Your headline is going to be The Most Important part of your clients web page. However, it doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Remember, we’re focusing on the “Pre-Sell” environment.

One thing I love about writing webcopy vs. direct response is it’s simplicity. In short, you’re basically saying “Hi firstname, I’m yourname and here’s how I can help you.”

And you’re clients healine is going to pretty much say that same thing.

For instance, I was looking at a site that had been designed for a builder. The company builds high class homes. However, I didn’t realize that until I was several pages into the site.

The index page (front page of the website) was all flash. There was some content saying how they were the best at this and the best at that but it never said they were builders of high end homes.

Now, as a marketer this really didn’t make much sense to me. But as a copywriter this was a disaster. But I’m sure to an advertising agency that specializes in selling advertising it was a dream job.

Oh, back to the headline…

Besides not having the appropriate content they had the wort type of headlines. I’ll call them the “It’s all about me” headline.

Again, it was;

We do this…

We Do that…

We offer…

What a mess. So why the rant? I want you to realize and understand that in any type of marketing, you do – you really are not that important.

it’s your customer/client/reader that needs the attention. Not you.

So let’s get into writing headlines for websites. You know that successful headlines must do these 4 things;

1. Get your prospects attention

2. Relate to a specific audience

3. Deliver a complete message

4. Draw the reader into the copy

How To Get Your Prospects Attention

Neat trick huh? Actually it’s not a trick at all. That headline “How To Get Your Prospects Attention” does exactly what it’s supposed to:

It gets your attention

It relates to you – the reader who wants to know “how to”

It delivers a complete message

And since you’re reading this, it obviously draw the reader into the copy. :0)

Ready? let’s go have some fun….

What I’m going to do is search out a website that has these characteristics:

1. Low Ranking in SE’s
2. Poor Copy
3. Poor design (although our main focus will be on 1 and 2).

And then, I’m going to do two things during this process so pay attention.

The first thing I’m going to do is find a potential client. Then I’m goint to incorporate both my SEO and Copywriting knowledge to lay out my marketing plan for this project. So you’ll learn more then you bargained for here. Kool?

Keyword Search Is: Plumber Jackson Ohio

Site Found: Grizzly Plumbing

Domain: http://www.grizzlyplumbing.com/ (Can you say FREE PUBLICITY?) Link will open in New Window.

Issues Are:

1. Low page rank (page 6 in google search)

2. No USP

3. Poor Use Of Headline
Grizzly Plumbing
The Company That Tames Your Plumbing System So You Don’t Have To.

4. Poor Deck Copy (more on this later)

When you need service, you want an experienced and reputable company that you can trust. To take care of your home just like we take care of ours.

5. Poor/No SEO
Only had title tag – Grizzly Plumbing – Welcome

So, we’ve got a really good list here to work with. And we’ll be focusing on the headline itself for this post.

How can we change:

“Grizzly Plumbing
The Company That Tames Your Plumbing System So You Don’t Have To.”

…to meet the needs of the reader?

Remember, your headlines should cover these four areas;

1. Get your prospects attention

2. Relate to a specific audience

3. Deliver a complete message

4. Draw the reader into the copy

Plus, we want it to be SE friendly. Here we go… Ready?

BAM! Just like that!

The Truth About Plumbing – Jackson Ohio

Simple enough huh? Let me explain why I did it this way.

I first covered all four areas of what headlines should do. But I also was able to use the “-”  to keep it SEO friendly because unlike you and me, Google does not recognize symbols. Yes, that’s right, even Google has a way to help you write better copy.

If I was to work with Grizzly plumbing as a client I could also incorporate this into the SEO, PPC ads, and SE pages to make Grizzly Plumbing stand out above all the rest.

Just a quick note here and I’ll rap this session up….

Deck Copy – Your deck copy is the copy that stands out above the fold. For a website, the fold is what’s seen within the confines of the screen. For this particular instance, I’d probably use a simple news style deck like this:

RE: Plumbing – Jackson Ohio

And then lead into the story with something like:

Customers have questions and can feel comfortable knowing that…. And so on.

Well that’s it for now.

In part 4 we’ll talk a little more about;

Headline – we’ll finish up and I’ll be uploading a free headline Template Guide you can use for your own clients.
Sub-headlines – We’ll see why a sub-headline can really make your clients customer want to say “yes” when the offer is made.
Deck Copy – How to come up with ideas for deck copy that doesn’t scream – “Go Away”

Stay tuned…

Filed under: Copywriting

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