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Long Headline VS. Short Headline

by Li Weng
23 replies
The headline accounts for a lot of your
website's conversion.

Many factors contribute to a compelling
and converting headline. These include,
font size, font style, colour and alignment.

But do you think the length of the headline
plays a part in this as well?

Do you prefer long headlines or short headlines?

Which has worked better for you?
#headline #long #short
  • Profile picture of the author FitJerk
    Hasen't this topic been discussed before?

    The rule of thumb is that short head lines work better for opt in pages.

    As for a sales page... doesn't matter. I've seen long head lines work just as well as short ones. John Carlton's test for a perfect headline is... can you take out any words from that headline without disrupting its meaning.

    If you can't... your good. If you can... work needs to be done.

    Stop worry about length, focus on quality instead.
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  • Profile picture of the author RBum78
    I think, long line can help in sellling highly prices products...For low price products use short line
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Ratliff
    The length isn't really what's important...it's the purpose of the headline that's important...

    To get the reader to start reading your sales letter.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stephen Dean
    The test/analysis I've seen on the subject favored long headlines, less than 130 chars (I think) however. In the end, I agree with Mr. Ratliff. You can have great success with both.
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  • Profile picture of the author theverysmartguy
    The length does not really matter, the whole purpose of your headline is to make people want to continue reading. So if the headline clicks something in them, that makes them want to find out more, then its a good headline. And this can be done either long or short.
    So, that basically means, its whats in the headline that counts, not its length.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Malave
    The easy answer is to test. I believe it varies from market to market and product to product.

    I see these little niche sites that sell things like getting rid of termites... and the headlines starts by... "22 year old college dropout from California accidentally discovers a revolutionary breakthrough secret to permanently end termites without killing them...guaranteed!"

    Sometimes depending on your product is better to tell them what result you can give them and in what amount of time.

    So in conclusion. Test. Because you can have a powerful short headline and crappy long headline. or a crappy short headline, and a powerful long one. too many variables.
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  • Profile picture of the author icjackson
    While length in and of itself is not a gauge of effectiveness, we can learn one thing about sales letter headlines from the news industry:

    ANY unnecessary words should be omitted, period.

    Most news headlines don't contain articles; one reason for this is that psychologically, people expect someone who is honest and objective to tell a story in as few words as possible. We subconsciously figure that if you're really delivering the facts, it shouldn't take all day.

    And that's actually true!

    When I write sales letters for clients, I just say as much as I can with as few words as humanly possible. It fosters credibility, and it helps to move the reader along to the call to action.

    Internet savvy shoppers are moving away from the long, fluff-filled sales letters of the past to what I like to call "microletters".

    My two cents :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author FitJerk
    Check this out:
    77 Laws

    This is Eben's (David D's) Sales page for his 77 laws of success with dating.

    This guy does 20 Mil a year... so he must be doing something right... right?

    On the other hand... Matt Furey usually has short head lines... and apparently he sells pretty good too.

    Take from this what you will... but IMO you are just asking the wrong question

    My 2 cents
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    • Profile picture of the author Bruce Wedding
      Originally Posted by metalslug View Post

      Check this out:
      77 Laws

      This is Eben's (David D's) Sales page for his 77 laws of success with dating.

      This guy does 20 Mil a year... so he must be doing something right... right?
      Right, he is doing a lot of things right. One thing he does wrong is not testing his websites:

      Internet Archive Wayback Machine

      Originally Posted by metalslug View Post

      On the other hand... Matt Furey usually has short head lines... and apparently he sells pretty good too.

      Take from this what you will... but IMO you are just asking the wrong question
      The ultimate job of the headline is to get the next line read.

      Everything else being equal, logic dictates that the shorter it is, the more probable the chance of success. Take it to the extreme to prove it to yourself. A one-word headline versus a 1,000 word headline. What percentage of people would read each one and get to the next sentence?

      A headline should float smoothly through the mind like a boat around a lazy river bend.

      If your prospect has to take a breath to finish reading... the boat hit a rock.
      If your prospect has to back up and read something again... the boat hit a rock.
      If your prospect pauses to think, "What does that mean?"... the boat hit a rock.
      If anything in your headline can be interpreted more than one way... the boat hit a rock.

      Mega-headlines indicate an unskilled copywriter or a lazy copywriter. Either he doesn't know better or he didn't take the time to prune the concept down to the essentials.
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      • Profile picture of the author FitJerk
        Originally Posted by Bruce Wedding View Post

        Right, he is doing a lot of things right. One thing he does wrong is not testing his websites:

        Internet Archive Wayback Machine
        Can you back up that statement? I went saw the archive, but my friend has Altitude and I went through the first 50% of it and so far, I have to tell you... he places A LOT of emphasis on testing. Specially when he is ripping apart this dudes great looking website in front of the crowd.
        So I don't see why he wouldn't

        Maybe he tested it before... maybe it worked the first time? I mean... I really don't see why he would leave it up if it doesn't work.

        And yes... the small headline vs 1000 word can help state your point but that's an extreme example IMO.

        I duno... maybe your right. Again I think testing will tell. Eben USUALLY favors the longer head lines and hey... he seems to do pretty well from what I can tell. If anyone knows his conversion rates.... please share.

        I still think the content is more important than the length... the short head line rule will restrict you.

        IMO: Rules exist so you know when to break them...
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        • Profile picture of the author Bruce Wedding
          Originally Posted by metalslug View Post

          Can you back up that statement?
          I thought I just did. If you check the DYD squeeze page, you'll see the same results.

