How to Write Effective Landing Page Headlines

Seconds.  Seconds are all you have before your web site visitor decides to read your landing page or click the back button.  Your headline plays a key role in your visitor’s decision.

For the purposes of this post, we’ll define a landing page is the first page your visitor sees when they “land” on your web site.

The headline you place on your landing page plays a critical role in the process of converting your visitor.

The Only Two Reasons for a Headline

Your headline should:

1. Grab your visitor’s attention
2. Make your visitor want to read the next sentence.

That’s it.

Picture yourself surfing the web.  When you arrive on a web site, you make a split-second decision.  Either the page is relevant to you or it’s not.  If it isn’t, you leave.  If it is, you stay.

Challenge #1: Grabbing Your Visitor’s Attention

You might think it’s a good idea to cast a wide net when you write.

Think again.

The more generic your headline and ad copy, the less impact it has on your target audience.

Narrow your niche.

Speak directly to your core group of prospects …and to nobody else.  Do that and your prospects will know you are talking to them, that you have the solution they seek.

Want an example?

Procter and Gamble owns a number of different laundry detergents (Tide, ERA, Gain, Cheer, Dreft, Daz, Bold2in1).  Why?

P&G could make one detergent with a massive advertising budget, but they are smart marketers.  They know Tide customers want “whiter whites” and ERA customers want a detergent that is “tough on stains”.

Challenge #2: Making Your Visitor Want to Read More

Making your visitor want to read more is tough, but worth the effort.

Here’s another example of a catchy headline written by Sonia Simone at Copyblogger:

“How to Create Better Content: Treat Your Readers Like Dogs”

I was dead tired when I stumbled across this headline, but I read the entire article because:

1. It’s aimed at authors who create content.  That’s me.
2. The headline caught my attention in a “What the heck?” kind of way.  I had to read it just to figure out what she meant by “Treat Your Readers Like Dogs”.

I hope this post helps you write more effective headlines for your landing pages.  If you want more in-depth tips, techniques and tricks to improve your marketing, sign up for my upcoming “Mastermind Marketing Makeover Report” today.

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