Copywriting: "Clever Headlines Usually Flop! Are You Being Too Clever For Your Own Good?"

"Clever Headlines Usually Flop! Are You Being Too Clever For Your Own Good?"

Written by George Dodge

Copywriters that try to be clever, humorous, abstract, or use double entendre with their headlines and ads will normally find that they flop and are thus a waste of both time and money. Many of repparttar

Super Bowl ads fall in this category. While they are often funny to watch, most people don't remember what company repparttar 108008

ad was promoting.

Ted Nicholas tells repparttar 108009 story of how a book that he had written was not selling very well. He had titled it, "How Not To Drown In A Sea Of Debt." One day he stopped by a bookstore and looked for repparttar 108010 book in repparttar 108011 personal finance and self help sections but could not find it. So he went to repparttar 108012 information counter and asked if they carried repparttar 108013 book. He was told yes they had it in stock, and it was located in repparttar 108014 swimming section!

Five Sections of Your Copy Guaranteed To Get Read

Written by Karon Thackston

by Karon Thackston © 2005 http://www.copywritingcourse.com

Only about 20% of your copy is going to get read. The rest will simply be scanned. I'm sure you've heard repparttar statistic before. It's nothing new. While it might sound frightening or frustrating, it's a fact of copywriting life. So what do you do next? Give up? What difference does it make if only about 20% will be read anyway?

It makes a world of difference. Especially if you understand that there are some sections of your copy that are practically guaranteed to get read. If you know what these are and work to reinforce them, you'll see your conversions increase dramatically whether your copy is geared toward online or offline promotions.

HEADLINES

Headlines have always been and will always be repparttar 108007 most important section in any copy. They are repparttar 108008 first thing to get read and have repparttar 108009 greatest impact on whether any of repparttar 108010 other copy gets read. Those stories you've seen floating around repparttar 108011 Internet about marketers who have made minute changes to a headline and tripled their conversion rates are true. It happens all repparttar 108012 time. In fact, it's happened to me.

Headlines and sub-headlines can guide your visitors to read deeper into your copy. If you set up a structure of progressive headlines (http://www.marketingwords.com/articles/articles_progressheadlines.html), you'll have a better shot getting your point across. Pay a lot of attention to your headline. It's repparttar 108013 powerhouse of your copy.

CAPTIONS

Captions started with newspaper journalists. When they would run a picture with a story, they would add a few words underneath to explain what or who repparttar 108014 picture was of. People got into repparttar 108015 habit of looking for repparttar 108016 captions in order to relate repparttar 108017 importance of repparttar 108018 image with repparttar 108019 information they were receiving. This still holds true. Captions in advertising pieces are highly read. Don't waste repparttar 108020 space!

FIRST SENTENCES

When you scan something -- an article, a book, a newspaper, a magazine, a website -- what do you read? Almost everyone reads repparttar 108021 first sentence of each paragraph. These sentences are vitally important in order to get your potential customers interested enough to keep reading. If you create exceptional first sentences, one of two things will happen. One: The prospect will be more likely to continue reading repparttar 108022 copy. Two: The first sentences in each paragraph will be enough to convince him/her to buy.

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