          Originally Posted by metalslug View Post

          ... but my friend has Altitude and I went through the first 50% of it and so far, I have to tell you... he places A LOT of emphasis on testing.
          So my evidence is his actual website history and your "evidence" is what your friend said? LOL

          Of course he emphasizes testing because it is the smart thing to do. But knowing what to do and actually doing it are 2 different things. Even with people selling millions.

          Most "gurus" don't test. Period.
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          • Profile picture of the author FitJerk
            Originally Posted by Bruce Wedding View Post

            I thought I just did. If you check the DYD squeeze page, you'll see the same results.



            So my evidence is his actual website history and your "evidence" is what your friend said? LOL

            ... are you serious?

            I have to explain this? It was based on what EBEN said (in the program)... Why would I listen to my friend about Eben's website history?

            haha anyways. its news to me that gurus don't test... actually kind of surprising. and you're right tho, knowing and doing are two different things... I assumed he practiced what he preached.
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          • Profile picture of the author FitJerk
            Originally Posted by Bruce Wedding View Post


            Of course he emphasizes testing because it is the smart thing to do. But knowing what to do and actually doing it are 2 different things. Even with people selling millions.

            Most "gurus" don't test. Period.
            Just for your information... in case you care. which you should, because you're dead wrong.

            May 2nd, 2001

            http://web.archive.org/web/200105020...ourdating.com/

            May 30th, 2002

            http://web.archive.org/web/200205300...ourdating.com/

            Mar 23rd, 2003

            http://web.archive.org/web/200303230...ourdating.com/

            Like I said. Making $20mil/year is no accident.

            Enjoy.
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            • Profile picture of the author Bruce Wedding
              Originally Posted by metalslug View Post

              Just for your information... in case you care. which you should, because you're dead wrong.

              Like I said. Making $20mil/year is no accident.
              You're right. It must have been another one of his sites. I wouldn't have taught you how to do that if I thought I was wrong. I'll stand by my point, like the first site I showed you, and tell you that most gurus do not test. It's easy to prove, as I taught you.

              Who said $20MM/year was an accident? The truth is, it might have been $40 with proper testing.
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  • Profile picture of the author dburk
    Wait a Minute!

    Headlines and Subheadings offer superior results as a tag team duo.

    I like to think of headlines and subheadings as partners, each having their own separate tasks. The goal of my headline is to stop you in your tracks and to get you to read my subheading. The job of the sub heading is to draw you into the first paragraph.


    Tag team duo:
    • Headline - Stop you in your tracks
    • Subheading - Draw you into the first paragraph
    It's that first paragraph that does the heavy lifting. I just need to draw you into it and that's the goal of my headline and subheading. Why use just one element when you can get better results with the tag team duo?
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  • Profile picture of the author Louis Raven
    Each site is different. The main objective of the headline is to capture their attention and either:

    A. Make them read further and the sales process enters stage 2 (or 3 if you pre-sold with an article)

    B. allows them to make a decision to leave. If they are not interested in the headline subject the rest won't make them more qualified (If you don't like cats the headline won't make you want a cat collar)).

    Long or short doesn't matter in general. What does matter is your ability to make them read further on a site-by-site basis.

    for some niches/products/services it will take 4 sentence headlines whilst others may only take 1.

    Louis
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  • Profile picture of the author Stephen Dean
    For beginning copywriters I usually recommend short headlines. That's because it there are less opportunities to mess up (Bruce demonstrated several ways you can mess up with a long headline).

    My coach was Michel Fortin who likes longer headlines. (Which is different than a mega-headline.) But he suggests that longer headlines work better for markets who are ready to be sold to, and shorter headlines are better for people who you've caught by surprise with a sales letter.

    And for good reason, a long benefit-filled headline gives away that something is for sale (which you only want to do if the visitor expected something was to be for sale).

    Cheers,
    Stephen Dean
    stephensblog.com
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    • Profile picture of the author FitJerk
      Best explanation I've heard yet. I couldn't ask for anymore advice when it comes to headlines. Nailed it.

      In fact I've recently narrowed down my writing and copy to adhere to a specific crowd. And this gives me new ideas of the traffic I should target.

      Light bulb moment?... You better believe it.

      Case dismissed.

      Thanks...

      Originally Posted by Stephen Dean View Post

      For beginning copywriters I usually recommend short headlines. That's because it there are less opportunities to mess up (Bruce demonstrated several ways you can mess up with a long headline).

      My coach was Michel Fortin who likes longer headlines. (Which is different than a mega-headline.) But he suggests that longer headlines work better for markets who are ready to be sold to, and shorter headlines are better for people who you've caught by surprise with a sales letter.

      And for good reason, a long benefit-filled headline gives away that something is for sale (which you only want to do if the visitor expected something was to be for sale).

      Cheers,
      Stephen Dean
      stephensblog.com
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  • Profile picture of the author sequincer
    I particularly like short but well distinguished headlines.
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  • Profile picture of the author onlinemarketer22
    I've had better success with longer headlines in my experience.
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    • Profile picture of the author warriorkevin
      I agree with dburk on the combo package.

      But I believe a few other things factor in -

      1 - the reading level of your audience

      I have a high reading level, but when I see big words, they are usually un-needed, fluffy, or distractions - a sign of more junk to come?

      2 - the attention span of your audience

      As fast as the internet is today, I actually spend less time reading on the web than ever. (forums aside, but even then I skim).

      3 - you must convey the benefit blatantly well to your specific audience.

      I think if you do it all well, less is more.

      k-
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