Headlines – Killer Mistakes
Headlines!
A headline is arguably THE most important part of your sales letter. It can make or break your business BECAUSE your headline MUST capture your intended customer’s attention and make them stop and read the rest of your copy.
Unfortunately most people make a HUGE mistake when writing their headline…
There’s nothing wrong with writing a headline first or last. If written first you can base the rest of your sales copy on it. If written last you may have a better idea what to play up in your headline (though you may need to tweak your sales letter some to fit better with the headline when written last).
Regardless of writing your headline first or last don’t make the deadly mistake of not investing enough time in your headline. The headline cannot be an afterthought. It is the conversation starter.
When meeting in person people give you about thirty seconds before forming an opinion about you. That thirty seconds often shapes the whole course of your relationship with that person.
Your headline is your thirty seconds.
Some of the best copywriters in the world spend hours writing their headlines. They’ll write hundreds before coming across the perfect one they actually want to us.
Take the time to get your headline perfect.
THE PRE-HEADLINE
You may know the pre-headline as a small highlighted text at the top of the copy. It generally gives a very specific reason for you to be on that page. Many very successful sales letters use them.
Example:
ATTENTION! If You or Someone You Love is Suffering from Tinnitus,
Then This Will Be the Most Important Letter You Will Ever Read…
Straight away this identifies the target audience and eliminates those this really isn’t for.
How To Get Great Headline Ideas
If you’ve ever talked to an author or asked them how to become an author yourself every one of them will tell you the same thing. READ the type of thing you want to write.
The same goes for headlines. Just like reading good sales letters can be helpful to write them, reading good headlines can help give you fantastic ideas and show you what a good headline does.
4 Important Qualities For Writing A Good Headline
Self-Interest -People always want to know “What is in this for me?” So let them know exactly how they can benefit.
News -If you’re presenting a new product, an update or recent addition to an old product be sure to mention it.
Curiosity -Used by itself curiosity is the lowest form of headline writing but coupled with either of the above two methods can be very powerful.
Quick and Easy -Basically these two are universal elements that buyers want. In every product from dog training to making a million dollars buyers want it to be quick and easy. They live busy lives. Give them something they can implement NOW without too much hassle.
Easy to Implement Headlines
Some of the easiest ways to start a headline are with
1. How…
2. If… then…
The How headline was a favorite of John Carlton. A classic favorite of his is:
“How A Blind Golfer Stumbled Onto The Simple Secret Behind David Duval’s Swing That Can Give Anyone Unbelievable Distance With Total Accuracy!”
You can see how this would catch a golfers attention, right? It may sound a touch over the top to most but it does the job of getting people to read the first paragraph and that’s what sales copy is meant to do.
The If… Then… headline works very well for many people. Take for example:
Learn to play the piano like Billy Joel.
Compared to…
If You Have Twenty Minutes A Day To Practice Then I Can Show You How To Become An Expert Piano Player, easily.
The second one sounds more believable than the first because the statement is grounded in reality. With all of the hype out there people want that grounding and are more likely to read your copy if you give it to them.
Learn the ins and out of copywriting and make your sales copy captivate your prospects and never let go. http://copywritingxtreme.com
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Author: R.Hert
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