And if you’ve spent effort and dollars to attract visitors, you don’t want to lose them in time it takes to back out of driveway. After all, if you’ve got something to sell, you’re not looking for “hits”, you’re looking for sales. The only item someone will buy in fifteen seconds is a face-value ticket to Super Bowl.

With advent of simpler, fast-loading sites with fewer graphics, headlines and text may be most important tools you have during those 15 seconds.

Headlines

The objective of a headline is to interest visitor in reading text. Plain and simple. Without a well-written headline, visitors will never go far enough to investigate details of what you’ve got to offer. You don’t sell with a headline. That’s job of your text. All you want to do is get reader to desire more information.

--Choose right words First, certain subjects create more interest than others. Among most effective are money, wealth, love, health and safety. Practice writing three or four headlines using those subjects.

There are also words that seem to attract greater interest than others. Here are some of those words: Learn, discover, easy, new, proven, save, you, now and free

Now re-write your headlines incorporating those words.

And, of course, many effective headlines start with “How to…” or “How you can…”

--Use a question Many times a question works well because it involves reader. Ever heard this one? “Where Do You Want To Go Today?” Sure you have.

Here are some other ways to incorporate a question into your headline: “Have You Ever…?” “Do You Want To…” “Do You Think You Can…” “How Do You…”

--Experiment with your headlines Chances are, you’re not going to hit best possible headline on your first try. And nobody can tell you in advance what will work for your product or service. Don’t be afraid to experiment early on, trying to gauge response to each headline.

--Put a tracking system in place Make sure you have a system in place to track which headlines are generating response and which aren’t. An easy way is to make multiple, identical pages on your site. Each page should contain a hit counter. Then assign each headline you use to a particular page. The highest number of responses wins. Headline one might be www.yourdomainname.com/product/hd1.html and second headline aims visitors to www.yourdomainname.com/product/hd2.html.

Writing Effective Website Text

Now that you’ve perfected your headline, you should tailor your text to involve visitor in your site, describe what your product or service will do for them and lead them toward a sale. Here are some DOs and DON’Ts:

I hear this often. And it saddens me some way. This fellow had demonstrated strong verbal skills. And that he is bright, with solid values and attitudes in place. When I suggested he need only write as he was speaking to me, I don't think he bought it.

Another fellow recently made same claim, and felt he would have to hire all writing on his site. After a first glance at his email, one might be inclined to agree. But when I looked closer, there were only three formatting problems. No capitalization. No spaces between sentences. No returns at end of a line, so wrap made it look awful. But upon a closer look, only significant problem came from haste with which he wrote.

The Secret To Writing On The Web

KISS! That is, keep it super simple. You are not trying to win Pulitzer Prize. You are simply trying to explain a point as to a friend or customer. The only difference is you are making point with written, rather than spoken, words.

About Those Rules

The rules which govern proper use of English were important when you were in school, trying to pass a course. In world of Web, many do not matter much.

Sure, your site needs to be sharp. And content must be well written. But what does "well written" mean?

I always hesitate to say anything about how to write, for I have forgotten most of rules. And I frequently break those I do remember.

Above, for example, sentence which begins with "And I .." is incorrect because it begins with a conjunction. But if I leave it out, single sentence will be 26 words in length. Too long for easy reading.

Besides, that's not way I would make this point to a friend. What I might say is something like. "I don't like to say things about writing. There're too many rules I don't remember. And I break a lot of 'em."

How Would You Put It?

It doesn't matter how you choose to make point. Just write as you would explain it to a friend or site visitor. So long as it is acceptable English and reader understands your point, that is end of it.

Hail To The Purest!

The above may bring comments. There are lots of people who expect English to be used correctly. They object when it is not. This point of view is valid. And need for well written content is overlooked or ignored on far too many websites. However, ...

Only Your Target Matters

To build a successful online business, all must be carefully directed at your perfect customer. Every word on every page must be directed specifically to your target.

If your target is serious students of psychology, your writing skills must be strong. And rules of English matter.