How to Write Insanely Good Headlines within 2 Minutes (with examples)
Let me tell you something you might already know.
80% of people don’t read past the headline.
That means… if you write a sales page to sell an Ebook…
8 out of 10 people will simply make a decision based only on the headline. i.e whether to buy it, ignore it, or read the sales page further.
Do you understand what this means?
If your audience doesn’t find value in the headline… they will simply scroll up and do something else.
This is why the Highest-Paid copywriters put majority of their time in writing good headlines.
And if you are wondering what is the secret sauce of writing killer headlines…
Here it is…
First write a bad copy,
then keep improving it till you are satisfied
This is the Golden rule of Copywriting (I hope you won’t take this for granted).
But yeah… there is something else you need to do to write better headlines.
I will tell you that at the end of this article… you won’t struggle writing good headlines after that.
Anyway…
Moving on.
There is something else you should do before writing a good headline. In fact, before writing a single piece of word… you must do this.
Have a perfect clear vision about your target audience.
Writing anything before doing this will always end up in tragedy. Because only an idiot would try to shoot arrows in the dark.
We shall discuss this in another article.
Alright… let’s not waste any more time…
1. Headline for offering a Free Ebook
A word of caution…
Just because you are offering something for FREE in exchange for email address… Don’t ever assume that your Target Audience is going to give away their email ID willingly.
No.
Because here’s the truth…
If you can’t help your audience to find value in your product, they are not going to purchase anything from you.
Based on this… let’s see the product and the headline.
Target Audience:
People who are tired of pushing their deadlines of achieving their goals and ambitions, and now they have no idea how to start over again.
Product:
A Free PDF (Lead Magnet) to help them plan and get started.
Initial Headline
— — — — — —
Plan your best life
We’re on our way to help you achieve your goals through value-focused planning.
For now, get our free six-months planner printable and access to our library of Free Tools.
— — — — — —
The headline seems okay, and looks good too…
But do you think this will bring in leads?
I don’t think so.
Because I found plenty of mistakes…
🛑 “Plan Your Best Life”… This is the hook.
It’s a very general claim. People are tired of hearing such claims.
We need to be specific.
🛑 Now read the 2nd line…
“We’re on our way to help you achieve your goals through value focused planning.”
Does it make you interested in their offer?
I feel like… “They are not ready yet, but want to help me achieve my goals. Can they actually help me?” 🤔
Do you see how this sentence diminishes your credibility?
🛑 Finally, the 3rd line… begins with “For now” which makes you lose authority even more.
Plus “access to our free library of tools…” is not clear enough.
I mean… “What free tools exactly? How they are going to help me?”
Do you get it?
Alright…
Let’s improve it… ✍️
— — — — —
Plan your best life in 2022.
Leave 2021 in the dust.
Finally… achieve your biggest goals through Value Focused Planning.
Get your FREE Printable Planner now… and access our Free library of productivity tools.
[Download and Let’s Get Started]
— — — — — —
BOOM!
Don’t you think this is much better than the previous one?
Hell yeah.
Here’s what we improved in the nutshell
🔶 Made the hook stronger with timing
🔶 Increased authority and trust
🔶 Made the offer much more specific
Moving on…
2. For B2B Business
Before I show you the headline… I want you to understand something.
It doesn’t matter whether it is B2B or B2C… there is always a human behind the screens reading your text and offer.
Just because it’s a B2B… you don’t need to use complex words and sentences to impress people.
People usually don’t feel good while reading such text… Because they don’t want to process or have the time to understand such cryptic sentences.
And this is the reason why most B2B businesses fail to bring revenues.
Let’s see one such example…
Target Audience:
Schools and Colleges
Product:
An online portal to help students with academic success and provides mental health support.
Initial Headline
— — — — —
The Student Portal Creating Effective Success initiates without wasting valuable resources.
Navigate our students roadmap catalyzing involvement, catering individual needs, and increasing campus resources awareness by 87% at 100+ campuses.
— — — — —
Bla bla bla bla…
Too much.
I am already lost.
I don’t understand what the fuck they are offering.
Imagine if I didn’t tell you what was the product… would you be able to explain what they were offering?
You will receive a Gold Medal if you say yes.
Because…
If I was the director of a college, and came across an email with such a headline on Tuesday morning…
I would have either straightaway deleted the email… or would have asked them politely, “What are you trying to sell?” (Depending on my mood)
Anyway…
Enough criticism.
Let’s Improve it.
— — — — —
Show your students you care.
The “You At College” Portal provides Mental Health Support, Academic Tools, and Goal Tracking to help your students succeed.
[Click Here to see a Demo]
— — — — —
That’s it.
Even a 7-year-old kid will understand what it is.
So, what did we improve?
Basically… we made the language simple.
And included 3 things
- A Hook (to grab attention)
- An Open loop (which creates curiosity)
- Spoke to the Target Audience
This is called HOT Headline formula. I learned this from my favorite copywriter Alex Cattoni (Google her).
Next one…
3. For an Event
The Headline which I am going to show you… is pretty much common. And this is also one of the most common mistakes most Copywriters make.
Let’s see it…
Target Audience:
People who want to learn how to get more visibility and conversions from Instagram.
Product:
An Online Webinar.
Initial Headline
— — — — —
The power of Niche Marketing…
The Secret to gaining visibility & conversations on Instagram easily!
… and No. You don’t need 1000 followers
— — — — —
Listen…
The purpose of a headline is NOT to give people answers.
You just have to make your audience curious enough to let them take the next action.
The problem here with the headline is…
The Copywriter opens and closes the loop in the same headline.
It doesn’t give me the reason why should I attend the webinar.
I mean… I have less than 1000 followers on Instagram and I want visibility and leads.
How do I do it? Niche Marketing.
I got the answer. Why do I need to attend the 2 hours webinar then? I can easily watch a 5 minutes video on YouTube on How to select your niche.
Do you see the problem?
So… let’s change it.
Let’s Improve it.
— — — — —
Little-known ways to generate Leads from Instagram that no one talks about.
Learn how to optimize your profile and make it visible in front of your dream clients. Generate as many leads as you can possibly handle.
And no… you don’t need 1000s of followers
[Sign up for 2 hours FREE Masterclass]
— — — — —
Would you now sign-up for the webinar?
I bet you will.
So, let’s break it down.
Hook: Leads from Instagram
Open Loop: Make it visible in front of your dream clients
Target Audience: Don’t need 1000 followers
Do you remember what I promised you to share at the beginning of this article?
You don’t?
Don’t worry… I got you.
I talked about…
What exactly you should do… to write badass headlines
The first step is… know who exactly is your Target Audience. It should be so clear that you can literally see that person in front of you. You should know exactly what are the problems they are facing, and how do they feel about it.
Then… know exactly what you are selling. I mean every single detail about the product… especially how it can help the target audience.
Once you do these 2 things…
Now go to a quiet place… clear your mind… and come up with at least 20 headlines. Don’t try to edit them.
Whatever is in your mind, just through them out.
Once you complete… you will have a handful of Good and Bad headlines.
Now…
Narrow them down to only 5 headlines. Edit them if necessary.
Finally show them to a few random people, and ask them which one of the headlines they are probably going to click.
Choose the one which gets the maximum vote.
Another option is (which is probably the best)…
Split test all the 5 headlines in the market, and see which one performs best.
That’s it for today…
If you have any questions… just let me know in the comments.
And if you think this is a pretty damn article… hit the Clap (applaud) button… and gimme a follow-up.
It will motivate me to write more articles for you guys… to help you in your business, career, profession, or whatever you are reading this for.
I will see you next time. ✌️
