Headline Writing Tips - Using Power Words, Part I
The headline is the most important part of your story.
The reason for this is that five times more people read a headline than the body copy of a story.
Think about how you read a newspaper or a magazine.
Most likely you scan the headlines and only read the news stories and advertisements that have a headline that catches your attention and interest.
That is why writing an attention grabbing headline is so vitally important.
Writing headlines is a skill that you will learn with practice and patience.
It is worth the work of writing good headlines, because one headline can out produce another headline by as much as 1800% with no change in the body of the story at all.
That means that a promotion which made $1,000 could have made as much as $18,000 just by changing the headline.
Suddenly, a promotion that could have been unsuccessful has the potential to be a real moneymaker.
An effective headline will capture the reader's attention and create a desire to continue reading your story.
For this reason, your headline is the most important part of your message.
Without your headline driving people to read your message, you will not have readers.
You may have written the most wonderful message ever, but it will produce nothing if your headline does not capture the reader's interest and desire to act.
Headlines have the power to tap into your emotions, wants and needs.
Simple words can have a significant psychological impact on you.
When you see or read something that caters to your desires you tend to act on that desire to satisfy it.
You feel that you must read on to see how the website is going to help you.
With this in mind, what should the headline say or do to attract attention? A good headline will attract attention, be easy to read, and create enough curiosity to cause a reader to continue on to the rest of the story.
Use strong "power words" like Free, Breakthrough, Sale, and Secret.
Simply using words like these along with words like Shed and Amazing will create a strong sense of emotion in the reader.
They will become intrigued by the words and convinced to read on.
The effect these power words have is almost hypnotic.
Other power words such as Discover, Build, Learn, Fast, and Sell also encourage the reader to stay on your page and read more of your story.
The reason for this is that five times more people read a headline than the body copy of a story.
Think about how you read a newspaper or a magazine.
Most likely you scan the headlines and only read the news stories and advertisements that have a headline that catches your attention and interest.
That is why writing an attention grabbing headline is so vitally important.
Writing headlines is a skill that you will learn with practice and patience.
It is worth the work of writing good headlines, because one headline can out produce another headline by as much as 1800% with no change in the body of the story at all.
That means that a promotion which made $1,000 could have made as much as $18,000 just by changing the headline.
Suddenly, a promotion that could have been unsuccessful has the potential to be a real moneymaker.
An effective headline will capture the reader's attention and create a desire to continue reading your story.
For this reason, your headline is the most important part of your message.
Without your headline driving people to read your message, you will not have readers.
You may have written the most wonderful message ever, but it will produce nothing if your headline does not capture the reader's interest and desire to act.
Headlines have the power to tap into your emotions, wants and needs.
Simple words can have a significant psychological impact on you.
When you see or read something that caters to your desires you tend to act on that desire to satisfy it.
You feel that you must read on to see how the website is going to help you.
With this in mind, what should the headline say or do to attract attention? A good headline will attract attention, be easy to read, and create enough curiosity to cause a reader to continue on to the rest of the story.
Use strong "power words" like Free, Breakthrough, Sale, and Secret.
Simply using words like these along with words like Shed and Amazing will create a strong sense of emotion in the reader.
They will become intrigued by the words and convinced to read on.
The effect these power words have is almost hypnotic.
Other power words such as Discover, Build, Learn, Fast, and Sell also encourage the reader to stay on your page and read more of your story.
