Online Business Freedom

If you’ve been writing sales copy for any amount of time you may know where I’m going with this article.

But since headlines have accounted for up to 1800% increases in response rates by legendary ad men such as Gary Halbert, Ted Nicholas, and Jay Abraham, it’s worth mentioning again.

If you’re completely new to the world of direct response marketing, either online or offline, the skill I am about to talk about will be vital to your success.

So let’s get to it.

In a previous post, “25 Top Headlines (or Email Subject Lines) to Supercharge Your Copy,” I shared 25 of the most successful headlines of all time.

These headlines were proven winners that made a king’s ransom for the copywriters who used them in their ads.

Here’s how YOU can leverage the power of these headlines for your own business.

Let’s look at a few examples:

Discover the Fortune That Lies Hidden In Your Salary

By piquing the curiosity of your reader you can tap into the irresistible power of the cliffhanger — to have your prospect riveted to the next line of your sales message.

Your prospect asks herself, “Wait a second. How is there a fortune in my salary? I can barely make my paycheck last every two weeks, let alone squeeze a FORTUNE out of it. What’s this all about?”

By alluding to the fact that there is a massive secret they are overlooking in their everyday lives, you trigger greed, curiosity, and self interest.

So let’s use this template for your business. Here’s the formula:

Discover the _________ That Lies Hidden In Your _________

For example…

Discover the Information Publishing Empire That Lies Hidden In Your Mind

See how that works? How about…

Discover the Secret to Long Life and Vitality That Lies Hidden In Your Refrigerator

Okay, let’s move on. Here’s the next headline.

Do You Make These Mistakes in English?

I almost didn’t include this one because I’m sure many of you have read it before. But no matter how many times I read this headline, in any variation, I always end up reading the ad or article that accompanies it.

It’s that powerful.

In fact, my blog entry entitled “Are You Making These Mistakes in Article Marketing?” is BY FAR my most popular post.

I’m sure the headline had a lot to do with that.

So let’s take a closer look at it.

This headline really triggers the emotion of potential loss.

If the topic is one that you care about, you want to be sure that you are NOT making the mistakes that the author is alluding to.

Here’s how to use it for your own purposes.

Do You Make These Mistakes in __________?

You would fill in the blank with a topic of extreme importance in your industry.

For example…

Do You Make These Mistakes in Choosing a Profitable Market?

Ooo, that’s a touchy one for Internet Marketers, isn’t it?

No one wants to choose a market for an information product, only to realize later that there is no money in it!

How about…

Do You Make These Mistakes in Real Estate Investing?

Do you Make These Mistakes in Your Relationships?

You can really substitute any topics of interest in this template.

But just because it is simple to use please don’t overlook the power of this headline.

Let’s move on to our final headline template.

Who Else Wants a Screen Star Figure?

You can tell by the wording that this is an older headline. But the principle remains the same.

This headline template relies heavily on envy and greed.

All you are doing is filling in the blank of something that your prospects heavily desire.

Who Else Wants ___________ ?

So this could be…

Who Else Wants a Cushy, 6 Figure Online Income, With No Hard Work?

How about…

Who Else Wants to Wipe Out All Their Credit Card Debt in 17 Months, Guaranteed?

Again, this is an extremely simple template to use, which is why I’ve included it in this post.

In later entries we will get more in depth with headlines, but for now, it is important for you to understand the principles behind using headline templates.

Just as John Caples said, using templates is like a crutch. It is in no way to be substituted for original thinking.

Understanding the emotional and psychological principles behind this exercise is the most important idea to take away.

When you understand what gets your prospect’s attention you will have the power to create impossible to ignore headlines without the aid of templates.

Hope this helps.

-James D. Lee

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