Website Headlines

Rich Byrd

Website Headlines

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There is a lot of skill to writing an ad headline. And there is a great deal known about it – there are whole books on the subject.
Your website has headlines too.
What are the first, largest words on your home page, if not a headline? The same is true, to a lesser degree, on interior pages, where they function more like sub-heads in most cases.
BUT there is one huge difference between headlines in an ad, and headlines on a website.
The headline in an ad has to be a stopper, as it is the first clue to what you are selling.
Whereas a website headline is never the first stop on the marketing chain. The person already knows you exist, either because they heard of you offline, or they clicked on a link in a search or from another website.
By the time someone reaches your website, they are thinking you MAY be what they are looking for.
What then must a website headline do? The VERY first thing a website home page must do is to CONFIRM that you are what they are looking for. That means you must in the fewest, most common words, tell them:

1. What you sell.
2. Who you sell it to.
3. In what geographical area you sell.

If this isn’t immediately clear, the average visitor is not going to read on to find out. They are likely to figure they made a mistake, hit their back button and try another site.
You do have more than the headline words to work with. Your main image, and any prominent navigation buttons, will help. But you MUST accomplish 1-2-3 above, in about 2 seconds flat, and without the visitor having to scroll down to try and figure it out.
Otherwise all your efforts to get someone to your website are a waste.

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