An effective headline will do many things at once. It will attract readers attention, convey benefits by appealing to readers self-interest and it will set stage for what is to come. It will also target audience for which it was intended.

But number one thing a headline should always do is answer question, "What's in it for me?" Why? Because that's all most of us really care about.

So what are characteristics of a good headline? First and foremost, an effective headline must be believable. I'm sure you've heard saying, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

However, if your product really can make me: jump higher than Kobe Bryant, attract as many women as I want, or make me millions while I sleep; if you put it in your headline, you had better be able to effectively prove it in your copy.

Many experts believe shorter headline, better. I don't necessarily agree with that. However, until you develop a skill for writing great headlines, keeping your headlines to fifteen words or less is probably a good idea.

It's important to make sure your headlines are easy to read. When typesetting your headlines don't use fancy fonts, reverse type, all caps or italics. I recommend you utilize a simple, easy to read type style such as Times Roman. You can see an example of this on my website.

Headlines that evoke some type of emotional response are most effective and generally make more sales. Emotions motivate people into action. The stronger emotion, quicker action. Therefore, headlines that make reader excited about gaining something--or even more effective--afraid of losing something, will invariably produce best results.

Using proper words and phrases is critical. Below I've listed just a few of words and phrases that, over years, have proven to be very effective at grabbing readers attention:

However, that's a subject for another day. The point is, out of all those millions and millions of pages, there's room for only a very few websites at top of results pages.

That means, if you go strictly by number of indexed web pages in their directories, you have a better chance of winning lottery, than getting high enough in results pages to where it's going to make a significant difference in your traffic. That's not my opinion, it's a fact!

You're simply playing a game YOU CANNOT WIN!

So what can you do about it? The first thing you need to do is forget about search engines--period! Just forget about them!

Why? Because even if you're one of fortunate few to get a high enough ranking to where it's making a significant difference in your traffic, there's no guarantee you'll get to keep it. Since search engines are constantly changing rules of game (AKA) their algorithms, you could be number one in search engines today and totally off results pages tomorrow. Again, that's not my opinion, it's a fact!

If you don't believe me, just ask those thousands of devastated and bankrupt business owners whose websites disappeared off of results pages altogether, when a category 5 hurricane named "Florida" swept through Gulf of Google on November 16, 2003.

But that's exactly what happens when you put all of your eggs into one basket. And just like it's wise to have "multiple streams of income," it's also wise to use a variety of ways to promote your website.

It's sort of like all of those millions of people who flock to Las Vegas every year hoping to get lucky. There's only one problem. The system was not designed for you to win. It was designed to make you think you could win. That's allure of Las Vegas and that's allure of search engines--they make you think you can win. You can't!