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The One Action You Can Take
That Instantly
Increases Your Website Sales
If you're getting traffic to your website but few
people are buying, you're like a lot of people I know. You may
have a good product (or service) and a good price. You just
don't have the sales you feel you ought to have.
One action you can take that can produce astounding
results in short order is to change the headline at the top
of the page - or, if you don't have a headline, put one up
there!
My friend and co-author Jim Edwards did exactly that
on a promotion that was going south and his conversion
rate jumped up 500% in a matter of minutes!
But if you change (or add) a headline, it has to be
the right kind. This article will give you some important guidelines that will help you choose a headline that
acts like a booster-rocket to your sales.
First, let's define terms. What is a headline,
anyway?
A headline is the first set of words that your
prospect sees on any piece of copy you write. It's just like the headlines you see in a newspaper.
Here are five typical newspaper headlines.
(But… a
warning. The first four are NOT the kind you want on your
website):
1. Economy Improves As Unemployment Drops, Consumer
Spending Swells
2. Ninth-Inning Grand Slam Saves The Day
3. Flu Vaccine Shortage Worries Health Officials
4. Spring Rains Flood Farmlands
5. New Computer Chip Promises Better Video On
Handheld Computers
While all these headlines would work well to sell
newspapers and get readers interested in reading the news
stories that follow, only last one would work in marketing, 99%
of the time.
Why? Because most newspaper-style headlines merely
sell the reader on reading the story, but they aren't
designed to create interest in, and desire for, a product or
service that you'd be telling the prospect about.
However, the last headline in the list…
New Computer Chip Promises Better Video On Handheld Computers
… has a characteristic that could make it work just
as well for an ad as for a news story. It's this: The
headline conveys a benefit ("Better Video on Handheld
Computers") of a product ("New Computer Chip"), and this not only
creates interest in the product. It also creates a desire for that product - if, that is, you're the kind of person
(like me) who likes video on your computers.
In short, a headline not only needs to capture
attention and keep your prospect reading. It also needs to set the
tone for what the prospect is about to read - and, to
create a mood in the prospect that will begin to make him or
her receptive to taking the action you will eventually
invite him or her to take in your sales copy.
That action might be to buy what you are selling. It
could be just to request more information. Or, it might be
to request an application form, which would lead to the
next step of the sales process.
Whatever action it is you desire your prospect to
take, your headline has an important job to do: prepare the
prospect emotionally for the invitation you are soon about to
make.
Stuck on how to increase conversion on your website? Here's the answer…
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