Speaking Success Strategies | Sales Technology Speaker | Stef du Plessis

The Simplest Ways to Make the Best Headlines

 

Headlines are really the most important part of your article writing, blog, LinkedIn post, YouTube Video and so much more...  

It is the first thing that can grab the attention of your reader or web visitor.

Busy people keep their lives manageable by deciding almost instantly whether something is worth their time.

The headline is your first and sometimes only chance.

Their eye will scan the headline and an instant decision will be made.

Does it interest them, intrigue them, or amuse them or can it be ignored? There's no second chance.

No appeal. Just one chance.

There is no going back and the rest of your article, brilliant, amusing, and informative though it may be will never be read.

It's the headline's job to entice them, engage them and capture their attention so that they ignore all other distractions to read to find out more.

 It's scary, but this process takes just a second or two and it's brutal. An email appears, a web page loads, a magazine page is flipped open and in a second or two the readers has made an instant judgment - to read or move on. I’m sure you can relate to this yourself.

Using a ‘question’ in your headline is the most effective way of doing this.  This is also something that the search engines like – especially when the rest of your article contains the answer!

A question, if written well, should be able to attract, intrigue or even to gently provoke your readers to want to read more.  Using more ‘interesting’ verbs will help you do this.

Writing Headlines – Keep It Simple

There are different elements within any headline that readers will ‘connect’ with.  You can’t squeeze all of them in at once, otherwise you could actually lose the impact you are wanting to create.

Some people suggest headlines should contain no more than seven words, but you can have equal success with longer titles.

Here are some simple guidelines:-

• Ensure the message in your headline is clear and ‘to the point’
• Your headlines should highlight the ‘benefit’ to your reader of reading your article
• Get your headlines to ‘resonate’ with your reader by showing that you understand their pains or particular business issues
• It must be clear - The headline is not the place to be confusing or circumspect. It has to be clear what the headline is saying and what the rest of the article is about.
• It must be relevant - The headline must be relevant to the introduction and the rest of the article otherwise you will lose the reader as soon as they see any discrepancy.
• It must be lean - A waffle-filled wordy headline will not be read. Keep your headline short and to the point.
• It must be exciting - Don't bore your reader - excite them, amuse them, make them curious...

Here are some great resources to help to create headlines:

https://tweakyourbiz.com/title-generator

https://coschedule.com/headline-analyzer

https://sumome.com/kickass-headline-generator/

https://www.impactplus.com/blog-title-generator/blogabout

https://www.aminstitute.com/headline/

https://www.inboundnow.com/apps/kill-writers-block/

https://fatjoe.com/blog-title-generator/#title-generator

https://copywritingcourse.com/title-generator/

https://headlines.sharethrough.com

https://www.title-generator.com/

https://www.contentmajestic.com/resources/tools/blog-title-generator

https://help.thrivethemes.com

https://answerthepublic.com/ (my favorite)

https://www.thehoth.com/headline-generator/

https://www.hubspot.com/blog-topic-generator

https://seopressor.com/blog-title-generator/

https://www.portent.com/tools/title-maker

https://www.contentrow.com/tools/headline-generator

https://tweakyourbiz.com/title-generator

https://sumome.com/kickass-headline-generator

https://www.impactplus.com/blog-title-generator/blogabout

Frank Furness CSP CFP TOT is a professional speaker and consultant specializing in technology, sales and customer service.

He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 69 countries. Frank is the author of bestselling books ‘ ‘Walking with Tigers  – Success Secrets of the World’s Top Business Leaders’ and How to Find New Clients and Business’

Download your free copy of his latest book ‘'Creating the Perfect YouTube Video' at https://www.productivitycentre.com/youtube

Virtual Speakers Bootcamp | Frank Furness

Book now for the Virtual Speakers Bootcamp - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-speakers-bootcamp-tickets-168394816429

The New World of Sales

With the advent of Covid, the world of sales has changed dramatically.

For the time being (we hope), traditional face to face meetings, networking and many other ways of meeting new contacts has been limited.

But there are great opportunities, and so many businesses are doing better than ever before as they have grasped the opportunity and pivoted.

Here are some of the changes that have made them successful…

Working from home is the new normal and what that means is:

H – Habits

O – Optimizing.

M – Mobility

E – Establishing Expertise.

 

Habits – it is so easy to fall into bad habits working from home. Either becoming lazy and getting a late start or working way harder than you ever would in an office. Our habits should include…

·         Physical – doing regular exercise.

·         Mental – reading, learning & self-development.

·         Emotional – Connecting on a regular basis with family and friends.

 

O – Optimizing.

Work – Creating a working environment that you enjoy.

I decided to sell up in London and moved to the Norfolk coast where I wake up each day looking at the ocean.

I also decided to make my office something that I enjoyed and have my full percussion setup, my electric drum kit, my guitars and saxophones right there for when I want to take a break. Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtaUQjPsi6M

Website – I took the opportunity to update my website using the wonderful skills of Peter Smith at Link Digital https://www.linkdigital.co.uk/ as well as investing in Yoast Professional for the SEO with the help of top experts Sue & Herb Kelly. Let me know what you think https://frankfurness.com/

 

M – Mobility – most people are now using their phones to look at website, do searches and make purchases.

 

Is your website mobile friendly, check it at https://www.semrush.com/siteaudit/ or with Google?

E – Establishing Expertise.

Using social media and especially LinkedIn, you can now post about your products or services to establish your expertise  and attract new clients.

Here are some ideas you can use in the new world of sales:

LinkedIn

·         Optimize your profile for SEO. Look at mine https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankfurness/

·         Since Microsoft bought LinkedIn a few years ago, it has become a major force for SEO. Do a search for  ‘sales technology speaker’ wherever you are in the world and you will see that I dominate the first page and the two major players are LinkedIn and YouTube.

·         Post regularly, the more you post the more the algorithms will get you seen. Always start your post with a question or statement in capitals. You have 1300 characters, use them all and finish with a question so people reading will have something to comment on

·         Have a variation of posts that include polls, videos, PDFs (LinkedIn love these)

·         Always include hashtags to attract the right audience.

·         Always have a purpose or end goal for your post (a call to action)

Take a look at my online course on LinkedIn - www.linkedinmarketingforbusiness.com

YouTube – Google owns YouTube, so by uploading videos regularly, you once again stand a chance of getting free SEO. Here are some tips:

·         Know which tags or keywords you want to optimize.

·         Include these in three places, the title, description and tags. If you want to see some examples take a look at my channel - https://www.youtube.com/salestips  and subscribe

·         Post at least 3 times a week

·         Once you post, share the video on all your social channels.

Here are some free resources:

·         Creating the Perfect YouTube Marketing Video

·         Video Mastery Resource EBook

·         And of course, my huge online course - https://www.productivitycentre.com/video

Podcasts – So many people are now listening to podcasts, so share your expertise on this platform. I have 4 podcasts for different audiences, look at https://www.spreaker.com/user/frankfurness

What changes have you made to sales and marketing since lock down and Covid changed our lives?

If you enjoyed the article, please like and comment.

Frank Furness CSP CFP TOT is a professional speaker and coach specializing in sales & marketing. He has educated, entertained, and inspired audiences in 69 countries. His publications and online courses have been sold globally. For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips & Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com

NOTE: You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to frank@frankfurness.com Take a look at other articles, free software and e-Books at http://www.frankfurness.com/