Your headline is by far, the most important part of your ad, website, or sales letter. It’s important because you want to immediately attract the right people to buy whatever it is you’re selling… and it’s also important because you want to alienate the wrong people as well.

And reality is, you’ve got about a second and a half to capture your reader’s attention, and if you don’t do it in that time, they’re off and running to the next thing on their mind, or in the stack of crap they’re wading through on their desk.

So with this in mind, here are 3 tips for creating stronger headlines:

1. The easiest thing to do is to simply add “How To,” to almost anything. A brief scan of your daily newspaper, for instance, might find ads that read like this:

“Bake your favorite chocolate chip cookies, in only half the time!”

Look Years Younger

and… “Move Safely, Knowing All Your Valuables Are Protected!”

Now just look at how much more powerful and how much more compelling these headlines read, when you simply add “How To” to them:

“How to bake your favorite chocolate chip cookies, in only half the time!”

How To Look Ten Years Younger

and… “How To Move Safely, Knowing All Your Valuables Are Protected!”

This is like your old standby, super reliable thing to do, if writing copy is more like a trip to the dentist for you, than anything else.

2. Let people know who the ad is for, right away.

So for instance, you can add what’s called a “flag” to the front of your headline, which is simply a way for you to call attention to your readers. Like this:

Tampa Bay Real Estate Investors: Announcing a sure-fire way to pick up properties for less than 10 cents on the dollar!

Or… “UCLA Medical Students: Don’t even THINK about picking a dormitory, until you read this message!”

See, this one’s nice because it lets you determine, without exception, who gets into your funnel, and who doesn’t.

3. And lastly, whenever you’re struggling… the most important thing you can put into your headline, is the solution to the deepest fear, problem or concern your prospects have.

Like this: “Eliminate Back Pain, Without Painful Surgery And Costly Chiropractic Appointments”

or… “Thinking About Getting A Divorce? Before the lawyers take every dime you have, you must read this Free Report:”

Or this one: “I GUARANTEE (With My Own Money!) You Will Walk Out Of My January 2009 Ad Writing Workshop, With A Completed Display Ad, Website, Sales Letter, Or Lead-Generation Ad, No Matter WHAT You Do For A Living! (And don’t worry, you’ll even get to go over it with me after the workshop, in case it takes you a little longer!)”

Make sense?

So use these three techniques the next time you’re working on a headline — they’ll make your job easier, and improve your results, dramatically.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. If You’re Going To Work Hard Anyway, Then You Might As Well Get Rich At It — And The Quicker, The Better, Right? Find out more, here: http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl

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