By Diane Thomas
A good headline can easily double or triple your response - a great one can do even better!
Headlines are without doubt, the major factor as to whether or not your articles, sales copy,
ads or webpages are read. Creating attention grabbing headlines quickly puts you on your way
to success.
If your headline is successful in making prople read on you have the opportunity to make a sale
or succeed in whatever action you are trying to acheive. If you cannot pull in the reader to read
more, you have no chance at all.
Think about reading a newspaper. The first thing you do is scan the headlines - and the first thing
you read is the article that you think is the most interesting. It catches your eye, piques your
curosity, makes you want to find out what the article says.
That is exactly the response you want to create. You want to grab the reader and
pull them in to read what you have to offer. You do this by putting together attention grabbing
headlines to place before your content.
So let's find out what you need to create attention grabbing headlines...
To begin with your headline should:
- Outline the benefits - Answer the question, "What's in it for me".
- Provide an overview - What is your article (ad, sales letter, etc) about.
- Raise Curiosity - Provide words of interest (success, profits, how to, secrets, etc.).
Here are a few tips and techniques that I use:
There must be a match between the message and your targeted readers. It only takes 3 seconds for a
reader to scan most headlines and decide whether to stop and read or to move on. In other words if
your headline does not stop your reader in his/her tracks, you've lost them.
Your headline should present your strongest benefit. If your reader doesn't see any benefit to read
on, they won't.
The first two to three words should contain your main keywords. These words should
focus on the concept, topic and theme of your content.
Keep it short. Your headline should ideally be 3-6 words with 10 as a maximum. Both readers and the
major search engines only give high relevance to the first few words in a headline or title.
KISS (Keep it short and simple). Use words that are short, familiar, and easy to read.
Headlines and titles should stand on their own and make sense. Imagine your article or sales letter
without any supporting text. This is especially useful when articles are in a listing such as in an
article directory.
Make your headlines believable. If it sounds "too good to be true" it will be skipped over and ignored.
Do not use more than one main idea. This would be confusing and seem as though you don't know what
your piece is about either. Expand your benefits or ideas in the first paragraph or two to get
readers to continue on.
Headlines that evoke emotion such as excitement or curosity prompt action - and that is a good thing!
Write in the first or second person using present tense verbs to urge an instant action.
People are attracted to specificity. Perk their interest by beginning your title with numbers,
such as "10 Ways To Better Sex"; or statistics, "How I Earned $10,000 Overnight - And You Can Too!".
Begin with "A" or "The" to signify uniqueness. As a rule of thumb I would tell you not to use articles
and prepositions, but to emphasize importance they work really well. For example,
"The No-Fail Way To Motivate Your Children", or "A New Strategy That Will Instantly Increase Your
Income".
I find it most helpful to use the first paragraph of the piece to find my headline. This is where
the point of the article is explained, and should contain the words, ideas and keywords you need
to make a winning title. To keep repetition at bay, use your Thesaurus.
These points are not all-encompassing, but are techniques that I have
found to be the most useful when creating my attention grabbing headlines and titles.
To Your Success!
©2006
About the Author
Diane Thomas is the editor of
eBook Crossroads.com specializing in resources for writers, publishers
and promoters of eBooks and Audio Books. She publishes a monthly ezine,
the eBook Crossroads Insider, offering articles, tips, contests, free downloads
and much more!
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