SuperTips Ezine: Issue 28
IN THIS ISSUE
2. "How To Write Headlines That Will
Attract Interested Prospects and 3. Readers Forum 4. Free Software
5. More "Super" Tips
6. Publications of Interest 7. Contact Information
1. Greetings! Hello Folks, If you don't know how to write an arresting headline how will you get customers to visit your web site ? Michael Buck gives us some ideas in today's feature article. In place of a second article we have a section on free software which is now available at supertips.com One of my favourites is ShortKeys Lite: there's a write up of this in Issue 18 (e18@sendfree.com) but basically you can designate a piece of text (such as your web site url) to a short code say ##w so that merely typing in ##w will automatically input that text (the url). Could life be simpler ? Well yes it can ! When I prepare this newsletter I go through umpteen revisions. But in order to get the document up on the screen each time I just hit ONE key. You'll see how I do this later with one of those quick tips which our readers are finding very popular. Regards, Harvey
2. "How To Write Headlines That Will Attract
Interested Prospects All your marketing materials must contain headlines, if you want them to sell. This includes all ads, sales letters, websites, press releases, etc. And yes, I did say websites. Some people don't realize that their website is an advertisement. I come across far too many websites that don't include a headline telling me why I should stay and browse the site! Why should all your marketing materials have headlines? First, competition for your reader's attention is fierce. Everyday, people are bombarded with advertising of all sorts: TV and radio commercials, billboards all over town, newspaper and magazine ads, numerous forms of advertising on the Internet. Even grocery stores are overflowing with ads - special prices, new and improved products, low-fat this, and sugar-free that... and the list goes on. People are becoming numb to this excessive exposure to advertising. And if you want even the slightest chance of selling your product or service, you'd better have powerful headline to grab their attention. Next, you only have a split second to catch your prospect's attention. If you don't have a headline that commands immediate attention, the rest of your copy goes un-read. Which, of course, means you won't get the lead or make the sale. Also, the headline is what gives your prospect a reason to read your ad (or other marketing piece). People don't just read what's put in front of them. They read what interests them and can benefit them in some way. This applies to websites too! With so many websites failing to use this basic, highly effective marketing tool, your site will stand out in the crowd with a compelling headline. Types of headlines Here are some of the most common types of headlines you can use:
1) Promise of a major benefit Often times, good headlines use a combination of these, and I'll discuss each of them in detail. 1) Promise of a Major Benefit This is the safest, most widely used type of headline. And for it to be as effective as possible, it must display the #1 benefit your prospect will receive by purchasing your product or service. The most effective way to determine this benefit is to survey your customers - by phone, email, or postal mail. Ask them the top 3 reasons for purchasing your product or service, and have them rank them in order. It's a good idea to offer your customers an incentive for providing you with this information. A free report related to your product or service is easy to write, and will give you leverage in getting more responses. Once you get 10 (preferably 20 or more) responses, the #1 benefit will be clear. Then simply incorporate this benefit into your headline. If you don't have any customers to survey, you may have to do the work yourself. Write every benefit a customer would experience with your product or service. If you really spend some time on this, you may be surprised to find that what you thought was the #1 benefit was actually secondary. List everything you can think of, and don't hold back - a minor benefit may spark a new idea - revealing the most important benefit. This process can make the difference between an ad that flops and an ad that brings in record-breaking sales. Once you have the #1 benefit, you're half way there. Use some of the following techniques to craft a winning headline for maximum profits.
2) Solution to a problem This type of headline is a slight variation of the #1 benefit headline. The problem solved by your product or service is the #1 benefit - it's just presented in a problem/solution format. Example: "Now You Can Melt at Least 3 Inches of Fat from Your Waist in 30 Days or Less - Guaranteed!" This headline presents the benefit of reducing fat in the waist as the #1 solution to the problem of having excess fat in the waist area. Note: When you use a problem/solution headline, be sure you're providing a real solution or cure to a problem, and not just a way to "prevent" a problem. Solutions are a hundred times easier to sell than prevention. People tend not to worry about problems until they actually exist. Want proof? Just look at how much fast food, tobacco, and alcohol today's society consumes. And look at how many people are out of shape these days. These people don't seem to be very concerned with preventing heart disease, lung cancer, obesity, etc. But when they begin to experience the negative side effects, people want a solution fast. Yes, it is unfortunate. But when you've got the solution to an overwhelming problem, you're in a powerful position to create a win/win situation. You provide the solution in exchange for money in your bank account. 3) The Flag Headline A flag is a phrase calling for the attention of a particular person or group. Use a flag headline to attract your target audience - those most likely to buy your product or service. For example...
