This Tip Will Blow Your Mind!

Do you see how effective and how strong an emotional
response you got because of your expectation?

It's a great psychological method and instead of being
upset with the content - take it as a lesson to use the
headline yourself in relation TO content that lives up to
the expectation.

In other words...

take the headline. Modify it for a blog post, article, email.
And actually MAKE the content live up to the promise.

You can either take away the positive or negative of it,
but the reality is the guy made us click, respond, and
got exactly what he wanted...

something more to think about than "I was tricked".

You are missing 1 important point in your rant...HeySal. The idea is to get the reader to read what you wrote.

No matter how good your piece is few people will read it if the headline does not grab them.

That's the point of the post.

Did he deliver..In a way he did. He proved his point by getting you to read his tip.


So his tip really proved itself.

You may look down on such tactics but you fall for them anyway..that's evident.

Sorry, I think you are very right. I had good intentions but, to be honest I never expected so many people would click on it. At best I was hoping for this thread to get a few advises from people that I can use, instead it turned into this big discussion.

Anyway, I've updated my initial post. Hopefully it is a little more helpful now.

The thing is, it's not the same for everyone. You have a point but even though because you are experienced you'll won't think twice, some newbie will still not hesitate to purchase.

Even though the OP intentions could be honest in sharing some info regarding how to increase the appeal of the titles of your posts or articles, next time try to back it up with more information. Doing that way, people won't feel "burned" like it was commented above.

However there is an opportunity for good writers to chip in with their 2 cents about how they come up with great titles and the reasons of their success.

Might ass well use the thread for something.

Cheers,


Jaguar

Hi WhoIsBenjamin,

You are setting multiple traps with this post, which is actually self-defeating, or rather, possibly misleading for those who don't know better. This happens most times that these kind of headline threads appear.

Allow me to explain -

Trap 1 -

HeySal stated that she felt let down (and that others will, therefore it's ineffective as a strategy.) Just because you are going to twist any negative response into 'an emotional response' does not necessarily mean that it actually was. This also doesn't mean that it's effective, as HeySal explained.

So the trap is that anyone who doesn't agree is automatically labelled as 'emotionally responding', which in turn means that (in your opinion) it's 'effective.' It doesn't mean that it's effective. If you're actually trying to sell something, getting a response like 'you tricked me' does not translate into mansions, boats or sports cars, it translates into 'fail'.

Trap 2 -

The positivity trap.

If someone points out the negative aspect to this (people who experience bait and switch aren't impressed or compelled to buy) they are labelled as negative, in other words 'their negativity is blocking them from seeing the positive benefits.'

So the end result is - either you respond 'positively', suggesting that this a great tip, or you are branded as 'blinded by negativity.'

Trap 3 -

By setting this trap, there could be loads of people who are unimpressed for logical reasons, but they can't respond or you will claim that 'you responded, therefore it's effective.'

This is also totally ignoring the fact that if the person feels tricked or let down, it clearly isn't effective. You are suggesting that he 'got exactly what he wanted', but in reality he didn't and nor would anyone else who copied this tactic.

Something more to think about than 'it got you to click/respond.'

Want to know why I said that your 'positive' approach to this could be misleading for those who (don't appear to) know better?

See posts like this -

Hi

The title was pretty catchy and exciting..but do you think getting people's attention and then not giving them what they came for is good?

how will it ever help?

thanks
Ankur

I personally didn't "tear" anyone down down. I was just stating my opinion in a discussion forum, quite a normal thing. All I added was that it's best to follow up on that subject line, if you don't like that, no problem at all.

I think you made a very valid point and don't think there's any need to apologise. My apologies if my reaction was taken as negative. It wasn't mean't to be. Merely how it's important, as you've just said, to make sure the follow up is as catchy and inspiring as the subject line.

Frankly you got a lot of attention from this, from a lot of good people, so I salute you for that and at the end of the day, you proved a point, I certainly opened it.

It would make the so far unread boring content more eye catchy but would the boring content be any more effective, or less, as a result?

You are missing the point. First, no one is tearing anyone down. Yes, the title worked in getting people to open the thread. And it disappointed many who read the tip. I felt that way. This is an interesting experiment that should not polarize people but provide a learning experience.

The lesson to take from this is, use a grabber of a headline to capture attention and get people to either open an email or read further into a sales letter.

And... Once you've done this you have to be able to deliver on the promise. If this was an email delivered to a list of moderate to savvy marketers there would absolutely be some people opting out because this is a good tip, maybe a very good tip but it's not a tip that will blow any seasoned marketer's mind because they already know the importance of capturing attention with a headline.

Promise ---> Deliver. Anything short of that will only serve to piss off your audience. That's the point.

I opened it because I was trolling through the threads and often open stuff that doesn't really send off buttons and whistles when I am in here. If you send me an email with a line like that it goes into the trash or spam without being looked at. I'm already over rehash hype.

That was a great post there Dennis..I like how you broke your explanation down

Too many headlines nowadays SHOW they are either;
A) Created by "Newbies"
or
B) Directed at Newbies

...when they use the terms "Blow Your Mind" or...use the word "Insane".

