Tips for Writing Effective Headlines

Headlines serve the purpose of getting the attention of the reader. With a good headline, the reader gets intrigued to read the article, brochure, newsletter or ad. There are many techniques employed to produce effective headlines.

Create such a headline that it creates curiosity to the reader. This can be done by asking a provocative question or by making a seemingly outrageous statement in the headline. Using word play, alliteration and take-off on familiar phrases helps in creating eye-catching and amusing headlines. It is always better to avoid ambiguity as if the headline turns out to be difficult for the reader to read it is most likely that he or she may not read it at all!

The headline has to be coined in such a way that it provides an answer to the reader asking "What's in it for me?" Mention the primary benefit the reader gets from reading the article. Maybe, you could provide a solution to a common problem through the headline. Always keep the headline as sweet and short as possible. The ideal length for headlines is seven words or less. This is because shorter headlines are punchier and easier to read.

Never lie to your customers through the headline. It is very important that you provide an article that is befitting to the headline of the article. This is because on reading the headline, the reader will be expecting a story, and if the story produced is something completely different, it is most likely that the reader will feel cheated. Make sure that the first word of the headline is capitalized, as should all the other proper nouns in the headline. Do not develop the habit of capitalizing every word, as the uniformity of the headline is then lost.
Tip! Professional writer and writing instructor Deanna Mascle shares more writing tips as well as a free collection of prompts at her Writing Resources blog at http://word-craft.

The most effective headlines have been proven to be those that have logical sentence structures, active voice and strong present tense verb. It is the good verbs that always drive good headlines. Make it a habit of locating the headline of an article flush to the left of the page, unless otherwise mentioned. All headlines should use present tense for immediate past information, past tense for past perfect while future tense is used for coming events. The punctuation format of headlines is basically normal. Periods should be used for abbreviations only and single quotes should be used where double quotes would be used in copy. Make it a point to never split verb pieces in between lines of the headlines or ending lines with prepositions. This makes the headlines look untidy. Keep these pointers in mind, and proceed in producing effective headlines for your articles!

Robert is a Freelance Website Designer and Search Engine Optimizer at http://www.digitallabz.com and http://www.webdesignerhouston.com.

Tips On Writing a Successful Ad

When knowledge is based on truth it is powerful!

When it is critical knowledge, its presence can drive our success, while its absence may contribute to our failure. I will attempt to convey in this report some useful and practical knowledge about how to write awesome ads for the World Wide Web. It is my sincere belief that; if you act upon the suggestions that will be presented here, you may well be taking steps which will give your ad greater pulling power.

Web advertising takes many forms; web pages, classified ads, e-mail responses, news group postings, and even your signature file. No matter which form you employ unless your advertising is seen, nothing is sold. Being seen is of key importance.

However, a less considered but equally important factor is your viewing audience. Disregarding your audience results in the problem of "selling air conditioners to Eskimos." It just doesn't generate much interest. A reader who has no interest in your advertising material is not part of a qualified audience" and is not a potential customer.

Classified ads placed in the appropriate section for your product will naturally draw a qualified audience of potential customers. Ad placement within the section is the single most important factor determining whether or not your ad is seen within the section. Secondly, the content of your ad will determine which (and if) potential customers do in fact actually read your ad. When placing classified ads on the web some rules of thumb are:
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1. Choose classifieds that have the largest number of ads because, this is generally a good indicator of how much reader traffic there will be for your classified.

2. Determine how the ads are ranked or sorted within the sections and attempt to be listed at or near the top.

3. Develop reader stopping ad content.

DESIGNING AN AWESOME CLASSIFIED

The four essential ingredients of an awesome classified are:

ATTENTION - INTEREST - DESIRE - ACTION

If your ad is missing any of these it is not an AWESOME Ad!

ATTENTION: You must first get the readers attention. Picture him scanning the section of the classified page in which your ad is listed. For him or her it is much like which ride at the amusement park to take next. Something about your ad must grab their attention, to directs their focus toward your product.
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Since classified ads usually lack graphics, it then comes down to something about the words you use, or about the way you use them. Some web advertisers seem to think that if you use lots of !!! (exclamation marks)or *** (asterisks) or maybe MAKE IT ALL CAPS that this will draw their attention. The problem here is that:

Everyone knows it's glitter and meant to get your attention. This may often interfere with the readers ability to take your words seriously. Subconsciously he may even expect your ad to be some kind of gimmick. Right or wrong, stereotype or not, my advise is let your words speak for themselves and steer clear of such tactics. We will discuss guidelines for choosing the right words later.
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INTEREST: The ad must have appeal. This is a good place to state the benefits or some attractive features of your product. Knowing the demographics of your readers or the category section your ad is placed in, helps in nderstanding their interests. What benefits of your product or service is most likely to appeal to this group? Develop a mental picture of some of the customers who would come from this demographic group, and will buy your product. What kinds of jobs do they have, cars do they drive... are they young, old, single, married...

