I struggled with copywriting headlines for yearsssss. Maybe it was my deep-seated perfectionism coming to bite me in the middle of the workday. Maybe it was the pressure I put on myself to get the copy for my first few website copywriting clients *absolutely perfect.*
Or maybe (and much more likely) it was the fact that I knew all the things that a truly, gobsmacking, conversion-priming website headline should do…and by golly I didn’t want to mess it all up.
Nowadays, writing headlines is my favorite part of the website copywriting process. With an average of 80% of people reading your headlines (as opposed to the 20% of people who hang around to read the rest of your copy), your headlines are one of the first power players in your copy that moves the needle toward a conversion.
So how do you write a super memorable, conversion-priming headline?
What Is A Headline in Copywriting (Beyond, Ya Know, The Obvious)?
Your headline is the first bit of copy that your reader sees when they land on your website, sales page, article, or [insert other of your copywriting projects here]. Website visitors only spend about 10-20 seconds on a web page before deciding if it’s time to click off, which leaves your headline on the frontline when it comes to helping visitors become fans — or turning them into website bouncers.
But that’s just the most basic version of a headline definition. Because in a world of bots, AI, and tech savvy customers around every digital corner, your headline does a lot more than just leave web visitors sure that they’ve landed on the right site.
Headlines now:
- Keep people reading down the page
- Build the foundation of an unforgettable conversion story
- Clue Google into your website SEO efforts
Your Headline’s 1st Job: Keep People Reading
With only a few seconds to convince visitors to stay on your web page, you better make every word those visitors see in those first seconds count.
First impressions matter — in real life and in online-land. As the New Yorker once smartly pointed out:
“A headline determines how many people will read a piece, particularly in this era of social media. But, more interesting, a headline changes the way people read an article and the way they remember it. The headline frames the rest of the experience. A headline can tell you what kind of article you’re about to read—news, opinion, research, LOLcats—and it sets the tone for what follows.”
Maria Konnikova, The New Yorker
No, your website isn’t a journalism article (the way that a New Yorker article is). But your website is a piece of content that your web visitor has the choice to read or….errrr….not read.
And just like a headline sets the tone for whether you’ll be reading a journalism piece that makes you LOL over cat memes or dig deep into political controversy, your website headlines quickly clue your readers into whether they’ve found what they’re looking for…
Or need to hit that big ole back button to return to the Google search result pages and give their search another go.
Copywriting headlines example:
Take Bonsai for example. If you visited this business management software’s website on the day I’m writing this post, you’d see this on their Home page:
From the get-go, Bonsai is calling out its target market (business owners) almost by name. While fronting a value prop (run your whole business: all in one place) that will either leave web visitors saying either:
– Heck yessss, I might need this
Or
– Okkkaayyyy then, not for me. Time to look elsewhere
Could the non-business owner families out there use some features of Bonsai’s platform to budget their spending?
Sure, why not?
But is that Bonsai’s target market — or main intended use?
Nope. And Bonsai makes that clear with just a simple 7 word headline.
(But hey, it’s fine if Bonsai isn’t for you! Because if you’re a couple looking for budgeting software, Honeydue has you covered with a headline likely to speak straight to your soul.)
Your Headline’s 2nd Job: Build the Storyline
“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy.”
That was written in 1967, by absolute marketing legend David Ogilvy. Plenty of things have changed in the last 60 years — including our attention spans. (Yes, they’re shorter. Yes, it’s probably TikTok’s fault.)
But what hasn’t changed? Is the fact that headlines remain the most-read part of your website page.
Writing content that is skimmable and scannable — while still packed to overflowing with conversion power — is the name of the copywriting game. (And the name of the copywriting headlines game, as it were.)
When people are looking to get the gist of your content in the 5 minutes they have before taking the kids to soccer practice and solving the most-recent crisis at the office: they look to your headlines to do it.
Which is why your headlines should tell a clear story that starts at the top of your page and gives your readers all the biggest need-to-know deets by the end.
To build the kind of headline story that leads to a conversion:
After you write your website copy, sales page copy, or whatever type of copy you’re using to convert — go back and read just your headlines.
As you read through just the headlines on your page, ask yourself:
- If I was reading just the headlines of my page, would I be left wanting to hear more?
- Do I get a clear sense of who this offer is for?
- Am I clued into what benefits this offer will give me (especially ones that I won’t get if I go with a competing offer)?
- Do I get a sense that this offer actually does what it claims to do (in the form of testimonials, “featured in” proof bars, or case studies)?
Since we already have Bonsai on the brain, see how they build a narrative with their headlines. One that leaves you with a clear vision of who this product is for, what this product does, and the main features that make it absolutely desirable to the target market:
If the story your headlines are telling is falling flat — instead of leaving you greedy to hear more — then it’s probably time to grab a latte, sit down at the desk, and see if you can craft a clearer path to the conversion for your customers.
Your Headline’s 3rd Job: Power-Pack Your Website SEO
The Google algorithm is pretty darn smart. But being smart isn’t the same thing as being a mind reader.
