you because you’re not a member of the forum, fill this aching void in your life by immediately registering for Self-Storage Talk.  See you there!