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Creating the headline for any marketing piece is crucial - and perhaps it is even more so on the Internet, since it’s often all that people see before deciding to read on or click away. So… how to create a headline? Many headline formulas have been used successfully over the years - both online and offline. You can:
You can even tell a story, as in the famous old “They laughed when I sat down at the piano…” promotion. Or you can create uncertainty - with a “Do you make these mistakes?” question. But no matter what kind of headline you choose, you must first make a decision. You have to decide what is most important to your audience. Then the promise of a solution to their problem or the means to fulfill their desire must be in your headline - either stated or suggested. You might also get away with creating a headline about whatever is second-most in importance, but only if it’s a strong second. Unless you capture that visitor with something important to him or her, you won’t get a second chance. Remember, everyone looks at a website - or any other marketing piece - with the thought: “What’s in this for me?” So your first job is to know your prospects. Who are they? What do they care about? Why? Then you have to decide how to tell them that you or your product will make their life better. And you have to get started quickly - with your headline. I see dozens of websites with no headline at all - and that’s a mistake, because your visitors won’t even know if they’re in the right place, let alone know if it’s worth their time to read what you have to say. But what if there are dozens of other people with websites selling the same thing? In that case, your headline needs to address their most important concern in a way that shows that YOU are the person or yours is the business that will fulfill their needs. Given that so many websites don’t follow this rule, when you show that you recognize their concerns you’ll already be three steps ahead of your competition. Marte Cliff is a freelance copywriter who specializes in writing web copy that pleases not only the search engines, but human visitors as well. Getting visitors to a site is of no use if they leave instantly. Thus, she uses a 5-point plan to create effective web copy. You can read about it at http://www.marte-cliff.com/Webcopy.html Marte is available for everything from re-energizing one existing web page to creation of copy for an entire site - and writing the e-mail campaign to go with it. Please visit her at http://www.marte-cliff.com - and while you’re there, opt in to receive one or more of her marketing ezines.
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