The Best Converting Headline Ever

Hi Mate,

This one does alright for me...but I'm not
going to tell you my best

"I Guarantee I Can Get You From XXX To XXX In Less Than 24 Hours Or I'll Give Your Money Back!!!

Take Care,

Michael Silvester

Finally Proven Methods to Get You the Most From Your Advertising Efforts

That was one of my best converting headlines. Every single place I would test it I was converting 1 out of ever 100-200 I was also able to change the end of that headline to something else and still get good conversions. For instance I changed the last part after to " Make a fortune While Surfing Online" It is really a completely versatile heading. Just that Finally Proven Methods works great for any situation. Proven methods to get you the most bass on your fishing trip, proven methods to make you the most money possible from adsese, Proven methods To building an effective green house, Proven methods To Turning Your House Into a Green Energy Home, Proven Methods To Get the most out of Your Apple Ipod, It continues I have used that headline on jsut about every niche of mine and it has proven well for me. I do not care if you are surfing traffic exchanges to get traffic to your page it converts well. You do have to change everything else every now and again.

"Free Beer"

Ask a question or make a bold statement.

Most of the headlines I've experimented with that had numbers in them ("Top 3 -blank-", "47 Ways to -blank-", "5 Reasons Why -blank"). Also, odd numbers worked better than even.

besides conversion rate, what other ways are there to test headlines ? Since the headline is meant to draw the person in and keep them from leaving, once that is accomplished your copy and your offer take over and convert the sale.

So what other ways are there that you can test headlines ?
bounce rate ?
time on site ?
scroll status ? (I have heard mention of a script that will log if the person has scrolled down or left the page without scrolling which would seem really interesting. Does anyone know how to do that ?)

George, I can't take credit for this, but back in the 70's Joe Karbo wrote a little book titled, The Lazy Man's Way To Riches". First, the title was great, but the headline on his ad was--"Are You Too Busy Earning A Living To Make Any Money?"

Like Brad said above, ask a question. I agree. That's exactly what Joe did in his headline--and of course everyone is subconsciously saying--YES, if I didn't have to work at this lousy job I could make some money!

Of course this was in pre-Internet days and Joe sold his book by running a full page ad for his book in magazines and newspapers all across the U.S. Amazingly he sold over 800,000 copies of his book.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. His full page ad he used was THE very best direct response I have seen in my life. There are two important things about his ad. After reading his full ad, the reader had no idea what his book was all about. He never gave one single clue as to its contents. Rather, he said--you don't need any money to begin, you don't need a college education, you don't need any business experience, etc. He only told you what you didn't need.

But here is the big thing about Joe that few people know. He wrote his full page ad one evening at his kitchen table. Within a few days he ran the full page ad in his local newspaper just to see if he would get any responses. He got a ton of them. Orders started pouring in. There was only one problem--Joe hadn't even written the book!

Now, today this would likely get you in jail, but he was a gutsy guy. Within a few days he wrote his book and got some cheap copies printed. He ran more ads, and before long he had ads running in hundreds of newspapers and major magazine such as TIME.

Here is the point. The oldest advertising adage is Sell The Sizzle Not The Steak. Indeed, Joe did sell the sizzle masterfully.

What we can learn from this is that we might all do well to write our ad (develop our sales page for our site or blog) before we write our book. Why? Because in doing this, by reverse engineering our book (working backwards), the sales page we develop acts as a blueprint for what our book must contain.

Just a thought.

something that outlines simplicity and has good call to action usually works best

Mike,

I had forgotten about Joe Karbo. I remember reading his ad and if I remember correctly I bought the book. There is no question it was his headline that got to me. "Are You To Busy Earning A Living To Make Any Money?"

Sorry OP for getting off your subject.

Ken
The Old Geezer

Thanks guys!

For the rest... That's it?! Only 2 great headlines... I was hoping this could be a great resource for others struggling with improving conversions.

GJ

Check out the Headlines of the Largest Publications Paper in the World! National Enquirer. I'm told that is the number one reason why they are the biggest in their market. All because of headlines. The copy may even be bad but the headlines/titles is what sets them apart.

