The most effective headlines!

[Li Weng]

What are some of the greatest headlines you've come across?

[jake9999]

worlds greatest secrets.

[Loren Woirhaye]

"FREE PORN!"

It's credible, taps into massive demand, promotes
a customer-centric offer (something for nothing),
it's a "stopper", and you understand the offer
instantly.

[mydavis3]

LOL ..."FREE PORN"

[Stephen Dean]

I have a fondness for this one...

“Tova Borgnine Swears Under Oath That Her New Perfume Does Not Contain An Illegal Sexual Stimulant!”

I wrote about it here: He Told A Public Forum My Headline Was Worthless

And the amazing man who wrote it, discusses it here: The Gary Halbert Letter

For headline templates, I like the If/Then formula.

Stephen Dean
stephensblog.com

[Li Weng]

Originally Posted by Loren Woirhaye

"FREE PORN!"

It's credible, taps into massive demand, promotes
a customer-centric offer (something for nothing),
it's a "stopper", and you understand the offer
instantly.

Reminds me of "Get Paid To Watch Porn!", which is even better!

[Trebor_Revo]

I've found what makes the most effective headlines doesn't have to do with the structure of them, ie: Questions.."Who else wants..." "Are you making these copywriting mistakes... or claims or story's..."They laughed..."

I've found the biggest element to headline success is the appeal - the core promise/topic without the adjectives.

One of my clients serves loan officers. I discovered through testing that more than increased commissions, leads, etc, etc, they wanted referrals.

Any subject line/headline with referrals in it always out pulled the others.

So, the main thing is to find the appeal they most want - and get that right - before worrying about the form or structure of the headline.

We ran with referrals as a theme for over 10 years by keeping it fresh...

"How to turn CPA's and Financial Planners into a referral super-highway"

"Referral secrets of Million-dollar originators"

5 Meltdown Market Referral Strategies...

In the first chapter of Caples book on headlines - he starts by saying that given 12 months to write an ad, he'd spend 11 months trying to find the right appeal.

The appeal, not the structure, is the thing.

[Stephen Dean]

Originally Posted by Trebor_Revo

The appeal, not the structure, is the thing.

I agree. "Structure" is just a template to insert the appeal into. Finding the appeal does take a lot of hard work, while finding the right template doesn't.

There are lots of templates, I usually work the appeal in to many templates looking for what dresses up the appeal the nicest.

That said, some templates have a record of performing better than others. It's not a bad idea to try them out whenever you're testing headlines.

Stephen Dean
stephensblog.com

[pavondunbar]

"Discover how a man living in a garbage can on Monday made $44,000 on Tuesday! He Reveals His Secrets..."

OK...

LOL...

If this man is living in a garbage can, how in the HELL does he have a computer to work an online business?

LOL...

That was my favorite...I forgot what the product was...

BTW, how was your weekend, Li?

Pavon

[Alex.Blue.Green]

Hey, it was me! Haven´t you ever used the internet at the public library! You will meet lots of homeless people there.

Just kidding.

[Ilya Feynberg]

Originally Posted by Loren Woirhaye

"FREE PORN!"

It's credible, taps into massive demand, promotes
a customer-centric offer (something for nothing),
it's a "stopper", and you understand the offer
instantly.

Damn you found my niche!