Monday, March 14, 2011

8 Types of Headlines that Sell

For my upcoming book, N-of-8, I have been collecting a wide variety of “top 8” lists you can use for inspiration.  You might find seeds of ideas that can apply to a wide array of challenges.
 


Here is a list of 8 types of headlines that sell.

1. The News Headline: 
If your product or service offers something newsworthy, announce it in your headline. You would normally use this to introduce a new product or the improvement of an existing product. Here are some words you can use in your News Headlines: New, Announcing, Introducing, Finally, Just released, Now, At last.
Examples:
“At last! A Tooth Paste Kids Will Love”
“New Diet Burns Off More Fat Than If You Ran 98 Miles a Week”
“Announcing . . . The New Bald Cure Guaranteed To Make Even Trevor
Crook Look Like He’s Got A Full Crop Of Hair!”

2. The Guarantee Headline:
These state a desirable benefit and guarantee results or other benefits. If you offer a powerful guarantee . .. let your prospects know by stating it in the headline.
Examples:
“Makes Money In 90 days Or It’s FREE Under my 100%, Unconditional
Money Back Guarantee”
“Hands Which Feel As Smooth As Silk In 24 Hours . . . Or Double Your
Money Back!”

3. The How To Headline:
With over 7,000 book titles starting with ‘How To’ you can’t go wrong with this one. If you ever get stuck, try adding ‘how to’ in front of your headline as these type of headlines promise your prospect
a source of information, advice and solutions to their problems.
Example:
“How To Win Friends And Influence People”
“How To Avoid Snake-Oil Selling Scumbags On The Internet”

4. The Benefit Headline:
Benefits sell . . . features DO NOT! To write a successful benefit Headline, you must know your market so well,you can offer them a powerful, compelling benefit driven headline which they can’t easily get somewhere else. You must do your homework though in order to know what benefit will motivate your prospect/s to take action.
Examples:
“Dries Up Your Hay Fever In 15Minutes”
“Stops Diarrhea in 30 Minutes”
“It Cleans Your Breath While It Cleans Your Teeth”

5. The Question Headline:
Be careful when using this one. You must know your market backwards otherwise you can blow your whole advertising campaign. The best types of questions to ask are questions which get your prospect involved.
Examples:
“Do You Make These Mistakes In Marriage?”
“Do You Make These Mistakes In English?
“Can You Smash Through 6 Bricks Like Dr. Stan ‘Breakthrough’
Harris?

6. The Reason Why Headline:
These give your prospect specific reasons why they should read your ad, sales letter or website. These are very effective because they contain facts and specific numbers.
Examples:
“27 Reasons Why You Should Attend Trevor Crook’s Persuasive Writing
Sells Online Course”
“37 Fun And Easy Ways To Earn$500 In Your Sleep”

7. The Testimonial Headline:
This is just what it says. It uses a customer testimonial for a headline. This gets your customers to sell for you by talking about the benefits they received.
Examples:
“How I Make $557.63 Per Week In My Sleep”
“I Had Never Purchased A Share In My Life. I Opened A Share Account
With $14,000.00 After Attending The TradingEdge Workshop . . . In Six
Months My Account is OVER $21,000!”

8. The Command Headline:
This tells your customers what to do. Your command should encourage action by offering your prospect a benefitwhich will help them. The most effective command headlines start out with action verbs.
Examples:
“Stop Baldness Today Before Your Head Looks Like A Bowling Ball”
“Stop Wasting Time On Advertising Guesswork”
“Stop Being An Advertising Victim”

If you also have lists, quotes, or articles, I invite you to share themin the comment section below.

Innovation that come from the words and thoughts of others often come through a new route in the imagination:  free association.  This can lead you to explore links that would not be ordinarily brought to bear.  It increases your probability of looking at the challenge in a new way.

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