Increase response rates
1800% by tomorrow
By Terry
Dean
This section you could call the
make-it or break-it section. Of all parts of your advertising, the Headline
is absolutely the most important piece to the puzzle.
If you don't write a good
headline, you might as well get out of advertising right now. The bad news
is that You cannot make money in business without good headlines. The good
news is anyone can write KILLER headines...Yes, I said anyone. That means
YOU!
Some copywriters would like you
to think that you have to have some kind of special skill or creativity to
writing killer headlines. Guess what, there is not. You don't have to have a
special gene for creative headline writing.
What those same copywriters
don't tell you is that they wrote 10, 20, 50, 100, or more headlines for
that specific piece BEFORE they chose the KILLER headline. It isn't massive
creativity that creates winning headlines. It is the right knowledge and
hard work.
This section will give you the
KNOWLEDGE you need to write killer headlines, but the WORK is up to you. I
have NEVER heard of anyone coming up with the BEST headline on the first
try. It takes Brainstorming dozens of headline ideas until you are coming up
with the WINNER!
It is worth the work of writing
KILLER headlines, because One headline has been known to out produce another
headline by as much as 1800%. That is with no change in the body of the
letter at all! That means that a promotion which made $1,000 could have made
as much as $18,000 just by changing the headline! Suddenly, a promotion
which could have been unsuccessful NOW is a MEGA MONEY Maker!
I don't think that I could
emphasize the importance of writing WINNING headlines enough. Without a
headline, your sales letter is doomed to failure even before it starts...If
you are not willing to put forth the effort of doing an effective one, then
you might as well quit your business now and go work at McDonald's. You will
never make more than minimum wage anyhow without good headlines!
If I was going to give you a
schedule for writing your sales letter, it would look like this. Spend 10%
of your time doing research. Spend 40% of your time on the offer, benefits,
bullets, and order form. Spend 50% of your time on the headline. That is how
important the headline is to your success in marketing.
Over 5 times as many people
will read your headline as will read your sales letter. It has to catch the
attention of your targeted prospect and make them read the rest of the
letter. If your headline is weak, hardly anyone will ever even SEE your
sales letter, much less purchase from it.
If you are going to spend time
and money on advertising, you need to make sure that people are at least
going to READ your sales letter. The key to this is an effective headline.
Without it, you will not get 99% of the people who see your ad to even read
it.
Writing headlines is not a
magical art for the select few. It is a skill that you will learn as you
practice and do your work on each advertising piece you create. Here are a
few of the basic rules of writing KILLER headlines:
It has to absolutely stop your
target prospect in their tracks and force them to read the ad! It must
answer the question "What's In It for Me" by giving your #1
Benefit Right Up Front! It has to set the tone for the whole rest of the ad
and your offer!
It is the leader for your
entire ad and it will set the tone and direction for your ad. You could
easily say that it is 50% of your ad all by itself. Let's talk about each of
those aspects in detail:
#1 - It has to grab your
targeted prospect's attention
Too many ads are written for
any old reader. By that, I mean that they aren't trying to focus on anyone
specifically. They are trying to sell anyone their product. When writing
ads, you have to TARGET your prospects.
You have to decide exactly who
your #1 customer will be. That is part of the reason for the Research that
you need to do first. You had to find out who and why people were buying
your product. Your sales letter needs to be written as though it was for ONE
specific person.
The best ads and sales letters
are always the ones which seem as though they were written JUST for you.
When you read them, you feel as though they wrote it knowing your every
thought and plan. It is your letter!
When a sales letter is written
like that, it will sell like wildfire when introduced to it's specific
target audience. For example, if you are selling a book about child care,
you may start a headline like this:
"Attention All Frustrated
and Worn Out Parents..."
Or
"PARENTS..."
You could sell a weight loss
product with a headline that starts with:
"If You Want to Lose 30
pounds in 30 days..."
If you are selling computers,
you might start with:
"Are You Looking for a
Computer At Half the Cost?..."
With those kinds of examples,
we call out the audience right there and then. Those who are looking for
computers will continue to read on. Those who don't want a computer won't.
You have captured your target market's attention.
What I like to do is to put
this type of message on the top of the sales letter in smaller letters with
the main headline underneath of it. This has worked best for me in the past.
You will notice EVERY ONE of my sale letters is done in this format.
This way I can grab my target
market's attention upfront and then blast them with the offer in larger
letters. I advise you to do the same in your advertising.
#2 - "What's in it for
me"
All of your advertising is
based on those 5 little words. The headline is no exception. Your prospect
will ask this question of your headline, your letter, your offer, and your
order form. You have to give it to them throughout the letter, especially in
the headline. If they don't receive it here, they will NEVER read the rest
of your letter.
When you made your list of
benefits, which one stands out to your prospects the most by your research?
This should become a part of your headline along with your USP (Unique
Selling Position) if possible. Using this type of headline is the beginning
of a KILLER ad copy. You want to overwhelm your prospects with benefits.
There is no better place to start than in the headlines.
#3 - It should set the tone
of the ad and the offer!
Your headline is a type of
introduction of your upcoming killer copy. It needs to both grab the
attention of your prospects and then get them ready to read the ad. You
could say that the headline is the "Ad for the Ad."
The headline's main purpose is
to SELL the prospect on the idea of reading the entire sales letter.
Whenever you write a headline, keep that in mind. People's time is precious
and if you want them to take time out of their day to read your sales piece,
then you better have something good to say in the very beginning. Otherwise,
you have lost them forever!
Article written by
Terry Dean Terry Dean is a 5 year veteran of Internet marketing, will Take
You By The Hand and Show You Exact Results of All the Internet Marketing
Techniques he tests and Uses Every Single Month"
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