Psychotactics

Why Clients Buy—And Why They Don't

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Philosophy
    • About Psychotactics
    • Contact Sean
  • Free Articles
    • Psychological Strategies
    • Starting Up Strategies
    • Marketing Strategies
    • Article Writing Strategies
    • Copywriting Strategies
    • Internet Marketing Strategies
  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • Clients
    • Client Results
  • Products
    • Start Here First
    • Home Study
      • Article Writing
      • Uniqueness Strategy
      • Info Products
      • Copywriting
    • Books
      • Brain Audit
      • Under $50
      • Above $200
    • Membership
  • Workshops
    • Online Courses
    • Worldwide Workshops and Meet-Ups
  • Services
    • Speaker
    • Consulting
  • Fun Stuff
    • Resources
    • Cartoons
    • Recipes

Headline Mistakes: How To Avoid Barriers That Weaken Your Headlines

Author: Sean D'Souza

Headline Mistakes

How do you overcome barriers to writing headlines? What are the mistakes when writing headlines?


Assume I visited your home. How would I enter? Through the window, or the backdoor. Surely you've reserved the chimney for good ol' Santa. So where do I enter?

Why through the door, right?

And when you write copy, what's your door? Why the headline? So think about it. How many obstacles would you put in the way, if you wanted me to enter? What a silly question, right? You'd make darned sure you freed up the entry to the doorway, so I could get in quickly.

Not true.

Most websites seem to do just the opposite. They put in barriers. They put in dozens of distractions. And if their customers get to the door by chance, they're now confused. Are they standing at the door, or was there a door before?

On of the biggest Headline Mistakes is you forget: Your doorway is your headline

So if you want the world to see your headline, what should you do? Why you'd do what any sensible homeowner would do.

1) You'd make your doorway prominent.
2) You'd make your doorway different, somehow.
3) You'd make your doorway free of obstructions.

1) Making the doorway prominent:
So how does this translate to websites, for instance? If you look at headlines, you'll find that most websites have headlines that are weak and wimpy. Look at the headline in this article. You'll find that it's kinda Arnold Schwarzwhateverhisnameis.

And you'll find that your eye went to the headline in a fraction of a second. That I didn't need to put flashing lights and dancing girls around the headline for you to take notice. I just had to make it bold. And prominent. So that you can instantly see the ‘door' and know that hey, this is a headline.

2) You'd have to make your doorway different:
When I say different, you're probably confused. Yes, you can see the boldness of the headline, but won't that be enough? No, no, no, no, no. That ain't enough. A headline needs to be different. As in, different font. Or different colour. Or different size. Not just bold, but different. A boring doorway doesn't get noticed. And an overdone doorway is laughed at.

But a doorway that's elegant and stands out, is one that's starting to get (and keep) your customer's attention. So yes, notice how the font is ‘serif' vs. the copy that's ‘sans-serif' (Georgia vs. Verdana). Notice how the colour is red vs. the text being black. Notice that the point size is 18 while the text point size is 12. It's the little things that make it a headline. It's the itsy-bitsy fundamentals that make it prominent and say, “Hey, you, the welcome mat's here!”

3) You'd have to remove the darn obstructions:

Don't give me ten lines to read. I don't want to read that stuff. I want to read your headline. I want to know if I qualify. Don't put your testimonials in front of your headline (unless the testimonial ‘is' the headline). Don't put twenty billion links and stupid photos.

Sit down. And count the hoops that customers have to jump through to get to your headline. (read: https://www.psychotactics.com/artpsycho3) and remove those hoops. Chop anything that's getting in the way of your doorway, ruthlessly. Yes, chop, chop, chop.

Your headline is your main attractor.
It's what most of your customers read. It's what gets them to read the next fifty words, that then slides them down into the next fifty words, and so on. Make your doorway bold, and different, and without obstructions.

Us mortals have to find your doorway. Santa on the other hand, can manage quite well, thank you 🙂


Next Article Writing Article: Headline Psychology: How To Use Headlines To Get To One Thought
Next Step: Read actionable articles on article writing.

The Headline Report

The Headline Report has been downloaded over 155,000 times. In ten minutes (or less) you’ll learn how to systematically build a headline that works. Click on the button below to get a detailed report on "Why headlines fail (And how to create headlines that work)".

Get the Headline Report

Filed Under: Article Writing Tagged With: Headline Mistakes

Comments

  1. Martina Roters says

    January 9, 2011 at 11:45 pm

    Hi Sean,

    Tongue in cheek: What the heck does Roger and his networking then just in front of this article’s headline?

    I am sure, that you and your well-accustomed readers do not even feel this hoop, but newcomers probably will!

    Why not put in a little separation line between the two headlines, so that Roger catches our eye only when scrolling back to the beginning of the article page.
    Or mark it as” last issues article” or whatever it is.

    Do you agree?

    Reply
  2. Jody Pirrello says

    January 11, 2011 at 1:32 am

    Good reminders for us bloggers. I’ve also read that you
    should write your headline last – after all the copy is written.
    Would you agree?

    Reply
    • Sean D'Souza says

      January 11, 2011 at 4:51 pm

      I usually do.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Tweets that mention How To Avoid Barriers That Weaken Your Headlines | Psychotactics Zingers -- Topsy.com says:
    January 9, 2011 at 2:39 pm

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Devon Brown.
    Devon Brown said: How To Avoid Barriers That Weaken Your Headlines
    http://bit.ly/gJIMRM […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

What Bugs Me small business marketing bugs

Does anything on this website bug you? Nothing is too small or too big. If there's something we can fix, we'd love to know. The bug of the month even gets a hand-painted cartoon + postcard. Click here to report a bug.

The Headline Report why headlines fail report

The Headline Report has been downloaded over 155,000 times. In ten minutes (or less) you’ll learn how to systematically build a headline that works. Sign up for the Psychotactics newsletter and get access to a detailed report on "Why Headlines Fail (And how to create headlines that work)" Click here to subscribe and get it right away

PSYCHOTACTICS

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

sean@psychotactics.com | Skype | Privacy

Copyright © 1999 - 2023 PsychoTactics Limited. Website Development StressLessWeb

  • Home
  • About Us
    ▼
    • Philosophy
    • About Psychotactics
    • Contact Sean
  • Free Articles
    ▼
    • Psychological Strategies
    • Starting Up Strategies
    • Marketing Strategies
    • Article Writing Strategies
    • Copywriting Strategies
    • Internet Marketing Strategies
  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • Clients
    ▼
    • Client Results
  • Products
    ▼
    • Start Here First
    • Home Study
      ▼
      • Article Writing
      • Uniqueness Strategy
      • Info Products
      • Copywriting
    • Books
      ▼
      • Brain Audit
      • Under $50
      • Above $200
    • Membership
  • Workshops
    ▼
    • Online Courses
    • Worldwide Workshops and Meet-Ups
  • Services
    ▼
    • Speaker
    • Consulting
  • Fun Stuff
    ▼
    • Resources
    • Cartoons
    • Recipes