Attention: New Mothers! You can also use the flag headline to increase response by catering your offer to readers of the publication you're advertising in. Example...
Attention: Newborn Journal Readers! 4) The Warning Headline This type of headline can yield tremendous results when used properly. There are a few ways to use this approach. Your headline can propose a warning to read your message before making a purchase. Or you can use the warning to flag a specific audience. The following example uses both of these techniques.
* Warning: Dieters * 5) The Testimonial Headline This is simply a satisfied customer testimonial used as a headline. Here's an example: "Big Boulder Protein Powder helped me pack on 11 pounds of muscle and reduce my body fat by 6.4% in only 37 days, without changing my exercise routine, and I'm convinced it can do the same for you too." The quotes around the headline signify that it's an actual quote from a customer, giving it added validity. When using this method, it's important that the testimonial has a strong impact. It must make a significant claim related to a major benefit of your product or service. Don't just use an "average" testimonial, or it won't have the desired effect. A note about using numbers: Specific beats general. In the example above, notice that I used: "11 pounds of muscle" instead of "over 10 pounds" and... "reduced my body fat by 6.4%" instead of just 6% and... "in only 37 days" instead of "less than 6 weeks". These specific numbers make the statement more believable and will bring better results. Another key point: Notice that I used the phrase "without changing my exercise routine". This shows the reader that the product itself (not the workout routine) was solely responsible for the results. It's crucial that your product or service is "easy" to use and get the desired results. People buy simplicity, not complications.
Power Words for Stronger Headlines Here are some power words that will make your headline irresistible:
You Incorporate these words into your headline, where appropriate, and watch your response rates soar.
Headline Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs If you want your headlines to sell (and of course you do), don't waste your time or advertising dollars on these common mistakes. 1) Don't be a comedian (even if you are one) Don't use headlines that try to be clever, cute, or use a play on words. This is definitely NOT the way to get attention and entice readers to take action. Stick with the proven methods discussed earlier. 2) DON'T USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS Capitals will not make your headline more effective. People are just not accustomed to reading words in all capital letters. This just makes it more difficult on the eyes and harder to read. Occasional words may be capitalized for emphasis, but not your entire headline. 3) Don't use excessive punctuation!!!!!!!! Besides looking amateurish, it screams "hype" from a mile away. A big turn-off. 4) Don't let graphics (or anything else) take attention away from your headline. The headline is the most important part of your sales piece. Any distractions will hinder results. You can use graphics to enhance your sales piece, but not to distract from its purpose. 5) Don't try to get "everyone's" attention with your headline If you advertise with the mindset that your product or service is for everyone, you've already lost. Only a specific group of people will respond to your offer. And you should only attempt to reach that specific audience with your headline (and all your other marketing materials). This is a basic marketing principle known as "target marketing" (a great topic for a future article). Now you have a solid foundation for crafting powerful headlines. You have 5 of the most effective headline types... power words that will make your headlines irresistible... and common mistakes to avoid. Use them in all your ads, sales letters, and web copy to attract more prospects and win you more sales.
----------------- About the Author -----------------
3. Readers Forum We know that contributing articles to newsletters is a great form of self promotion. Another method is offering useful feedback or advice, so well done to two of our readers who spotted the opportunity to build on topics from the last issue. First, we talked about how to sell your own product on the Net - when you don't want to go through the hassle of setting up and running the payment operation. The solution is to use a third party company to manage all this for you.
Well Joseph Jobst points out two very important benefits of such companies
But even better, he has produced a comprehensive comparison of third party online payment providers, at <http://linz1.net/eCom/3Pcompare.html>
---------------- Next, the problem of downloading a web page then finding you can't read it offline. William Bontrager has a free script Master Snooper which can view all the original code of a web page. (Some browsers, such as Netscape, when asked to "view source" will only show the source code used to generate the page). It will also show you the code of bouncer pages (ever wondered what code they used when you type in one URL and end up at another?). You can try it out at <http://willmaster.com/master/snooper> either by using the script on that server or downloading it and installing on your own.