Here's the MOST POWERFUL AD HEADLINE IN HISTORY of Ad-Dom. Watch how it "GRABS" you and 'FORCES" you to continue;

"THEY ALL LAUGHED WHEN I SAT DOWN AT THE PIANO...BUT WHEN I BEGAN TO PLAY......"

I "think" that's how it went.

One other that was a "Big Puller" for years, was the title of a book;

"HOW I WENT FROM FAILURE TO SUCCESS...IN SALES!"

The Main job of the Headline is to...."Sell" readers on reading further!"

"Money" figures always pull too. One of my first BIG pullers was;

"$720 A DAY...SENDING FAXES!"

This was back in the late 80's when Faxes were BIG. I had discovered a way to get Restaurants to pay me to send their "Daily Specials' to local offices.

In fact....one guy who bought my "Fax-Bux" program is STILL sending faxes for the SAME 42 Deli's in NYC.

He STILL gets 42 Deli's to pay him $25 A DAY....$125 a week ($125 x 42 = $5,250 A WEEK) (The money is taken right out of their checking account every Monday morn with a software program called "Checks-By-Fax")

Now...$5,250 x 52 weeks = $273,000 A Year....and....the guy's been doing this since 1996! $273,000 A Year x 14 yrs = 3,822,000....NEARLY 4 MILLION BUX...Sending Faxes.

If you think "Faxes" are dead...ask your Pharmacist if he uses "Faxes". Or, phone any office and ask if they send or receive Faxes.

Thus....the Words you use in a Headline are KEY to grabbing people and getting them to continue reading your Sales Letter or Ad.

Don Alm....still using headlines

This type of headline will get their attention one time... maybe.

If they are on your mailing list and you make a habit of this, they will unsubscribe like nobodies business.

I learned the hard way !

This ENTIRE thread was meant to be a forum to share your ideas on writing catchy headlines. It's not about mind blowing content. Did you not see the question he asked: What is your secret to writing good titles?

What's amusing is that those of you complaining about the sophomoric inanity of the title, clicked just like the rest of us.

In a different situation, if the primary purpose of the thread was forum marketing, and if he actually had intended to deliver some great content upon the click in order to gain subscribers/traffic - this would have been a perfect example of great marketing.

BUT THAT'S NOT THE INTENT.

He wrote a Headline that got clicked. And tried to start a discussion about headlines which got overtaken by The Committee of the Easily Offended.

Instead of hijacking a guys thread, and lecturing him on how he wasted 15 seconds of your precious time, why not share your ideas on writing headlines.

Get over yourselves.

Hi WhoIsBenjamin,

Am I supposed to either -

a) not answer, because if I answer you will suggest that this means you are right and I am wrong?

or

b) just copy/paste what I wrote about 'Trap 1' again, because even though it accurately and unemotionally explained the logic behind my opinion, it's as if I never wrote it?

Hi BeauJustin,

Even though you are confessing to an emotional reaction ('What's amusing is...') you are still falsely projecting that reaction onto anyone else who doesn't agree with your assertion and is simply offering an unemotional explanation - that's where the trap is being set and that's where you (and others) are refusing to see what's in front of you.

It's no skin off my nose if people don't get it. I will carry on with my business in entirely the same frame of mind as if I hadn't responded here. No emotional expense. I enjoy contributing to threads here and sometimes helping people if I can, even if I disagree with others within the thread.

Where you are getting confused (deliberately?) is when you use the word 'complaining.'

There are two reasons for this.

1) Many of us aren't complaining at all, we're simply making an observation that we feel is educational in some way, but the trap you are trying to set is including us as it's alleged 'prey'

2) If there is a tone that resembles complaining in some of the replies, it's because they are people who act with social responsibility in terms of what they write here. They feel a responsibility towards making sure that something close to 'helpful truth' is established, rather than seeing all of the people that this thread will inevitably atrract (because they always do) who will take the OP's advice at face value, act upon it and then come back some time later complaining that their unsubscribe rate is really high, or that they are getting hits but no sales.

So in other words, if someone tries to correct bad advice in this thread, because that's what they tend to do in this forum when they see it, you are going to call them negative or accuse them of complaining along with suggesting that this proves that the original advice offered is justified and therefore a good tactic to use.

It's clear to see from the above which side of this discussion is getting over-emotional. Coincidentally, it's the same side that is accusing the other of doing precisely that, even though it's an inaccurate assertion.

We have already shared our ideas on writing headlines (but some are looking past it) -

* don't use bait and switch

* don't use headlines which almost guarantee that you will have a more difficult time building trust in order to make a sale

* use headlines to get attention that achieve multiple aims that are in harmony with the aims of the salesletter/email/forum thread etc

Hi iluxa22,

Absolutely no offence taken - they're not my shoes, even though you're suggesting that I am wearing them.

But I disagree with your points made and would refer you back to post#18 (and others) because your point has already been completely negated, but you may have missed it.

It is interesting to see that some are suggesting that those who have some experience of this subject and have participated in threads dealing with this exact topic many times before, are 'naive' and are only responding through lack of emotional control.