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How to write great headlines and get more clients

How to write great headlines and get more clients | copywriting blogging | copywriterThat was easy, wasn’t it?

There’s a promise (you’ll learn how to write great headlines) and a benefit (you’ll get more clients and make more money). And that makes it irresistible.

If only it was always so simple.

It could be, if it weren’t for something else that’s irresisitible.

For I have a weakness, and it’s one shared by most writers: clever headlines. It’s fun to pun, so we do. But clever isn’t so clever, as you’ll see.

Let’s say I’m writing three blog entries. Each has a catchy title, and a descriptive subtitle:

  • Snap! Top tips for digital photography
  • Are you being served? Why the customer comes first every time
  • Foreign affairs – The guaranteed way to learn a language

In each case, the subtitle tells you just what the article is about. And that’s absolutely crucial, especially in the world of blogging.  There’s just one problem: it’s the post title is being indexed, fed to RSS readers and linked to. So here’s what people see:

  • Snap
  • Are you being served?
  • Foreign affairs

Not so good now, are they? For all the casual reader knows, the articles might be about card games, a camp 1970s BBC sitcom and international relations.

And there goes your click rate.

I know – it’s a shame. Descriptive headlines are so much more enjoyable to write. And when you’ve written a particularly good one, there’s nothing better than sitting back, reading it several times and admiring your handiwork. You might even let a little smile spread across your face.

When that happens, here’s what you should do: stop, delete, start all over again.

And when your headline is finally ready, always, always proof-read it. Mistakes in headlines are embarrassing and damaging.

I should know.

Some time back, when I’d finished polishing my Top copywriting tips, I received a call from a nice woman named Helen. She couldn’t resist getting in touch to ask me about Tip number 1: Features, not benefits. Was this a reverse psychology thing, she wondered?

I still wince when I think about it.

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October 26th, 2007 | Category: Blogging, Copywriting | Leave a comment

Tell me what to do

Direct orders are an obvious tactic – but they work

Tell me what to do | marketing copywriting | copywriterOver at Copyblogger, Brian Clark has an interesting article about ‘actionable anchor text’ for links.

It means that the link tells people what to do. So instead of writing:

Know your audience

You write:

Know your audience: Click here to read.

Simply telling people to click makes them click. It runs contrary to all best practices in web design and search-engine optimisation. A link that says ‘Click here’ is a wasted link they say.

But it’s not. Clickthrough rates are much higher when you tell people to click.

It’s hardly surprising. If you’re cruising along in your car on the open road and you see a sign that says Slow down, you’ll probably check your speed.

The same applies to Now wash your hands or Don’t walk on the grass. Nobody’s forcing you to do it and nobody’s watching. But that little voice inside your head is telling you to do what the sign says.

Dates are another powerful way to reinforce a call to action. Offer ends 23 September! is guaranteed to provoke a response, especially if coupled with Buy now or Order while stocks last.

Negative orders can also be effective, but you have to be careful. Don’t buy in Spain! doesn’t work unless you see, in a smaller font (until you read this FREE report).

And sometimes, negative orders don’t work at all. Recently, I received a big white envelope – unaddressed, but delivered with my regular mail. Don’t open if you don’t care about the environment it said.

I hesitated, unsure what they wanted me to do, and what I should do. And then I found the perfect solution for the unopened letter.

The recycle bin.

  • And here’s the acid test. Brian Clark’s blog entry Does Telling Someone to “Click Here” Actually Matter?: Click here to read.
September 21st, 2007 | Category: Copywriting, Marketing | Leave a comment
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