Marketing Words Blog : Work Less, Convert Better, Sell More
Convert better, sell more, work less
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Marketing Words Blog : Work Less, Convert Better, Sell More
Convert better, sell more, work less
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Very interesting…
In headlines, as in many things, less is more. Of course, it takes more time and effort to create an effective headline but it’s worth it.
I’ve found writing haiku an excellent practice for headline writing. True that haiku are usually longer than most headlines, but then headlines can often come in two parts – a lead and a followup.
An associate of mine is taking a business leadership course and one of the exercises he’s been given is to write a headline for his service. Asked to comment on his submissions, I told him to delete words, starting with the least important ones and continuing until he was down to the barest bones. If a deletion required a re-write of the the headline, so be it.
This is because a headline should create, not satisfy, curiousity; it should generate a tension and imply that the relief will be found in the article. The more said in the headline, the less tension it will generate.
Hi Michael. Nice to have you here. Thanks for jumping in on the conversation. I don’t know that I agree with the generic comment that less is more when it comes to headlines across the board. It depends on the target audience, the product/service and the format of the copy. If, for instance, you are writing to a bunch of CEOs or higher-up execs, then yes… I’d agree that less is more. However, when it comes to sales letters and other type of long-form copy, the headlines need to be as long as they need to be to get the point/promise across.
The Nutrim example is one PPC landing page out of a set that I wrote. That set of pages has collectively pulled over $1.8 billion in sales…. long headlines and all 🙂
Do headlines need to be wordy? No. There’s a difference in having lots of words and being cluttered. And yes, one approach to headlines is to create curiosity. I do disagree, however, in the blanket statement that the more said, the less tension the headline will generate.
Great tips Karon! So easy to understand, and so helpful to have a video to guide us through real site examples. Thank you!
Thanks Kim. Glad you like it. I just got Camtasia and have been playing around with the software to make these types of screencasts. Nice to know they are useful.
Great post Karon. The idea of connecting the main headline and the sub-headlines together in a logical “story like” fashion makes total sense – especially considering that so many readers are actually “scanners.” This technique allows you to tell your story to them as well.
Thanks Mark. Yes, your site visitor gets a mini-sales pitch, if you will 🙂