Four Tips for a Terrific Headline

"It's time to master the headline, to get it

right where the copy counts most by

paying attention to those critical words

that appear at the top of your email

messages," writes Marco Marini at Email

Critic.

Headlines also appear at the top of your

landing pages—and regardless of their

location, their main purpose is to whet a reader's appetite for more

information.

So how do you create a headline that really draws 'em in? Marini offers

ideas like these:

Take off your editor's hat while you brainstorm. Write whatever comes

to mind, however outlandish, without pausing to judge its quality. That

will come later. Right now, you want to get lots and lots of ideas onto

the page; most will be spectacularly bad, but a few will be spectacularly

good!

Refine your chosen headline. The one you choose might not be exactly

right, but with a tweak here or there, it could be perfect. Also, when you

have the space, consider a sub-headline that adds to the intrigue.

Speak like your customers speak. "A catchy headline using insider lingo

might be off-putting to the customer who doesn't 'get it,'" Marini notes.

So ditch words used by industry veterans and replace them with

common language used by your customers.

Test, test, and test again. That headline might seem brilliant to

everyone on your staff, but you should still test it against an alternative.

The Po!nt: Magnetize it. Take the time to craft a headline that grabs

your readers' attention and holds it.

Is Your Headline Working For or

Against You?

In a recent post on her blog, Results

Revolution, Marianna Hayes writes about

her pet peeve—blaming media choices for

a failed marketing campaign. Deciding that

your direct mail or print ads didn't work

can be a costly mistake, for instance, when

a more likely explanation is that you chose

the wrong message for your audience.

Or perhaps the problem is as simple as a boring, ineffective headline.

You might even have forgotten to include one at all! Explains Hayes, the

president of HALO Business Advisors, "Your business name in bold

across the top of an ad does not count as a headline."

Her advice for getting your readers' attention:

Get right to the point. Brief, punchy headlines work best, and keeping

verbiage to a minimum reduces your margin of error.

Make it active. Energize your headline with vivid, action verbs.

Grab readers' attention. Hayes recommends copy that asks a personal,

poignant or catchy question. She also believes in visual appeal and often

reverses white type on a black background.

The Po!nt: "Don't expect the headline to sell for you," writes Hayes.

"But on the flip side, don't expect the reader to stop without a show-

stopping headline."

Active Headlines Get More Attention

Fact No.1 That We All

Know: Providing free

content such as

whitepapers or research

reports can be a great B2B

lead generator.

Fact No.2 That We All Know: B2B marketers' inboxes are overloaded

with daily free-content offers.

So, what's a content provider to do to stand out in the crowd?

According to Susan Fantle at the B2BMarketingSmarts blog, a whole lot

is riding on your headlines. Readers will want to download content, she

says, "[o]nly if the headline catches their eye and their imagination."

She offers a few examples of

what not to do when naming a

whitepaper or report:

"Unified Communications

and Process Automation

Combine to Maximize ROI"

"Cover Your Assets with Desktop Managed Services"

While earnestly trying to convey information, these headlines "provide

no intrigue, no big promise, no revelations, no specifics," Fantle argues.

To be effective, a headline needs to instantly communicate what the

piece contains, she says, in a way that will make the reader want to see

more right away.

She then presents some winners. Among them:

4 Things Your Anti-Virus Should Do, but Doesn't

How to Defend Your Network Against New Hacker Tactics

20 Questions for Smart Business Decisions

The key here? "Active"

language and a concrete

message about what the

reader will learn. "With

just a few active words,

your content can move

past sounding like another

ho-hum white paper and become information your prospective

customer sees as a 'must read,'" she concludes.

The Po!nt: Decide what you're really offering, and say it. When writing

your next whitepaper or research report, "pay as much attention to

your title as you do your content," Fantle advises. "It will make a

difference."