7 Tips to Great Advertising Headlines

There are hundreds of online “experts” and consultants who are happy to tell you how to optimize your online advertising strategies. After all, having an online business can only succeed when people know what you have to offer and where to find your website. No matter who you talk to, there is one critical success factor for online advertising that everyone will agree with.

Having a great ad for online advertising is an essential component of your marketing strategy. But, the biggest secret to a successful online advertisement is your headline and everyone will agree that headlines can pull readers closer and shut them out.

Why?

You have a second or less to capture your reader’s attention and you had better make the most of it. People don’t read things on the Internet, they scan them quickly. Their eyes rapidly move across a page’s content until something captures their attention. It is likely they won’t read past the headline if the headline is not engaging, interesting, or entertaining.

Whether you’re using banner ads, search engine advertising, contextual advertising, or some other type of advertising, your headline is your key to success. That’s why you need to put the time and effort into creating your headline that results in a creative, unique message that screams “benefits”. After all, everyone is searching for products that offer them great benefits.

Consider the following tips when creating your headlines:

Know your audience and what interests them. Understand what ignites their excitement and imagination and go after it. Give them a reason to read beyond the headline.

Appeal to emotions. Most people buy on emotion so knowing the emotional triggers for your target audience will help you creative a compelling headline. Appeal to their emotions when creating a headline.

Provide people with the answer to a question. That means creating a headline that is actually a question! What better way to engage them to read further – especially if you’re answering a question that truly interests them. “Is Your Job Overwhelming?”.

Introduce something new. People love to be first to hear about something, particularly in their area of interest. Make your headline effective by positioning it as a statement introducing or announcing a new product, enhancement, industry findings, or other news. For example, “Introducing a New Method for Auto Financing”.

State an important new fact or relevant statistic. Having a headline that is substantiated by data and research is a tremendous way to intrigue readers and gain their confidence. It instantly increases your credibility and effectiveness. For example, “Organic Food Contains 50% More Nutrients”.

Shock your audience. Give them a reason to further evaluate your claims. “An Average Apple Contains 30 Pesticides”. They will certainly want to know more about this. (By the way, this is a true statement!).

Use power words. Powerful headlines require the use of powerful words. Words such as “incredible”, “revealing”, “proven”, “guaranteed”, “shocking”, “money”, and “discovery” are just a few of these power words.

Creating headlines that appeal to emotions and human desire will have more people reading your full ad and potentially clicking to your website. Headlines are the doorway into your business when it comes to online advertising. Make sure the door is wide open when they come!