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Click-Crazy Customers:
5 Tips for Killer Website Headlines
 Let's face it. We all exhibit Attention Deficit Disorder on the web. All of us.
We land on a page and within seconds we know whether we will stay or click away. What makes us decide? Well, usually it's the headline.
When prospective customers land on your homepage, you had better corral them-fast. A good, catchy headline will do that.
How People Read Website Copy
The results of The Poynter Institute's latest Eyetrack III research study on how people read website copy proved how important it is to get the text right. Studies show that consumers have one set of behaviors when reading print and do just the opposite with online text. Where offline readers jump from photo to photo before settling into a story, online consumers look at the text first. It makes sense because their reason for going on the Internet in the first place was to get information.
Is the Headline Really That Important?
Whether you're talking printed piece, blog post or website page, studies show that 8 out of 10 people will read the headline only. If the headline intrigues them, they read on.
Where that headline is placed matters. Eyetrack studies on homepage viewing patterns show-at least for Westerners, who learned to read left to right-that the upper left corner of the page is the starting point. The eyes most often fixate there first, then hover in that area before going left to right. Only after spending time at the top do the eyes explore further down the page.
The first one to two inches of each headline was where most eyes fixated. That means that the first few words of your headline are key to grabbing your reader. And, on average, a headline had less than a second of a site visitor's attention. That means you'd better grab your reader with the first couple of words.
5 Tips for Writing Killer Website Headlines
You should devote at least half of your entire writing time to your headline. It's that important. Some tips:
1. Shorter is better. Copywriting experts suggest 10 words or fewer. Seven words or fewer? Even better. Blogger James Chartrand of Men with Pens gave a great example from a website of an e-marketer who was promising her clients that their emails would get noticed. It read, "Standing Out in Crowded In-boxes." Five Words. Perfect.
2. Benefits rule. You've heard it before. The benefit is your promise. How will your customer's life be made better or easier? (See the example above.)
3. Strong verbs are show stoppers. "Struggle" is better than "work hard." "Grab" is better than "get," and so on.
4. Don't be afraid of emotion. It is relief from pain that people are looking for. Your customers don't buy products and services. They buy wisdom, romance, safety. Appeal to the core emotions: fear, greed, anger, guilt, pride, and others.
5. Present a problem, ask a question or appeal to your reader's curiosity. Grab your customer's attention with one of these headline formats:
· The Question-focused Headline- The brain naturally goes on alert when it recognizes a question. It is wired to want to answer questions. Which of these headlines attracts your interest most?
1. Don't struggle to pay your bills.
2. Are you struggling to pay your bills?
Number 2, right?
· The Problem-focused Headline- Although much of the advertising we see around us is solution-based, actually, identifying pain-a problem-motivates people to want to find a solution. Consider these two headlines:
1. Are your sales pieces falling flat on their faces?
2. Let us help you design a winning sales brochure.
I'll bet you're thinking #1 speaks more to your pain.
· The Curiosity-focused Headline- Humans are intensely curious creatures. It's what has driven innovation and scientific discovery through the ages. If someone is curious about something, they are naturally going to want to know more. You have sucked them in. Again, two headlines:
1. We'll help you increase sales with our copywriting services.
2. Are your sales messages focused on these secret buying triggers?
Come on now, don't you really want to know what "these buying triggers" are? Anytime you use the word "these," you will whet your reader's appetite.
He or she is thinking, "Which triggers are they talking about? Maybe I should read a few more sentences, in case this is really important."
There you have it. Three simple ways to make your web headlines (or any headlines, for that matter) pull your reader happily into your sales message.
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