Comments on: 5 Deadly Copywriting Mistakes That Kill Your Sales

By: Ed Erickson

Ed Erickson — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:14:48 +0000

I’m seeing that the principle is always to simply get the reader/buyer one more step along the way.

Either clicks and pages thru an article or toward a sale—

or if in this case–when just applied toward a heading–simply farther down a long heading. If the beginning doesn’t grab, the reader won’t slow down to read.

By: Cheryl Antier

Cheryl Antier — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 21:41:26 +0000

Hi Ray,

Jeff - I think you make a good point about headline length - especially when it comes to Internet Marketing sales copy - we’ve all seen some of the most hype-y ads have the longest headlines…I tend to scroll down past some of those too, because it’s become the “norm” in this market.

But in other markets, where they don’t constantly get hit with the try this product and it will make you rich overnight while you take your laptop to the beach kind of headlines, they can be surprisingly effective - if, as Ray says, the headlines grab their attention in the first place.

And Ray - I wanted to add a #6 deadly mistake if I could. What about writing copy that is just not specific enough? I get the best results with copy that gives specifics about what the product or service can do for the reader…I’m talking about specific results - such as what we write in case studies. The results that other people have gotten. Lost 21 pounds in 30 days, increased the number of leads by 210%, that kind of thing. Of course you don’t want to go overboard and turn it into a math paper - but giving people an idea of what kind of results other people got give readers the opportunity to see thesmselves achieving the same thing. What do you think?

By: Ray Edwards

Ray Edwards — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:45:47 +0000

This is an article I actually wrote last year. So there are two points that are relevant to your question.

1. Yes, people do read headlines this long. And longer. It’s just like any long copy: it will be read if it’s interesting to the reader.

2. And yes, especially in the Internet Marketing space, short headlines can often be more effective. Again, much of this depends on how well you can hone in on what’s bugging your reader, and how clearly you can touch that emotion with your headline.

Great question, Jeff!

By: JEFF WELLS

JEFF WELLS — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:12:43 +0000

Ray, about your example of a much better headline, you have one that is 30+ words long. Do people really read a headline that long? I don’t. A headline that long makes me think that if it took that many words to summarize something the rest of it must really be fluff and I keep on scrolling.

I agree that that 30+ word quote would be a great opening pargraph to compell the reader to read the next part of the copy.

A headline is normaly under 10 words long.
Like “Will Your Car Seriously Hurt Your Family?”.
To initialy grab your targets attention and complell them to read the first paragraph.

Maybe I’m confused between the difference in a headline and a title.