Copyright 2006 Brian Maroevich
Even the most powerful advertising copy on the planet is useless without an effective headline.
An effective headline determines whether or not your prospective customer will read the next sentence of your sales message.
You must grab your reader’s attention with something that appeals to them and forces them to want to learn more, otherwise you won’t make a sale.
Whether you have a successful headline or you are just starting to write your next ad or sales letter, here are 10 Headline Writing Tips That Will Instantly Improve Your Advertising Results:
1. Put your prospects name in your headline. Everyone wants to see their name in "The Headlines". This will definitely grab their attention and get them to read your ad or sales letter.
2. "Use Quotations" around your headline. Quotation marks create the perception that your headline is a testimonial and has credibility. And credibility, in turn creates more believability, and this can significantly increase response to your ad.
3. Don't make your headline to "BIG". Many advertisers believe that bigger headlines get a better response. Bigger is not always better. You want your headline to be in a readable and believable size compared to the rest of your ad. A big headline can reduce your credibility because it looks to “hyped up.”
4. Don't end your headline with a period. This creates a pause in your readers mind and they may decide to move on to something else. People have been trained to pause at a period. But if you end your headline with an "!" exclamation point you will ad excitement to it and your reader will want to move forward with your ad (this is a good rule of thumb, but it's not a law. I've seen and written ads with a period in the headline and it's worked.) Another technique is to leave your headline open ended or use "..." to get them to move into your body copy.
5. Use one, two, even three subheadlines. Subheadlines below your main headline can be very effective in building intrigue and excitement in your reader. Each subheadline should be smaller compared to the main headline and the subheadline before it; ultimately your reader will end up in the main body of your ad or sales letter before they know it.
6. There are many advanced techniques for producing great headlines but what I’ve found to be simple and effective is to use the best benefit your product or services provides as your main headline, and then ad “How To…” to it. For example, if your best feature as a web developer is getting websites built and online within 3 days, the benefit of that could be..."How To Attract New Business Worldwide While You Sleep Starting In 3 Days!”
7. If you use "$" dollar figures in your advertising use this tip: If you help people save or make an extra $2,500 with your product or service, attach a decimal point to it: $2,500.00. What looks like more money, $2,500 or $2,500.00? Conversely, if you are stating a price for your product, put as few "0's" in the price as possible. For example, if your product costs $2,500, you don't want to print, "$2,500", or "$2,500.00". You want to print something like $2,499. This looks less threatening.
8. Combine a grabber with your headline and you might get amazing results! Grabbers are small gadgets and trinkets that are attached to your letter or report that get your prospects attention like: million dollar bills, real money, string, magnifying glasses, pencils, fake checks, bubble gum, poker chips etc. The key is to tie in your grabber with your offer in a clever way. Also, if you combine a headline above and/or below your grabber you'll really ad power to your advertising.
9. Make your headline newsworthy. "How To Get Your Tax Refund In 10 Days!" is a pretty good benefit oriented headline, but you could test a newsworthy approach like..."Local Tax Planner Gets Clients Over $1,000,000.00 In Tax Refunds!"
10. Use a testimonial as your headline...Get the most detailed and specific testimonial you have and use it as your headline. For example, "I made an extra $32,000.00 In Six Weeks, and another $10,000.00 in Two Days!" is a prime example of a specific testimonial. This makes it very appealing because it's real, it's newsworthy, and I can attach a real name to it.
10 Headline Writing Tips That Will Instantly Boost Your Advertising Response Rates!
Benchmarking and Best Practice - Utilization Rates
Benchmarking and best practice is a way for you to measure your success against others who have made the leap into computer consulting before you. By measuring your own performance against industry benchmarks you get an idea of what you need to work on to be successful.
A key element in your benchmarking and best practice is to look at utilization rates. Your utilization rate is the ratio of how many hours you bill clients compared to how many hours you work in a given period.
Utilization Rate = Hours Billed / Hours Worked
The typical benchmarking and best practice comparison is based on a 40 hour work week. If you work 40 hours in a week but only work with clients for 10 billable hours, your utilization rate is 25%.
Utilization Rate Benchmarks
Benchmarking and best practice in the computer consulting industry suggests using a utilization rate of 50% as a minimum tolerance level. This may not be realistic for the first few months of start-up though. What you want to monitor is whether your utilization rate is showing an upward trend toward the benchmarking and best practice standard.
A 50% utilization rate is a good place to be within six to nine months of launching your business. By the time your business matures, a utilization rate of 75% (30 billable hours per week) is a benchmarking and best practice ideal. Once you get higher than that your quality of life begins to suffer. The huge invoice payments coming in are great but the resulting burnout and stress are not worth it.
The Bottom Line on Benchmarking and Best Practice Utilization Rates
It is important to measure your performance against others in the industry. A benchmarking and best practice comparison, particularly with utilization rates, is a great place to start. Your ideal rate will vary depending on the phase your business is in, but remaining within the benchmarking and best practices range is a good indicator of sustainable business operations.
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