So, as a copywriter, a big chunk of time is spent perfecting headlines for my clients. 

You’ve probably heard about how a headline can make or break your salespages. The right headline can draw the right client and persuade them to read the rest of your salespage. On the other hand, a crappy headline can totally turn off someone who might buy what you’re selling. 

I wish I could tell you there was some magical way to write killer headlines all the time. But, unfortunately, there’s not. 

Headlines are funny things because it’s so dependent on what your topic is, what the goal of your copy, and other factors.  

Ultimately, the purpose of headlines is to persuade your audience to want to learn more or read on.

However, to give you guidance here’s 3 tips on what to write about in your headlines. This will help you get started. 

Get to the point by telling them what they’re getting

Tell them what benefit or desired result they will get if they keep reading. It’s important that when you’re writing your headlines, you’re CLEAR (as oppose to clever) about what they will discover if they go on. Above all, your headline needs to make sense. 

Keep them guessing 

A good headline will inform your audience what they’re going to be reading about, but keep a little mystery in order to keep them engaged.  

If the headline is totally ambiguous or too vague (mystery gone wrong), your people will just move on. 

Keep it short and snappy

Back in the direct mail marketing days, old school copywriters would say that a good headline should be seven words or less be.  But that’s changed in the wild, wild west of the internet. You can have headlines that are longer, but the fewer (thus more powerful) words you can get your point across in, the better. 

If you’re struggling with keeping your headlines short, a cool trick you can do is to use your introductory paragraph to flesh out your headline. 

Remember the visuals 

With cool salespage software, like Leadpages and Unbounce, you can customize the look of your salespages. While looks don’t necessarily matter, it does help to have your salespages to be easy on the eyes. 

Sometimes, just changing the font choice or color can make your salespage convert more. Just don’t get all crazy and turn into a version of a  5-year old’s birthday invitation. 

A key thing to remember is that while the headline is an important part of a salespage, it isn’t everything. Every good headline needs to have good material backing it up. 

Translation: a killer headline can’t save a crappy offer.

The key to writing great headlines for salespages involves two simple things: study and practice. 

Save salespages that you really like. Study their headlines. And practice writing their structure and. Just don’t copy them word for word and then stick up on your website (uh, that’s called plagiarism and that’s bad - don’t do that). 

Before you know it, you’ll be writing killer headlines too.