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2010 Headlines

by Paul Mascetta
13 replies
Years ago, it seemed as though longer headlines with 2-3 subs worked really well for getting attention.

Now I'm seeing alot of people doing simpler, straight to the point stuff.

I'm a copy writer in my spare time but still pretty damn good at judging by what I've been able to generate for my clients conversion wise.

We've seen some sick conversions with headlines like the one's below which I know alot of people would think are to ovetr the top.

"Super-Educated, Hypnotist To The Stars Reveals The Mind-Blowing Secret Techniques That Enable You To Control Virtually Every Move and Decision That Others Make By Simply Talking To Them!"

"Now Even The Thoughts Of Other People Can Be Orchestrated To Meet Your Every Desire With Nothing More Than Mere Words!"

"This Intoxicating Potion Of Persuasion Can Be Used At Any Given Moment To Entrance the Likes Of Anyone Into Giving You Exactly What You Want!"

"Discover How And Why Some People Have Their Every Wish Granted By Doing Nothing But Speaking...While Others Work Themselves To The Bone Only To Wind Up Broke, Unhappy And Lonely."

But I wonder if we'de see better one's if we simplified them.

I know spilt testing is of course the only real way to find out but what are your opinions on headlines nowadays?

Do you think it all depends on niche, market, audience, etc?

Or are we seeing a generally better way to write them by simplifying them?
#2010 #headlines
  • Profile picture of the author JasonParker
    Think you answered your own question...

    You never know until you split test.

    I don't think any headline rules are universal across all niches, all products, and working with all angles...
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Cohen
    Originally Posted by Paul Mascetta View Post

    Years ago, it seemed as though longer headlines with 2-3 subs worked really well for getting attention.

    Now I'm seeing alot of people doing simpler, straight to the point stuff.

    I'm a copy writer in my spare time but still pretty damn good at judging by what I've been able to generate for my clients conversion wise.

    We've seen some sick conversions with headlines like the one's below which I know alot of people would think are to ovetr the top.

    "Super-Educated, Hypnotist To The Stars Reveals The Mind-Blowing Secret Techniques That Enable You To Control Virtually Every Move and Decision That Others Make By Simply Talking To Them!"

    "Now Even The Thoughts Of Other People Can Be Orchestrated To Meet Your Every Desire With Nothing More Than Mere Words!"

    "This Intoxicating Potion Of Persuasion Can Be Used At Any Given Moment To Entrance the Likes Of Anyone Into Giving You Exactly What You Want!"

    "Discover How And Why Some People Have Their Every Wish Granted By Doing Nothing But Speaking...While Others Work Themselves To The Bone Only To Wind Up Broke, Unhappy And Lonely."

    But I wonder if we'de see better one's if we simplified them.

    I know spilt testing is of course the only real way to find out but what are your opinions on headlines nowadays?

    Do you think it all depends on niche, market, audience, etc?

    Or are we seeing a generally better way to write them by simplifying them?
    Sugarman made millions with super-short headlines. Nicholas says headlines should be 17 words or less. Carlton and Pagan use long headlines with great results.

    As the previous poster said, test. It's your only reliable yardstick.

    Alex
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    • Profile picture of the author John_S
      Send me to any city in the United States. Take away my wallet. Give me $100 for living expenses. And in 72 hours I'll buy an excellent piece of real estate using none of my own money.

      Mega headline. Simple. Classic.

      What are the whopping big differences between this mega headline and yours?
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      • Profile picture of the author Mr. Subtle
        Originally Posted by John_S View Post

        Send me to any city in the United States. Take away my wallet. Give me $100 for living expenses. And in 72 hours I'll buy an excellent piece of real estate using none of my own money.

        Mega headline. Simple. Classic.
        Are you sure that was a headline? I've been searching for the ad for a long time and have never come across it. Here's what Allen says...

        As you might know, I'm famous for my many media challenges. My first and most famous challenge took place with the Los Angeles Times. To help promote my New York Times bestseller, Nothing Down, I had said

        "Send me to any city in the United States. Take away my wallet. Give me $100 for living expenses. And in 72hours I'll buy an excellent piece of real estate using none of my own money."

