Yes, headlines are critical to your copywriting success. Yes, changing a headline can dramatically transform your audience’s response to a landing page, blog post, or sales letter.
But no, you don’t have. to get tied up in knots to write. a headline. You can certainly use headline generators, such as Portent’s content generator.
Headline generators can help because they focus on. the benefit you’re trying to promote. They can hurt because they can tie up the benefits in a fancy package that actually makes the benefit less clear to the reader. They can also encourage you to try a style that doesn’t fit your brand or persona. Not everyone can get away with saying, “The Most Amazing — You’ve Ever Seen.”
The simplest way to create a headline is to make a simple statement about what you offer and then tweak it to be catchy and attention-getting.
For my product The Client Advantage, I started with a simple benefit: Figure out what motivates your client, which means getting inside their stories. The resulting headline is very simple: “Finally: Nail Your Target Market & Discover What They Are Looking For.” (Since I’m mentioning this product, use the coupon code CLIENT50 to take 50% off the list price when you visit the sales page.)
For her course on copywriting, Connie Ragen Green includes a straightforward benefit statement as her sub-heading:
“There Has To Be A Simpler Way To Write Compelling Sales Letters and Web Sales Copy…There Is – And I Can Teach It To You!”
She makes the point more colorfully in the headline with a reference to apple pie, corn, and summer BBQ – down-to-earth symbols consistent with Connie’s message. You can see the page here.
Finally, life coach Nicole Lewis-Keeber uses another way to achieve the direct effect: a quote from a client, where she enters into the client’s conversation on her website About Page: “You’re ready to go from Oh S— to I Got This.” You know exactly how her clients expect to benefit. You also know if you’re the type of client she’s looking for.
The takeaway is, forget about headlines that call attention to their own cleverness. Put the message front and center.
Learn more about writing headlines with my course, Write Headlines With Stories. This link gives you access to a discounted price.
Free download: 7 Copywriting Tips To Jumpstart Your Sales.
