Did the headline above grab your attention?  It must have or you wouldn't be reading this article now would you?

Well even if the headline sucked, you might still be a dedicated Cool Cash reader and have kept on reading... right? :)  Sheesh, I have barely started this article and I am already going off on a tangent!  Okay, lets get back. ->

Bottom line, the headline of anything whether it be a magazine article, newspaper column, web site, etc., is the *most* important factor in the selling process.

If you don't capture the reader's interest with your headline, it doesn't matter if master copywriters like Ken Evoy, Neil Shearing or Jim Daniels wrote the rest of your advertisement.

Why?

Because no one will read past your headline if they are not interested.

Think about it.

When you are reading the daily newspaper, there is just so much to read that you skim the headlines of each article and only read the ones that have an interesting headline.

Repeat that again?  "...and only read the ones that have an interesting headline."

Ah ha!  *Interesting Headline!*

With Internet marketing, having a captivating headline before your ad copy is the *key* to the success of your ad campaign.  You need to perk the reader's interest with your headline in order to get them to read your ad copy.

There are millions of people trying to sell products and services on the Internet and you literally only have *seconds* to grab the readers attention before they click their mouse button to go to the next web site.

What is the key to an effective headline?

You must state a benefit in your headline to the get the reader excited.  For example, here are a few examples of effective headlines I have come across:

* How To Save Up To 75% Of Your Gasoline Costs!
* Make Up To $25,000 In (6) Months!
* Eliminate Your Debt In Only 60 Days!
* Would You Like $500 By Next Weekend?
* Lose Up To 15 Pounds In Only 30 Days!

What do all these headlines have in common?  They all clearly state a benefit that the prospect will get.  They target the individuals who want to achieve this benefit.  If I am slightly overweight and want to lose a few pounds, the last headline will perk my curiosity rather than a headline that reads, "Lose Weight."

Creating a headline is no easy task.  Since it is the most *important* factor of your entire sales campaign, the most time should be spent on creating the best headline possible.  It may take days or even weeks before you find the best headline.

The easiest way to create a captivating headline is to first write down all the headlines you can possibly think of for your product or service.  You may come up a few headlines or maybe even hundreds.

It doesn't matter how many, just write them down!

You then need to select the headlines that you feel will get the reader interested in what you have to offer.

Remember.  Your headlines should be realistic.  Headlines such as, "Make $50,000 In (1) Week" are sure to turn off a reader who has a reasonable amount of intelligence.  Don't insult your readers with headlines that you can never live up to.

Testing the effectiveness of various headlines is not that hard. You should take identical advertisements with the only difference being the headline and test them all.

For example, you could run a campaign on pay-per-click search engines and drive traffic to four web sites that have the same ad copy, but different headlines.  Measure the conversion ratio from visitor-to-customers for each advertisement.

The advertisement that generates the best conversion ratio obviously has the most compelling headline.  Use that headline for your advertisements and drop the rest.

Of course, there are many other factors that will affect your headline such as colour, font, etc., but lets leave those items for another article. :)

Follow the above simple steps each time you create a new headline and pretty soon you will become an expert in creating captivating headlines.