4. Free Software SuperTips readers can now choose from a new collection of useful free software here. Here are the free products on offer: Internet Software
AddAce:
Banner Crafter:
ISP Commander:
IVOX ICQ:
Link Crafter:
MailAlert:
PCDJ:
Selfseek:
Sonic Mail:
SSSiter:
SSSpider:
Web-Cam VCR:
Utility Software
Add/remove Plus:
Cam unzip:
File Sniffer:
ShortKeys Lite:
SSScanner:
System Agent:
5. More "Super" Tips
5.1 What's quicker than a shortcut ? I don't think I have ever used a key on the numeric keypad - that's the one on the right of the keyboard. Have you ? If not then it's time to make it earn it's keep. You can make each key act as a shortcut - for example to open a specific folder or document or to run a program. In fact it's just like clicking on a Desktop shortcut, with the advantage that you don't have to have your Desktop visible to do it.
Here's how to accomplish this Then whenever you press 3 on the keypad (and remember you must have your Num Lock key on) you will action that shortcut. 5.2 Make your bookmark stand out If you want your website visitors to return you can ask them to bookmark your site. Your Url will then appear in the bookmark or favourites list in their browser with the standard icon alongside. Now here is how you can make your bookmark stand out from the rest - with your own icon. Currently the only browser to support this feature is Internet Explorer 5. First you create your own icon: you will need a bitmap to icon converter or a full icon creating program. There are freeware and shareware programs available on the web to do this. The icon should have a size of 16x16 pixels with not more than 16 colors. Then you upload your icon file in binary mode with the name favicon.ico to any directory where you would like surfers to bookmark your files. Then Internet Explorer will display your custom icon against every page that is bookmarked.
5.3 Super searching If you do a lot of searching on the Net using the standard search engines you may like to try a 'meta' search engine - that is one which retrieves information from multiple sources. Dogpile at <http://www.dogpile.com> is very popular -it looks at 10 of the top engines to produce its results.
I recently tried a new engine Metor. It's very fast and far reaching. In 10 seconds it managed to find sites which were linking to mine that I had previously been unaware of. Try it at <http://www.metor.com>
5.4 Running your own affiliate program There's no doubt that if you have a product of your own then selling it via an affiliate program is a must-win situation. You can have an army of agents working for you and you pay them commission only when they make a sale. So what's stopping you ? Well in the old days the administration of such a system would consume all your time. You would have to set up duplicate mirror sites for every agent (and change them all if some fundamental global change was necessary), keep track of all sales, calculate commissions, write the checks and so on. And also change personal details of your agents (password, email address, address for sending their checks, phone number). But now there are software products that can automate the whole process for you. To find out about these products with tips on how to make an affiliate program successful and how to recruit agents read this report
5.5 Choose your website host wisely Choosing the right web host is not a decision to take lightly. If one of the top marketing experts had to change his web host SEVEN times before realising what he was doing wrong we can certainly learn from his story. You can read it here.
5.6 An alternative to the free ISP A free ISP is not really free. You may pay for it in other ways: such as poor support (or expensive support), poor performance (downtime, connection speed), bombardment with ads. Virtually Free Internet offer Internet dialup (currently in the US only) for only $15.00 per month - but with a difference. For every customer you refer you receive commission of $5.00 per month. So three referrals will make it the equivalent of a free ISP but with all the superior advantages. But of course as you refer more customers and they do too - 6 levels deep - you will start to earn a substantial growing monthly income. Take a 30 day free trial here
6. Publications of Interest Here is a must read newsletter - a circulation of over 85,000 can't be wrong. The Internet Marketing Chronicles is packed with great articles and ideas. And you can get your name up there in lights if they publish your 7-line Challenge Tip. Sign up here
7. Contact Information Thanks for reading "SuperTips Ezine" - if you know anyone who can benefit from this newsletter please let them know. I always like to hear your feedback, suggestions, comments, and questions. If you have your own article or tip please feel free to contribute it, with your bio information, and you will receive full credit if it gets published.
Thanks,
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