        Well, little could I have imagined that the Los Angeles Times would take me up on my challenge and drop me in San Francisco with an LA Times reporter.
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        • Profile picture of the author AylaPress


          "Send me to any city in the United States. Take away my wallet. Give me $100 for living expenses. And in 72hours I'll buy an excellent piece of real estate using none of my own money."

          I love this quote. Speaks right to you. Challenges you, and does it with authority.
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      • Profile picture of the author Paul Mascetta
        Originally Posted by John_S View Post

        Send me to any city in the United States. Take away my wallet. Give me $100 for living expenses. And in 72 hours I'll buy an excellent piece of real estate using none of my own money.

        Mega headline. Simple. Classic.

        What are the whopping big differences between this mega headline and yours?
        It would definately promt me to read on........IF I got past the second sentence. I had to read it twice to understand it. That's just me though.
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      • Profile picture of the author cjp231
        Originally Posted by John_S View Post

        Send me to any city in the United States. Take away my wallet. Give me $100 for living expenses. And in 72 hours I'll buy an excellent piece of real estate using none of my own money.
        what an unbelievable statement. But he says it with authority and he makes it believable. Very interesting.

        Twist

        Take away all my online businesses. Delete my massive mailing list. And Give me a laptop, $100.00, and 30 days. I'll have a residual income stream large enough to retire on...



        Neat structure....Essentially:

        1. Put me where you are or worse
        2. Give me a short amount of time
        3. I'll Show you unbelievable results


        Instead of telling the person what they can do (unbelievable)...This "challenge" excites the prospect about what can be done (believable).
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        • Profile picture of the author Jason Fladlien
          I had that Robert Allen ad somewhere but lost it. That was the headline. If I'm not mistaken, Gary Halbert wrote it. If he didn't, then I do know he did a LOT of the marketing stuff for Robert Allen back in the day.

          AS for the topic of headlines that work now, I have found simple straight foward headlines have worked best for me... but there is more than one way to do really well with headlines...

          Things as simple as...

          "How to make money with facebook fan pages"

          "Take A Marketer To Lunch Who Did $117,036.04 In The Month Of June -- The Month His Daughter Was Born..."

          "I Will Cut You A Check For $1,000 If I Can't Turn You Into A Near World Class Copywriter In Less Than 6 Weeks..."

          "Set Up A Membership Site In Under 6 Minutes With Free Software"

          Those have done unbelievably well for me as of late.
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          Co-creator of WP Twin. Perhaps the most expensive yet most reliable wordress cloning tool on the market. We've definitely been used more successfully than all other options :)

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  • Profile picture of the author John_S
    I am reasonably sure. I am looking at my file text, not the actual ad, but...

    Several years ago, I ran a full page ad in The Wall Street Journal and other major newspapers which destroyed this dangerous myth. It carried the following headline:

    "Send me to any city in the United States. Take away my wallet. Give me $100 for living expenses. In 72 hours I will buy an excellent piece of real estate using none of my own money."

    This is what happened. I was challenged by the Los Angeles Times to live up to my claim. They flew me to Los Angeles, where I met Martin Baron, the L.A. Times reporter, and together we flew from Los Angeles to San Francisco. When we arrived at the airport, I handed him my wallet and he handed me five crisp twenty dollar bills.
    As I understand it, Allen ran quite a few different ads.

    For the purpose of this thread, might be a good way to explain why this is better than the other mega headlines as if it were.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Cohen
      Numerous "mega" headlines have done very well ... both in space ads and on the web. That's beyond dispute.

      So have numerous short headlines. And headlines in between.

      To make a general statement that one particular headline length is better just doesn't wash.

      Test.

      Alex
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  • Profile picture of the author Todd R
    Headlines are for hooking attention, so start with long or short depending on which you think will be most affective at grabbing the reader's eyes and getting them to the next line.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin-VirtualProfitCenter
    Good thread.

    Whether a headline is long or short the structure of the headline is important as well. People read in "chunks" and we need to write headlines that can be read the same way.
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