Wednesday, November 7, 2007

How to live your life like a great headline to get everything you want and achieve all your dreams.

That's right. You CAN get everything you want and achieve all of your dreams. The reason you may have not yet found this unlimited success is because you haven't learned the game rules to life.

Of course, I won't pretend to know what life is for, but I do know enough about it to tell you what WORKS and what doesn't. Learn to live your life like a headline, and you will become a master of Online and Offline marketing skills which will allow you to get what you want, all the time.

Why Is the Headline such a big deal? If you know anything about internet marketing, you know that people aren't obligated to read your content. Unlike writing a paper for school, there is no one out there who will read your writing just to be nice. There's a lot of content out there, and yours (until they actually begin reading it) looks just like everyone else's. The way to get them to read what you have to say is by making it worth their while. You have to give them a reason to listen - and that's what your headline is for. Your headline will promise them a benefit for sticking around and seeing what you have to say.

This can be really tricky - you have to figure out what your USP (unique selling point) is, or what sets you apart from your competitors, and you have to catch their interest by promising something they want.

There are lots of kinds of headlines, and I won't go into detail about the different kinds of headlines on this post. I just want to convince you of how important they are, both online and off.

Online, a website is responsible for 80% of your conversions. All those people who come to your site but then leave right away - it's because your headline hasn't caught their interest. (Ok, maybe they weren't really looking for what you're offering - but if not, then your site description or keywords aren't precise enough to pull in the right kind of visitor).

The reason I know how important this is, is that I know most small businesses with a website, including my own, aren't taking advantage of such a fundamentally profound and yet simple trick for improving sales. Get a great headline, and you WILL do better online business. Make it your first, number one priority.

If you're like me, you waste headlines with descriptions of the products, or empty words like "Welcome" or "Introduction". You avoided promising benefits or hyping your services because, well, it sounded like salesmanship and nobody likes to be sold to.

Nevertheless, if you don't give readers a reason to be interested, right away, without having to search around for it, then they're GONE. Therefore, not only should headlines be great, but they should be the first and main thing you see. (Maybe not in size 46 font and blood red, but still significantly larger than regular font text to stand out.)

Now for the more important part of this message: bringing these simple headline tips into the real world, into your real life, can revolutionize your dealings with people. 99.9% of people talk about themselves ALL THE TIME. They like to complain, they like to give advice, they like to tell stories. Almost the only time they listen is if they're attracted to the other person, and even then, they'll get bored fast.

If they want something from another person, they talk about themselves even more: "I really need this," "Please help me out"... This might work for friends, but if you want your boss/coworker/perfect stranger to do what you want, you need to give them a big reason why they should. If you promise them a reward, if you think about what's in it for them, if you talk only benefits, they will be lining up to help you.

Headlines are important in other situations as well. Let's say you want a promotion, or have a great idea at work. You might indirectly and softly hint around, trying to get someone to give you their full attention, trying to get the respect first, before giving away your hand. Turn your idea, or your bid for a promotion into a headline.
"I have an idea that could improve our profits 320%." "Here's a way to solve the problem of X quickly with no extra cost." "Last year I was able to this for the company. If I could move up into this position, I'd have time/resources to do X..."

Anyway, you get the point.

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