Learning to create good headlines takes skill, practice and also testing. The headline you use in the search engine results page (e.g. a Google search results page) can determine if your link is clicked or not. Create a compelling headline and your chances that your headline will be clicked is significantly increased. The same applies to adverts. Headlines capture the browser. This logic can also be applied to tweets.
Many copy writing techniques have been developed in both off-line and on-line direct response marketing to improve the effectiveness of headlines. One way that you can learn what works best for your audience, is to test different versions of your headline.
Here are 10 changes you can test in your headlines:
1. Try presenting statistical information in different ways.
- 7 out of 10 marketers don’t test their headlines
- 70% marketers don’t test their headlines
- 7/10 marketers don’t test their headlines
2. Try turning a statement into a question
- Test different headlines to improve your results
- Do you test different headlines to improve your results?
- Can you test different headlines to improve your results?
- Will you test different headlines to improve your results?
3. Test using emotive words
- Turn your headlines into eyeball sucking conversion machines
4. Vary font, colour, weight, capitalisation and size
- Test different headlines to improve your results
- Test different headlines to improve your results
- TEST DIFFERENT HEADLINES TO IMPROVE YOUR RESULTS
- TEST DIFFERENT HEADLINES TO IMPROVE YOUR RESULTS
5. Try different lengths of headline
- Test different headlines to improve your results
- Try testing a variety of different headlines to see which gets the best results
6. Test using exclamation points
- Test different headlines to improve your results!
7. Test benefits versus features
- Test different headlines to improve your results
- By testing headlines you can increase your sales and pay for your overheads
8. Test first person (we/I) versus 3rd person (you/your)
- We can help to test different headlines to improve results
- You can test different headlines to improve your results
9. Test using quotations in the headline (although you should consider the length of the headline)
- John has agreed to test different headlines
- John has agreed “to target improved results by testing different headlines”
10. Test the reading level of the headline
- Few marketers use multi-variate tests on their headlines (Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level = 12)
- Few marketers carry out enough tests on their headlines (Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level = 9.9)
- Few marketers do enough tests on their headlines (Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level = 2.4)
You can test these variations using a multi-variate testing tool like the Google Website Optimiser.
Optimisation is a process of continual improvement. Whist it can be overwhelming with so many things to focus on it’s important to start somewhere and to review regularly. Every day you do not optimise your site is another day you are potentially loosing sales that are rightly yours.