Persuasive writing is necessary when you’re writing a non-fiction book or an article. What you say on paper (screen) needs to move the reader to action. You must persuade them to take the next step.
The same can also be said in fiction. Your story needs to persuade the reader to turn the next page and keep on reading.
No matter what you’ve written, if a reader loses interest, they’ll stop reading and you won’t make any sales now or in the future. This is one of the reasons I personally believe that every writer should study copy writing; the art of salesmanship in print.
To write persuasively, one of the most important things is your headline which needs to draw the reader in immediately. It has to make them curious enough to want to read more.
And you do this by providing a benefit in your headline.
A good headline doesn’t need to contain any fancy tricks, it just needs to pique the reader’s curiosity, which could be as simple as a question that they feel they must get an answer to.
Just look at the headline of this article. It was a question. And it piqued your interest enough to make you want to know the answer.
To create an effective headline that benefits the reader, you need to know what that benefit is. And you need to make your headline intriguing.
For instance instead of using the headline “How to Write More” you could use “How to Make an Extra $1,000 from Your Writing This Week.”
Which headline would get your attention more?
Saying “write more” sounds like hard work. No one wants to work more than they already do. And saying “more” isn’t clear enough. How much more? 10 more words? 10 more pages?
But we all want to earn more money from what we do, and an extra $1K in a week is fast and desirable.
Here’s another example:
“How to Satisfy a Woman in Bed”
Verses
“What Women Really Enjoy in Bed”
Again, the first example sounds like hard work. It makes it seem as though you will have to work harder to if you want to satisfy a woman in bed.
But the second headline uses the words “really enjoy” which sounds much more pleasurable to both people in the bed.
What a Headline Does
A headline has just one job. It has to get the reader to read the first paragraph. After that, it’s up to each sentence/paragraph to keep carrying the reader deeper into the article/sales page/book.
This is why a headline needs to promise a benefit of reading more. It needs to intrigue the reader.
But don’t make the mistake of thinking it needs to appeal to everyone. It doesn’t. It only needs to appeal to those who are interested in reading what you’re offering.
So if you’re only appealing to writers, as in the previous example, you wouldn’t write “How Make an Extra $1,000 This Week.” The headline must appeal only to writers, otherwise, anyone else who reads it, who isn’t a writer, will be disappointed. That’s why the headlines says “an Extra $1,000 From Your Writing…”. It lets the potential readers know that it is addressing writers.
And there are any number of questions you can pose in a headline to elicit interest.
How about:
“Do You Make These Mistakes When You’re Writing?”
This headline will be effective because writers will want to know what these mistakes are because no one wants to get things wrong.
Make Your Headline Do Its Job
So when you write your next article or sales letter, make sure that your headline is doing the one job that it is supposed to do.
It must draw the reader in to start reading the first paragraph by providing a promised (or implied) benefit to the reader.
And then you need to make sure that each sentence/paragraph after that, keeps drawing the reader in further.
But - and this is important - whatever benefit is implied or promised in the headline, make sure you address it. Don’t pose a question in your headline and then never answer it.
And make it clear what the answer is. Don’t surround the answer in unnecessary ‘waffle.’
People read your articles and sales pages looking for solutions and benefits. So make sure you provide them.
And it all starts with your headline. Know what benefit the reader is searching for and you’ve found the great headline.
How to Start & Grow a Profitable Online Business So You Can Quit Your Job
No comments:
Post a Comment