I think Rich Jerk has lured in more then most IM because of it controversial title and copy.

I'm looking for the same thing myself.

Do you guys prefer a question headline over to a statement headline?

"Do you want to get rid of acne yadda yadda?"

"Get rid of acne in yadda yadda!"

Opinions?

This guy is one of the greats he has a 1 dollar a month membership that will blow your mind I'm not an affiliate but I should be...

Ben Hart Marketing

Phalan, Loren, Michael, thanks! Some great reads ^^.

There is some ok, and some great software out there that has huge lists of headlines that sell like crazy. Most can be picked up for very little to nothing.

The best headlines that have worked for us are those that really hit the target market. It's all about driving the right people to your product, and saying the right things to those people.

anything out of the ordinary or something that makes them curious and want to read more.

Here's one I've used before VERY successfully:

"What Your (Blank) Doesn't Want You To Know"

_____
Bruce

I find that making a powerful and measurable promise works well in my niche.

"A Better ___ in ___ Days!"

I realize this may be slightly off topic, but you have me curious, so I dug out a copy of Joe Karbo's ad for his book. Here is what he wrote...

The Lazy Man's Way To Riches
'Most People Are Too Busy Earning A Living to Make Any Money'

It was the first "blind" ad and its style has been copied thousands of times since - because it worked. I can remember seeing full page newspaper ads Joe ran (even here in the midwest), but I didn't buy the book back then.

Years later, after coming across Joe's ad again in a book about direct marketing, I wrote to the old address in the ad, and my request was forwarded to the new owner of the rights to Joe's book - a fellow named Richard Nixon. (No relation to a dead president.)

I had some phone conversations with Richard and he was coming out with an updated version of the original book along with a workbook. He gave me a copy of the original book, I bought several more from him for my friends, and he gave me the new books when they came out. He did a good job of renovating the original.

I never heard any more about him.

Joe Karbo trivia for the day.

:-Don

Franks Kerns headline for Stompernet launch a few years ago.

"This space intentionally left blank". In fact that whole launch is the model of how to do it right.

$23 mil in 24 hours. Damn.

Triggering emotional reasons to read more is a major key in getting people 'hooked'.

If you can trigger an emotional response in the reader in 4 - 7 words then you are doing well.

Then - linking this to the introductory paragraph is just as important.

Thats right. With mass control I was drooling to give Kern my $$. He had everyone waving cash at him.

"When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight." - FEDEX

It works so well because it's the right benefits and the "right" words to the "right" people.

Give me 5 minutes and I'll Give you...

The psychology behind it creates a pact between you and the reader saying if they give you five minutes (or any time) you will give them (what ever promise you choose) - but MAKE SURE you deliver on that promise or you may piss them off...

" Italian food that's better than "ok" "

and "for hungry families on a budget"

people read the hell out of those...both so simple...yet they they strike a chord.

Anything making reference to somebody supposedly more powerful than the reader, for instance:

"Why is that person x makes over a million dollars a month, yet you cannot make a single sale?"

Don't mind if I bump this. A very powerful thread with a lot of thought-provoking information. Thanks George for starting it and for those that have chipped in.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned it yet but simply look at the signatures of some of the more "respected" members in here. They must know a thing or two about copy don't ya think?

Now to this "use what's worked in the past" frame of thinking (ala Joe Karbo): Don't forget that sometimes things that have been worked to death stop having the same effectiveness after awhile. I liken this to the whole Google adwords phenomenon (ask your wife if she clicks on the top paid advertisements) where people are moving past the paid ads to get to the natural search listings. Or read the articles that have been written on creating a black and white ad so that it can be "noticed" in a sea of color ads. So keep this in mind while contemplating everything else written here. Of course, go with a lot of the proven methods but be sure to ask yourself, "Does it stand out among the crowd?" or "Is it unique enough?"... and of course, as others mentioned, "Does it fit my audience, relative to my niche?"