There are really only three things to keep in mind, when writing headlines:
1. Try and arouse curiosity
But this is pretty much a cardinal rule of initiating all kinds of conversations, isn’t it?
It’s why asking a woman what her favorite drink is… works a lot better than asking her if she’s a democrat or a republican.
One question will get her engaged and make her curious, the other will bore her to death.
And making people curious is even more important, in print. Because at least in person, you’ve got body language and voice tonality on your side (hopefully, lol)
In print, you’re stripped of this, so making your reader curious isn’t just something you “should” do… it’s something you MUST do.
Few examples:
Premium Cigars – Now less than $3 each!
Termites don’t eat THIS wood because it actually KILLS them:
2. The second thing you want to do is to stuff a bunch of benefits and self-interest into your headline
After all, if there’s nothing in it for your reader – nothing to gain or nothing to prevent them from losing something… then why should they have any interest in what you have to say, at all?
Of course.
So for instance:
Now you can DOUBLE or TRIPLE the amount of roses in your garden, with NO extra yard work at all!
Attention, ladies: Now you can look 10, 15, or even 20 years younger, in less than 20 minutes!
See how, when there’s more than one benefit… the headline is even more compelling?
You bet!
I recently wrote a lead generation direct mail piece that got a 32.85% response within the first 8 days. If you want to routinely get results like this, go here or here
3. Lastly, your headline should be very direct, and easy to understand
In other words, “See Disneyworld at half-price,” not…
“Get theme park tickets for 50% less than what you can pay for them online at certain websites”
Make sense?
Good.
And now I want to tell you one simple question you want to ask yourself, every time you write a headline. The question is…
“If you had to go up to someone, and make ONE statement to get them to buy… would the headline you’ve come up with, be able to do this job adequately?”
If you went through each of the headlines in this e-mail, you’d see they would all be fine to open up as a sales pitch and get a qualified buyer to say, “Sure, tell me more…”
This is a great qualifying question to ask yourself before you put the headline out there.
If your answer is “No,” then go back to the drawing board with it.
If it’s “Yes,” then by all means – test it out and see what happens.
Now get busy writing, junior.
Now go sell something, Craig Garber
P.S. Free: 12 Special Marketing Reports – download ’em here
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listening to:
Come and Go Blues – Allman Brothers (1973)