Having a mental picture of your audience is important when you want to understand their interests and know what benefits of your product you should spotlight.
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DESIRE: But appealing to their interest is not enough. The ad must then "further stimulate your reader." While interest can generally be obtained by the practical properties of your product, desire needs sparking by a more emotional reaction. Is there something about your product that will make them feel good, excited, confident, secure, hoperul or powerful? Think about what other emotions your product can ignite. Does your product appeal to a particular sense. Can the reader taste, hear, smell, see or hear your product. Realize that most actions which we take are sparked by desire and most desire is stimulated by feelings. We don't really desire money.

We desire the feelings that we think money will bring us, whether they be happy, secure, or powerful. Yet, the word "money" may trigger the desire that triggers the feelings which we value and want to experience.

ACTION: If your reader does not take action, then you are dead in the water. How do you get your reader to act? Believe it or not this is the simplest step. Simply use a directive. Psychologists tell us that when given a directive (unless obviously harmful) our first instinct is to comply. Turn to the person in the seat next to you, and in a slightly commanding voice say, "give me your pen for a minute"... chances are they will, and usually, without question, for no other reason than "you told them to." Don't say... "will you give me your pen for a minute" because now they have to think, and if they have to think they may refuse. In your ad simply say: "call this number now", "email me for details", "go to our website" etc. If the first three ingredients (attention, interest, and desire) have been well done, and the reader is a qualified customer.... they will most likely take the action you direct them to take.
Tip! All the journal writing tips in the world can only guide you, and in the end you must choose your style based on what works best for you. Ask yourself if you like to use only words (no pictures or stickers) or if you prefer to combine writing and drawing.

WHAT TYPE OF AD SHOULD YOU USE

There are three ad types:

Qualified - Partially Qualified - and Blind

The qualified ad is specific and includes more detail about the product you are selling. Some products lend themselves to qualified ad content better than others. Hair pieces for men is an example. If your product is particularly "person dependent" use this type. Qualified ads will receive the least response but more of the responses which are received will result in sales.

The partially qualified ad offers a special benefit, such as money or self- improvement. The readers have some idea of what you are offering, but don't know the specifics. If they are interested and desire your product they will follow your directive and send for more info. If you know where a partially qualified ad response comes from, you may be able to tailor your response to increase the percent of resulting sales.
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Blind ads offer only a few details, they are short, and bring in the largest response. However, blind ads produce the lowest percentage of actual orders per reponse, they are often answered just out of curiosity.

ADDING WORD POWER TO YOUR CLASSIFIED AD

Some words are more powerful than others. Saying, your ad must "spark your readers interest," is more powerful than saying, your ad must "get the readers attention." Why? because by using "spark," you can see something igniting within the reader, flaming their interst, and sense they are feeling some excitement. Yes, getting them to have feelings about your words is what you want to accomplish. It is the feelings that are attached to the words that give them power. Look at the list of words below and see if you can recognize the feelings behind the words, that give them power. If you are haveing trouble finding power words to use in your ad, it is probably because you are conce trating to hard on what words you want to use instead of what sorts of feelings you want the reader to feel. Decide on the feelings first and then experiment with the words that best convey them.
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Researchers at Yale University say that the twelve most POWERFUL words in the English language are:

1. DISCOVER

2. EASY

3. GUARANTEE

4. HEALTH

5. LOVE

6. MONEY

7. NEW

8. PROVEN

9. RESULTS

0 SAFETY

10. SAVE

11. YOU

12. FREE - ( I just had to add this one in ! )

The above list contains the type of attention getting words that you should try to include in your classified advertising ad title. Scan a bunch of classifieds (as many as necessary), picking out other such words from the title of the ads that attracted your attention. Do this until you have a list of about 50 words. Try to pick out the individual words and not the phrases. Phrases will come later. Keep this list at hand when you are designing your classified ad. Glance at the list occasionally while writing down possible titles for your ad. The title is the most important part of the ad. You may need to spend 90 percent of the time it takes to design your ad, just on the title alone.
Tip! Professional writer and writing instructor Deanna Mascle shares more writing tips as well as a free collection of prompts at her Writing Resources blog at http://word-craft.

Now write down every word that you can possibly think of which describes a particular feature or benefit of your product. What do you always tell the customer about your product? Benefits - benefits -benefits! Features - features- features!

Verbs and adjectives are great. Verbs because they show action and adjectives because they are descriptive. Active and descriptive words tend to have more enertia and cause us to react with feelings.

Now let's put it all together and create a simple classified car ad.

Want a Dependable Used Car that Looks Fantastic and Drives Great? 1994 Olds Cutlass - low mileage - automatic transmission - radio plays CD's -- tinted glass - factory air - great gas mileage - So "cherry" people will stare with envy when you drive by - Call today 555-5555 ask for Joe.
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Well, this one I did quickly. Maybe you can make it better. Anyway, now review the ad. Does the title grab the reader's attention. Does the ad offer features or benefits of interest to car buyers? Is some emotional desire created to further stimulate the reader? Does the ad direct the reader's action?

Now go to it! Create your own awesome classified keeping the above thoughts in mind. Review your ad and check to see that all the important ingredients of a good ad are present. Find a classifieds site on the web with plenty of ads in a category related to your product. Get your ad listed first if you can. And wait for the response. "If you are not getting responses, then either change the title of the ad, change the wording, or Advertise in more locations!

I hope this helps in your future marketing decisions.

About The Author

David Bell

http://www.wspromotion.com/

Advertising research and development center