Writing attention grabbing headlines time after time, is the ultimate dream of every direct marketer; enjoying huge returns on investment the ultimate goal. Your skill in headline writing will determine whether you make a lot of money or very little. Striving to write the best headlines possible must be your absolute goal, which will lead to untold success, both personal and professional.
In this article I discuss five questions you must ask yourself that will go a long way in helping you write stronger headline copy than ever before.
The questions you must ask yourself are:
Does your headline drive the prospect to want to buy now - or later?
Starting off with a yawn could make it seem as though even an extremely enticing product has no sense of urgency attached.
In order to make the product seem like it's got a ticking clock on it, find out what makes it special and fresh. If you bring up these points right away, your readers will be less inclined to put down your presentation for later.
Is the product or service valuable to them?
Assuming that you already know, hand on heart that your product or service is something the public wants, then expressing this in your headline copy should be a piece of cake.
But do check to make sure that you've described the product or service in such a way that it sounds so useful, and so interesting that the prospect will want to keep on reading to find out more about it.
Headlines need to stand out
This is where your headline should outline the uniqueness of the product or service.
It's always important to discover as many unique selling points this product or service has, during research time (if it's not your product). Then if you've done a good job of explaining it's uniqueness in your headline, the reader will have no choice but to continue reading to find out more about it.
Is the headline specific and clear?
Being ambiguous is not an option.
While your writing should never wander away from your points for a moment, your headline needs to be unambiguous enough that there's no possible misunderstanding. Straying from your strongest appeals simply isn't an option in such a short, yet important "pitch."
The masters of headline copy are magazine writers. You only have to visit any newspaper stand or shop to see the row upon row of magazines and newspapers on offer.
As soon as you look at the few lines on the cover, you're curious about what's inside. This is because magazines speak directly to their readers, and they know their space limits. Their headlines have to be very good and very short, or no one will even glance inside.
When you next buy a magazine, ask yourself why did you pick that particular magazine instead of the other. Was it anything to do with the copy perhaps?
So how can you tell if your headline is working?
When you put these four key techniques into place, your headline will be pulling double duty. It will first grab the prospect's attention then secondly select her. Because it would've said something meaningful to her but on the flip side, had the opposite effect on someone else.
It's interesting to note; prospects read headers five times as much as they read the whole copy, which means for every dollar the advertiser spends, 80 cents of his advertising dollar is spent on the header.
The world famous copywriter David Ogilvy has even admitted that spending even a little more time on the headline is well worth it.
So based on that logic and compelling evidence, it would stand to reason that you spend 80% of your time crafting that perfect header. It would be time well spent.
That's just how important the headline is.
In this article I discuss five questions you must ask yourself that will go a long way in helping you write stronger headline copy than ever before.
The questions you must ask yourself are:
Does your headline drive the prospect to want to buy now - or later?
Starting off with a yawn could make it seem as though even an extremely enticing product has no sense of urgency attached.
In order to make the product seem like it's got a ticking clock on it, find out what makes it special and fresh. If you bring up these points right away, your readers will be less inclined to put down your presentation for later.
Is the product or service valuable to them?
Assuming that you already know, hand on heart that your product or service is something the public wants, then expressing this in your headline copy should be a piece of cake.
But do check to make sure that you've described the product or service in such a way that it sounds so useful, and so interesting that the prospect will want to keep on reading to find out more about it.
Headlines need to stand out
This is where your headline should outline the uniqueness of the product or service.
It's always important to discover as many unique selling points this product or service has, during research time (if it's not your product). Then if you've done a good job of explaining it's uniqueness in your headline, the reader will have no choice but to continue reading to find out more about it.
Is the headline specific and clear?
Being ambiguous is not an option.
While your writing should never wander away from your points for a moment, your headline needs to be unambiguous enough that there's no possible misunderstanding. Straying from your strongest appeals simply isn't an option in such a short, yet important "pitch."
The masters of headline copy are magazine writers. You only have to visit any newspaper stand or shop to see the row upon row of magazines and newspapers on offer.
As soon as you look at the few lines on the cover, you're curious about what's inside. This is because magazines speak directly to their readers, and they know their space limits. Their headlines have to be very good and very short, or no one will even glance inside.
When you next buy a magazine, ask yourself why did you pick that particular magazine instead of the other. Was it anything to do with the copy perhaps?
So how can you tell if your headline is working?
When you put these four key techniques into place, your headline will be pulling double duty. It will first grab the prospect's attention then secondly select her. Because it would've said something meaningful to her but on the flip side, had the opposite effect on someone else.
It's interesting to note; prospects read headers five times as much as they read the whole copy, which means for every dollar the advertiser spends, 80 cents of his advertising dollar is spent on the header.
The world famous copywriter David Ogilvy has even admitted that spending even a little more time on the headline is well worth it.
So based on that logic and compelling evidence, it would stand to reason that you spend 80% of your time crafting that perfect header. It would be time well spent.
That's just how important the headline is.
About the Author:
About the Author: Ready for the babyboom crisis? Then get Celine Horan's FREE report now! Celine Horan is a niche marketing specialist, gunslinger and industry expert who offers high level marketing ideas coupled with profit boosting, agency level copywriting services to the career development, recruitment, LMS and e-learning industry.
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