Creating a great headline

Hi everybody!

I'm new here and also a newbie to internet marketing. I look forward to participating in this forum.

I would like to ask for some help. I am putting together a simple one page website. It's basically a newspaper ad for the internet. Not really a salespage.

Anyway, I have done some research and am a bit confused right now. From info overload I guess. Can anyone offer me some tips as to how I can go about creating a killer headline? Thanks.

http://book: 'Great Headlines Instantly'

Here's ONE place you can find it (many other places offer it cheaper -- ex: ebay)...

www.mastercopywriters.com/headline.htm

Hi Gary,

Welcome to SowPubs...

The Secrets are all in Google...

Study the Best sellers in ClickBank and throughout the web...

Start researching & collecting a swipe file of Top Google Adwords and other PPC ads written by the PPC masters in mega niches...

Especially the PPC Ads that keep running & running...
http://www.energizer.com/energizer-b...ny-center.aspx

A few other Quick picks...

http://www.bookshaker.com/drupal5/10...nes-every-time
http://www.googlelady.com/416/10-kil...-adwords-tips/
http://www.copyblogger.com/how-to-wr...nes-that-work/
http://www.copyblogger.com/magnetic-headlines/
http://ezinearticles.com/?19-Rules-F...ines&id=194898
http://www.marketingyourrestaurant.c...ic/86.cfm?sd=2
http://bensettle.com/blog/category/swipe-files/

Hangout with these guys too..
http://www.successdoctor.com/
http://www.copywritersboard.com/

Study David Frey's formulas and use them...
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthre...ight=postcards

Phil

The only way to see if the h'line you create is any good, is to TEST it against another h'line. Use a/b split testing to do that. Then keep trying new 'challengers' until you get better + better h'lines.

Testing is the ONLY real way to come up with the best h'line.

-- TW

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by gkeehner

Hi everybody!

I'm new here and also a newbie to internet marketing. I look forward to participating in this forum.

I would like to ask for some help. I am putting together a simple one page website. It's basically a newspaper ad for the internet. Not really a salespage.

Anyway, I have done some research and am a bit confused right now. From info overload I guess. Can anyone offer me some tips as to how I can go about creating a killer headline? Thanks.

Hi Gary,

The book "Tested Advertising Methods" by John Caples has some excellent advice on creating headlines. These are all "split-tested" from his years in advertising.

I don't have the book in front of me right now, but there are some general formulas that have been "proven" to work and get attention... A few of them are (from memory)...

- Headlines with the word "New"
- Headlines that contain news
- Headlines that induce curiosity
- Headlines that promise a benefit to the reader

Here's a summarized list... http://www.leaseabusiness.com/index.php?detailed=4

At least some of these are from the Caples book... But check out the book for more details...

Hope that helps!

Cheers

Dien

ha!

-- TW

"Who else wants to make money using formula headlines?"

or

"Cleveland man swears under oath his headlines are not copied."

or

"Now you can make big money using formula headlines -- even if you've never typed a single word, and you don't even know English!"

etc. etc.

Cheers!

-- TW

Thanks for all the great information! I do appreciate it.

...thriving or going out of business!

The importance of headlines cannot be overemphasized!

Just ask the 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' guys (book titles are headlines too!).

Cheers!

-- TW

[GordonJ]

Originally Posted by gkeehner

Hi everybody!

Can anyone offer me some tips as to how I can go about creating a killer headline? Thanks.

To create a "killer" headline...you simply _____________.

And you'll get about 1001 OPINIONS from the marketing/copywriting crowd. I can see how you can be easily confused from all the conflicting opinions. A winning headline (I'm not sure what "killer" means) is one that works. And you know it works because you test other headlines against it.

But there is ONE secret, and in the vernacular of the so-called Internet Marketers: (get out the mop), I'll spill my guts and open the vault, I'll reveal my most closely guarded secrets, and it won't cost you a dime because I'm such a darn nice guy to boot...

The one truth about HEADLINES that "THEY" don't discuss is....

TIMING.

When your prospect sees your ad, and the state of their mind at the TIME they see your ad determines whether the headline has any interest to them or not. And that is the truth.

Consider this. Sept. 11, 2001. IF you ran a "killer" ad that day, it didn't work. And it didn't work for the next couple of weeks. Why? You know. WE were preoccupied with more important things.

Your promotion is competing with all the other things trying to get our attention, including news, drama, celebrity, contrived media importance (democratic primary???)...but,

YOUR prospect has something on her mind. IF your message resonates with her preoccupation AT THE TIME she sees your promotion, you can throw up just about any headline you want...as long as it is able to break through her preoccupation and pick up an internal "conversation" (often right below the consciousness)...and join in, in a non-threatening, rapport producing, resonating sort of way.

OK. Example: Young mom just picked up the kids from the sitter (she's feeling guilty for not being able to stay at home, she entrusts her valuables to someone else for the bulk of the day)...she has to get home and feed them, get dinner (probably stops somewhere and buys it)...gets the kids ready for Karate practice...and in the process she picks up the bills and that sets off an internal conversation, often subconscious...

"We will be able to meet the bills this month?" type of process, figuring out her budget.

IF within that pile of bills she sees an envelope that says:

"Stay at Home and Make a Full Time Income with Benefits--Details Inside" and this is your promotion, you may have a good chance of getting her to open it later in the evening.

If it lands toward the end of the month, money might be a higher preoccupation for her than in the beginning or right after pay.

Likewise, if she is just checking email before she leaves for yoga, and you have one of those make money subject headers (which landed in her bulk/spam folder)...you just messed up your chances.

If she later starts surfing and looking for 'Work from Home Moms'...then she runs across sites like WHAM (google it) and her preoccupation is now in synch with what she is seeing...and in just a short glance at a headline or two will help her to determine if this is what she is seeking. And since WHAM has a pretty decent alexa rating, this subject must resonate with more than a handful of people.

Bottom line: create your headline after you fully understand your target's preoccupations as it regards your subject matter..and the TIME they will encounter it.

TIMING is, in my lonely opinion, as important as the headline itself.

Start by writing subject headers at forums that get read.

Gordon Jay Alexander

PS. Having a copy of Remote Influence wouldn't hurt you any.