Just like Albert Einstein couldn’t claim clairvoyance as one of his many gifts, Google can’t figure out what your website is about — unless you clearly tell it through best website SEO practices what it’s about.
There’s a hierarchy to how Google reads your website page. Your <H1> (typically the biggest, top-of-page headline) is seen as the most important by Google.
By putting your most-relevant SEO keywords in the <H1> of your main pages, you can make it easier for Google to draft a clear map of what your website is about — and who represents the ideal audience for your content.
To make it easier to understand the impact that an <H1> can have on how Google reads your website, consider these two possible Home page headlines:
– You shouldn’t have to wake up to an empty client calendar
– Website copywriting that fills your client calendar
Sure, the upper one might go far in convincing readers that they totally, utterly, completely need the offer that you have.
But the lower one? It does all that, while also clueing Google in to who the offer is perfectly suited for.
How to Write the Best Headlines Your Audience Has Ever Seen: Tip #1
For years, I was whipping out headlines while scratching my head wondering why they weren’t converting visitors into clients the way I wanted them to.
Until I realized: copywriting headlines are a quantity game, not a quality one.
By which I mean, you’ll be way better off spending an hour of your time brain-dumping headlines into a Google doc than you will sitting in front of a blinking cursor trying to string a series of words into headline *magic.*
To make headline magic happen without headache, here’s a 1-2 step for doing it:
• Block out 30 minutes of your day
• Sit down and just aim to write as many headlines as you can. If some are crap? Great! If some of them don’t follow the rules of grammar or logic? Fine! If it feels like you’re just churning out the same words over and over again? Whatever, keep going! (Really stuck? Check out these headline formulas for a little inspo.)
• Once your 30 minutes are up — walk away and do something else. Get a coffee. Get some sleep. Disappear from your computer for 24 hours or more.
• When you have fresh eyes and a fresh mind, come back to your computer and bold any headlines that stand out from the crowd. Which ones seem to hit on your offer’s biggest value proposition? Which ones most clearly show what your offer is and who your offer is for? Which headlines make you stop and say “Darrrrnnn I wrote that?? That’s so freaking catchy!”
• Keep narrowing down your shortlist of headlines until you’re left with one standout headline you can use on your page. Then repurpose the other headlines on your shortlist elsewhere in your copy — or use them as the <H1> of other main pages on your website.
• Once you have one main <H1> headline chosen from your list, you can work on integrating SEO keywords (if that’s something you want to focus on for your biz).
Copywriting Headlines for SEO: Tip #2
Does every business need to care about SEO?
This is kind of controversial, but here’s my take: SEO might not always be the best investment for your business.
In plenty of cases, taking top spot for key search engine optimization terms is the secret to exploding your revenue year-after-year. (Just ask my 7-figure client currently contributing a majority of their sales to organic traffic.)
But it can also expensive and time-intensive to build up the kind of SEO profile that will make Google take notice.
If SEO doesn’t seem like the clear path to greater revenue generation for you (aka: you have plenty of other more-effective ways of getting people to land on your site), then introducing an SEO keyword might work against you rather than working for you.
(As brilliant marketing mind Joanna Wiebe often says, write for people first — robots second.)
When copywriting headlines, it really all comes down to this:
If SEO isn’t your priority, focus on writing the most compelling gosh darn headline you can. The kind that will make people stop and say “I need to keep reading about this” — even if an SEO keyword isn’t anywhere in sight.
But if search engine optimization is a priority for your business, then try to get an <H1> keyword in there. Here’s how:
- As a first step, you’ll need to determine what <H1> keyword you’ll want to use for your page. This guide gives an introductory interview of how to do keyword research to find search engine optimization terms that will hit all the right notes with Google AND with your target market.
- Brainstorm at least 5 different ways of introducing that <H1> keyword into your headline.
After those two steps, you might be left with a list of potential headlines that look something like this. (Remember: this is still a brain dump! So don’t try to :
Starting headline:
Sell while you sleep
Target <H1> keyword:
Website copywriting
Headline variations:
- Website copywriting that sells while you sleep
- Sell while you sleep. With website copywriting that attracts on repeat.
- You should be able to sell while you sleep. With website copywriting that effortlessly attracts.
- Website copywriting that helps creatives sell while they sleep
- You want to sell while you sleep. That’s where your website copywriting comes in.
At this point, you have 3 choices:
1). Step away from your desk for a while. Then come back when you can confidently look at your headline list and say “yes, this one is it!”
2). Admit that introducing your <H1> keyword into your headline did not go quite as smoothly as you would have liked. Which means going back to your shortlist to see if it will fit better into one of your other top choices.
3). Go with the idea that converting your customers through a kicka** headline feels more important to you right now than prioritizing a main keyword. (Which might mean giving up getting that <H1> keyword in there…all for the sake of getting more visitors who find your site to want to look longer.)
Obviously, getting a pro copywriter to get an eye on your website copy can be an easy way to get the best of all conversion-and-SEO worlds.
But if going the copywriting headlines DIY route is what makes the most sense for you right now, then the strategies above will leave you with a stellar headline to front on your main website page…
Plus dozens of compelling headlines to use elsewhere in your marketing.
