Sorry for the choice of headline for this blog, but I was trying to catch your attention very quickly which is what we all want to do with our posts, our articles and our sales pages.

I’m sure you all receive e-mails and look at blogs and the first thing that catches your eye is the headline or subject matter. If they do not grab your attention in the first couple of seconds then you have lost your audience and they are off to the next one.

I, like you, have subscribed to a lot of blogs and sites over the years and I do not believe I have opened even 5% of the messages I’ve received because the headline did not make me want to open the posting. But the one thing we all need as Internet Marketers, is to attract the reader in with a powerful headline and get him reading our sales copy so that he eventually buys from us.

And why did I open this 5% of the messages received? Because the headline intrigued or interested me and I wanted to read more!

I was on a Partnership To Success student webinar last night where Randy Smith and a couple of others were reviewing the Sales page of a forthcoming product release by John Koen. The way they analysed and scrutinised the headline demonstrated the importance of a great, not just good, introduction to capture the reader’s attention. I’m sure John’s release will go much better following the rigorous examination his sales page received.

Over the years I have kept a swipe file of headlines that have made me open the message, and even some that I have totally ignored. I hope when I write my sales pages and also articles and blogs that I have drawn upon this success or failure criteria and have managed to turn it for my own good.

I also found an article about headlines that convert, i.e. great copy writing, and that gives you 20 or 30 examples of attention grabbing titles into which you insert your own specific words to create a full converting headline.

Do you have any favourite good, or bad, headlines? Why not share them below in the Comments section?

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    7 replies to "That Is Unbelievable?"

    • Pauline

      Hi Dave

      It is very interesting what you say about headlines grabbing the attention of readers to get them to open up their mails. Yes your blog heading did intrigue me enough to know what is ‘Unbelievable’. I like your idea about keeping a file on headings that have made you open up an email, I shall start to do that myself. Thank you

      To your success
      Pauline

      • Dave Thomas

        Thanks Pauline

        At least one person reacted as I hoped 🙂

        The swipe file is a good idea for saving ideas that you can reuse later in your own writing

        To your success

        DaveT

    • Kevin G

      Hi Dave

      It is so true that a very catchy or attention grabbing headline or title will make the difference between people taking the time to open your mail instead of just discarding it.

      A great idea to keep a list of headings that have made you open the emails!

      To your success

      Kevin

      • DaveThomas

        Kevin

        Thanks for the comment

        I notice that in the Bloggers Roadmap, he lists a whole series of part headlines in which you insert relevant words for your specific product

        Always can go back to that for an idea if you are having difficulty

        DaveT

    • Torsten Müller

      Hi Dave,

      the headline of a blog post – or the subject line of an email – is the most important part of the content. If they don’t interest the reader, they won’t click through to read the rest of it.

      As for emails, I have a dedicated email that I use just to subscribe to other marketers mailing list. When I need an idea for an interesting subject line, I open upd that email account and have an almost unlimited vault full of ideas for inspiration.

      Cheers,
      Torsten

      • DaveThomas

        Torsten

        That is where my swipe file does the same job!

        No need to reinvent something that is already out there!

        Thanks for the comment

        DaveT

    • […] important stage and can be a make or break for your sales letter. I have written previously, That Is Unbelievable outlining the need to catch readers attention which might be worth referring to as you read this […]

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