How To Write Headlines That Skyrocket Your Sales

Just how important is the headline anyway? Probably the single most important thing you will write in your copy. There are a number of reasons that the headline is so important, one of them being that on average five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy…that’s five times! The headline is the red flag waving to attract the attention of your prospective buyer. It stands to reason then that by reading your headline your prospect should immediately know you are speaking to them. For example if you are selling a cure for a Bad Back it’s a good idea to use the words “Bad Back” in your headline as anyone who suffers from one will be immediately drawn to it.
I think it’s important at this stage to point out the dangers of excluding readers who may be prospects. For example if your product can be used equally well by men and women don’t slant your headline purely towards women or you will lose the attention of the men.
We know that copy has to appeal to the self interest of the reader and nowhere is that more vital than in the headline. The headline should always include a benefit for your prospect, after all people act 90 percent on their emotions.
Benefits help to bring out those emotions. Don’t forget the all important question, “What’s In It For Me?” The type of words you use in your headline will also influence it’s effectiveness. People are always on the look out for new products or the latest model.
Two of the most powerful words you can use in your headline are Free and New. Now it’s not very often you can use the word Free because the aim is to sell your product not give it away! You can however use the word New quite effectively along with other powerful words such as introducing, it’s here, just arrived, amazing, remarkable, revolutionary, sensational and so on. There are a lot of powerful words you can use so just experiment with a few.
Don’t fall into the trap that some copywriters do of writing tricky headlines. If your reader has to decipher the meaning of an obscure headline you have lost them forever. Your headline has to telegraph what you want to say in plain language.
One more thing to avoid in headlines is negatives. These can be dangerous as many readers will miss the negative as they read for example. “Our pies contain no dog meat” most readers will go away with the impression that you wrote “Our pies contain dog meat”…so you can see how damaging that could be!