by John Stuart Leslie
Posted on January 15, 2010
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“8 Year Old Boy Makes 5K per Month Online Using A Simple “Lemonade Stand” Secret”
When crafting a headline, take your time to think about your target audience. The headline must be written to grab their attention. In order to do that, you should know what makes them tick, what motivates them, what are they looking for or what will solve their pain.
The headline must be written in context of how it appears. If its for a blog post or an article, you have a lot of words at your disposal. If it’s a pay-per-click ad, you must be frugal with the words, in this case, your headline usually consist of keywords. In many instances, your headline may be read amongst a long list of others from which the reader is scanning, looking for something interesting or on a specific topic.
Therefore, the headline must stand out in the crowd and yet grab their attention, compelling them to read more beyond the headline. So how do you do that? It is easier said than done.
Effective headlines utilize psychological triggers and basic needs that all humans possess. Some of these are: money, wealth, power, prestige, sex, pleasure, pain (avoidance of), curiosity, not missing out on something, getting a bargain, security, protection, health, etc.
In order to make your headlines effective, think about a psychological trigger that will hit home with your target market.
Here are top 5 techniques that you can use to write killer headlines.
1) Questions
People respond to being asked questions. A headline in the form of a question automatically engages them with the headline (you or your product). They silently affirm their answer to the question as they read, compelling them to read on or click on the link. “Who Else Wants To Learn How To Write Killer Headlines?”
2) How To or Advice
Everyone wants to know more and learn more. In fact, that is what many people are searching for on the internet. How to do something or how to make something is a form of learning. It’s instructional and useful as its hits the targets of what people are searching for. Their real objective is to make say -- a million dollars, but they don’t know how and are searching for answers.
3) Direct – Straight to the Point
The direct type of headline omits any use of being clever, curiosity, questions or how to strategies. It tells the reader upfront what the benefit is to them for either reading on or taking further action. For example: “Click here for Free Videos How to Speak French in 30 Days”. This type of headline is benefit focused, often the type you see with advertising where the cost goes up per line or is otherwise limited by number of characters. It answers the question in the reader’s mind, What’s in it for me?
4) Indirect
You may have a product that needs a lot of pre-selling or would otherwise be rejected outright if you were to reveal it upfront. An example is pitching a multi-level marketing opportunity as many people have a negative reaction due to the “pyramid scheme” stigma attached to the industry. In this case, your headline would compel them to read more and find out how they can achieve the benefits derived from such an opportunity without ever mentioning what the product is.
The indirect method is very effective as the purpose is to lead the visitor or reader through your sales process, allowing content to persuade and convince them of all the benefits and value derived from your product or service.
The inherent factor of curiosity keeps the reader’s attention and will want to know what
“it” is or the “secret” formula behind the benefit or some other compelling tease.
5) The Top 10
People like lists, especially the Top 10 or Top 3. This form of headline is also a form of an advice headline such as “The Top 3 Tips To Lose Fat”. People like to get to the bottom line, just the facts. They appreciate you organizing the information into a form of bullet points which comes across as pseudo-factual. People like statistics that back up your claims. They like to know things like “The Top 3 Ways To Save on Taxes”.
Somehow those bullet points seem almost like somebody else did all the work and now they are sharing this useful information with them. It creates perceived value in the content.
Let us look at the headline at the top of the page, “8 Year Old Boy Makes 5K Per Month Online Using A Simple “Lemonade Stand” Secret”
This touches on a number of triggers that are targeted to online home based business opportunity seekers. Now we'll look at the copy:
This headline, without directly saying what it is, implies that it an online business opportunity that makes 5k per month, that it does not require a lot of education or skill, even an “8 year old” can do it, that it is not hard or difficult, i.e. “simple”, that there is some type of system involved which implies a How To formula i.e. the “lemonade stand” analogy. The Lemonade Stand analogy also appeals to the entrepreneurial spirit of the opportunity seeker.
The headline uses the indirect method (curiosity), direct method (make 5K per month), how to method (reader must continue to find out the secret). As you can see, using multiple techniques in a single headline can often times be more powerful than a single method headline.
Don't forget this: the key is to make your headline stand out and compel the reader to take the next step.
John Stuart Leslie is a Network Marketing Professional specializing in the fields of internet marketing, work at home business, weight loss, fitness, health and personal growth. He is the webmaster for http://bioslife.wasfatnowfit.com and contributes articles about cholesterol, exercise, diets and well being to several fitness websites.
Grab the Free Videos at http://biz.wasfatnowfit.com to find out how to combine your passion for the health and wellness market with your own home based business.
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