What we're looking at is a crime scene. The death of an ad from a badly written headline.
Sixty percent of people never get past your
headline before their eyes move on to something else, so writing headlines
is a crucial skill that you have to master and that's what we're going to look at today.
My name is Steve Girdlestone, I'm a copywriter and I want to talk to
you today about headlines how to construct effective headlines that don't get ignored
On average, every single person is exposed to four thousand to ten thousand ads every single day
so your headline has to compete with 9999 other headlines.
So we could safely say people are not that bothered with what you have to say. Your
headline has to stand out, so how do you do that? What separates a good one from one that stinks?
Well let's face it, people are pretty selfish when it comes to ads.
They need a good reason to read on, a "what's in it for me" kind of thing.
And who can blame them really because there are so many ads out there. They want a benefit. Tell
them how you will help them, how you will make their life easier, a problem that you will solve.
Make your reader a promise you can deliver on and that will give them a reason to read on.
A lot of ads use this tactic because it's great at grabbing attention.
Where it falls down though is if your competition is saying exactly the same thing.
Your ad just becomes wallpaper, following the same pattern as everyone else. That's
when it's time to have a re-think. Try using numbers. People love numbers.
If you ask a psychologist they'll tell you it's because we like certainty.
We know what we're gonna get with a list. Headlines like "five lazy Sunday breakfast
recipes" or "the ten best cameras in the world" or "the hundred greatest guitarists."
We know what we're going to get. Lists just work. Use percentages or ratios in your headlines
to make them more believable. Figures act as evidence. It's much harder to
argue with a figure than it is an opinion. If you're going to use a percentage or a sum
use the exact figure, don't round it up. The actual sum is a lot more convincing.
Ratios are fun because they implant a picture in people's minds, turns words into a picture
which is always easy for the mind to process. Try turning a statement into a question because
naturally we want to find out the answer. A question initiates a conversation with our reader
which is great because we're starting a dialogue, we're playing on our reader's
natural curiosity to find out more. According to Mr. Ogilvy,
ads with news are recalled by 22% more people, so new colors, new products,
new improvements all catch people's attention. Be specific. Readers have the attention span
of a goldfish, I mean you're lucky to get two seconds from them so
try not to communicate more than one thing. So no "And" or "Plus" in your headlines,
just stick to one subject matter, one message, with one takeout.
Quotes make good headlines. Quotes from an expert, quotes from a buyer,
quotes from a user. It builds trust and then reassurance, especially if it's from an expert.
Keep your headlines short, easy enough to be taken in at a glance. People often skim read,
so if they can read quickly it will help you get your communication across but
writing short headlines is difficult, there's always a balance between brevity and clarity.
You want it to be clear, so start off by writing long and then chopping out all the words you
don't need. It's much better to find the right thing to say first and then try to shorten it.
Your headline more than anything else will determine the success of your ad. A
picture might be worth a thousand words but it's the headline that makes sense of it.
It's the thing that pulls in your readers in. It makes the sales,
so writing great headlines takes practice.
Be clear first and clever second, don't give your reader any excuse to skip to the next headline.
Okay, good luck with your writing. If it was useful please leave a
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