But the more I scribbled, the clearer it became this wasn't the best headline for you, beleaguered reader. My job as a writer and editor is to make your job easier, right?

Great questions to ask yourself

So what makes a winning headline? Is it clever or cute? Does it cut to the core?

Is it alliterative? Memorable? Does it promise a benefit? Is it stunningly simple?

Does it sum up your article, email or e-book? Does it use trigger words for your audience? Does it include action verbs? Is it descriptive?

Does it appeal to your readers' emotions?

Whether it's the headline of an article, the subject line of an email or the title of an e-book report, the headline is one of the hardest phrases or sentences to write. (In this article I use the term "headline" to stand for any of these.)

Use placeholder titles

I wrestle with headlines every time I publish an issue of WordBiz Report. I give each item in the table of contents a "placeholder" title.

Then at the last minute, before pushing Send, I re-write each article headline so it's as short, succinct and intriguing as possible. I even look at the number of characters so they're not all the same length.

Obsessive? Maybe. But here's what copywriter Joe Vitale said about headlines at The Big Seminar:

"I write the headline first... knowing that I'll change it 100 times. I like to have it as an anchor. I go back and forth between the body copy and the headline when I'm writing a sales letter."

(Quoted from page 15 of my notes from The Big Semina. Click here if you're interested in more direct response copywriting tips to improve conversion on your site.)


SO WHAT ARE THE 5 EASY STEPS?


1. Appeal to your target audience's emotions

Whether they're IT geeks or CXX-level executives, they've got feelings. Make things easier, quicker, simpler for them. Unravel a knotty problem. Offer an emotional benefit.

When you use canned marketing-speak to try and tap into a B2B (business to business) audience, you're doomed. They're as immune as anyone to jargon.

2. Identify their trigger words

This is a fascinating concept for me. But it makes perfect sense. Does this headline work?

Explode your profits with our amazing, results-guaranteed database integration system!

Hmmm... I'm using words from Joe Vitale's list of "hypnotic headline words:" explode, amazing, results, guaranteed.

But they're not right for this B2B audience.

How about something like this: Easily customize our database integration system: save time, reduce headaches and wipe out your legacy troubles forever.

Also on the list of hypnotic headline words are: easily, customize, save, reduce. You get the idea.


3. Consider using a software writing tool

A colleague on an email discussion list suggested this to me a while back. I resisted using it till I started to write this article. Then I figured, what the heck.

I purchased Headline Creator Pro ($29.95; quick download) and plugged in questions to come up with a better headline for this article. Lo and behold, it works!

It asks you four questions and you fill in the answers:

- what will your product help the customer do (general benefit)?

- how quickly can you help the customer accomplish this goal?

- what are the expected results of reaching this goal ($$'s saved, time gained, etc.)

- how many steps or tips are you giving your customer to help them?

Then you click "Create Headline" and it generates 100 suggested headline variations. I was amazed. They were good. They were more specific, more results-oriented and more compelling than what I initially considered. Ahem... remember Anatomy of a Winning Headline?

WebReference.com: Writing Headlines


This article was originally published in the Sept. 17, 2003 issue of WordBiz Report