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Attention: Is Your Headline Getting Any?

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Previous Episode:How to Craft Landing Pages that Work More Episodes Next Episode:Convert ... Or Die

All Episodes:

March 30, 2020

The Advantage of Email Marketing, Featuring Nathan Barry of ConvertKit

March 15, 2020

How to Write Content That Resonates

March 9, 2020

How to Conquer Your Fear of Selling, with Leah Neaderthal

March 2, 2020

How to Build Remarkable Products to Grow Your Business, with Ramit Sethi

February 17, 2020

What You Should Talk about on Your Podcast, with Tara McMullin

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How to Win at Search in 2020

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How to Turn Pro as a Freelance Writer

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October 23, 2019

The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur with John Jantsch

October 2, 2019

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September 16, 2019

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How Smart, Nimble Companies Are Using Webinars Today

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The Clarity Method: A Conversation with Tim Brownson

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Digital Business Trends and the Latest on the Rainmaker Platform

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4 ‘Naive’ Business Principles for Enduring Success

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How to Write an Epic Blog Post, Part 3: Polishing and Promotion

July 1, 2019

How to Write an Epic Blog Post, Part 2: Getting It Written

June 24, 2019

How to Write an Epic Blog Post, Part 1: Thinking and Research

June 17, 2019

3 Almost Magical Headline Ingredients for More Traffic, Engagement, and Shares

June 10, 2019

Lessons Any Business Can Learn from an Impressive Influencer Marketing Fail

June 3, 2019

13 Ways of Looking at a Headline

May 27, 2019

The 7 ‘Bad’ Habits of Incredibly Successful People

May 20, 2019

Writers: How to Move from Making a Living to Driving Revenue

May 13, 2019

Choose the Right Frame to Boost the Power of Your Content

May 6, 2019

How Copywriting Teacher Belinda Weaver Reenergized Her Email List for Massive Engagement

April 29, 2019

3 Reasons Why Really Good Writers Sometimes Can’t Find Great Clients

April 22, 2019

3 Slightly Embarrassing Emotions that Drive Effective Copywriting

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April 8, 2019

Becoming the ‘Chief Empathy Officer’ of Your Copy and Content

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One of the Most Important Marketing Decisions You’ll Ever Make

March 18, 2019

What Nobody Wants to Hear about Content Marketing

March 11, 2019

Getting Your Big, Scary Projects Finished: A Conversation about Growing Gills

March 4, 2019

When Is It Time to Bring in a Professional Copywriter?

February 25, 2019

Using Content to Systematically Move Prospects Toward a Purchase

February 18, 2019

Understanding the Lifecycles of Your Website, with Pamela Wilson

February 11, 2019

5 Ways to Manage a Stress-Induced Creative Slump

February 4, 2019

3 Ways Strategic Content Can Drive Measurable Business Outcomes

January 28, 2019

The Social Media Platform Every Content Creator Should Be Using in 2019 (Nope, It’s Not Facebook)

January 21, 2019

Real Talk about Generating High-Quality Content

January 14, 2019

A Conversation with Paul Jarvis about Staying a ‘Company of One’

October 29, 2018

The 3 Plus 1 Foundational Elements of Effective Persuasion

October 22, 2018

5 Essential Copywriting Techniques from Copyblogger

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5 Ways to Recover Your Professional and Creative Confidence

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5 Stinky Sardine Secrets to Make Your Content More Fascinating

September 24, 2018

The Mindset ‘Hack’ that Frees Your Creativity and Makes You Happier

September 18, 2018

How to Kill Your Sales and Mess up Your Business: Lessons from a Used Car Salesman

September 4, 2018

The 7 Things Writers Need to Make a (Good) Living

August 27, 2018

Are You Making These Social Media Marketing Mistakes?

August 20, 2018

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August 13, 2018

7 Ways to Boost Your Creativity

August 6, 2018

A 10-Step ‘Checklist’ for Your Content Marketing Site

July 30, 2018

The 3 Keys to Publishing Strong Content … Even If You Aren’t a ‘Great’ Writer (Yet)

July 23, 2018

Fix These 3 Points of Failure to Get Better Results for Your Content

July 16, 2018

Big Changes at ConvertKit: A Discussion with Founder Nathan Barry

July 9, 2018

3 Skills to Master to Become a Marketing Badass this Year

June 18, 2018

The Quiet Power of Conversational Copy

June 11, 2018

5 Rules of Thumb to Relieve SEO-Induced Stress

June 4, 2018

How to Use the GDPR to Make Your Business Stronger than Ever

May 14, 2018

‘Good Karma’ Selling that Works: A Conversation with Tim Paige

April 30, 2018

How to Get More Comfortable (and Effective) at Selling

April 23, 2018

Privacy and Permission in the Wake of Cambridge Analytica

April 16, 2018

Seth Godin and How to Create Change

April 9, 2018

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March 26, 2018

The Double-Edged Sword that Can Make (or Break) Your Content

March 19, 2018

Make More Progress by Getting (Gently) Out of Your Comfort Zone

March 12, 2018

Are You Doing Content Marketing Wrong?

March 5, 2018

Storytelling for Modern Content Marketing (Part 2 of 2)

February 26, 2018

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February 19, 2018

10 Quality Factors Search Engines Need to See on Your Site

February 12, 2018

A Simple Content Strategy to Make Your Site Massively More Useful

February 5, 2018

How to Avoid a Heartbreaking Business Failure

January 29, 2018

Hey Writers: Let’s Get You Paid What You’re Worth

January 15, 2018

5 Keys to Making Your Content More Shareable

December 18, 2017

3 Observations on Trends (but not Predictions) for 2018

December 11, 2017

3 Tips Now to Build a Strong Foundation in 2018

December 4, 2017

The 3 Success Factors that Help Writers Earn a Great Living

November 27, 2017

How to Recognize a Great Content Idea

November 20, 2017

How to Cultivate a More Meaningful Gratitude Practice

November 13, 2017

Advice for Poets, Advice for Killers

October 30, 2017

Face Your Business Fears on Halloween Week

October 23, 2017

How to Make Smarter Decisions about Your Website

October 2, 2017

A Series of Unfortunate Content Events

September 18, 2017

The Evolution of a Successful Copywriter

August 28, 2017

7 Ways to Improve Your Marketing by Harnessing the Power of Evil

August 14, 2017

Smart Questions from our Brilliant Audience

August 7, 2017

Does the Web Have Enough Patience for Your In-Depth Content?

July 31, 2017

How to Write (Much Better) Blog Comments

July 17, 2017

Which Works Better: Positive or Negative Content?

July 10, 2017

How to Attract the Exact Customers You Want

July 3, 2017

How to Create Stability and Success as an Artist

June 19, 2017

Two Powerful Resources for Life-Changing Growth

June 12, 2017

How to Turn All that Marketing Advice into Action

June 5, 2017

How to Develop a Compelling Marketing Idea in 4 Steps

May 30, 2017

Getting Over the Fear of Selling

May 22, 2017

Talking Community and Digital Business with Tara Gentile

May 15, 2017

Plagiarism, Self-Deception, Bad Sandwiches, and Other Interesting Disasters

May 1, 2017

Professional Writers: Find Out How to Get Certified by Copyblogger

April 17, 2017

The Painful Core Lesson Taught by 3 Astonishing Big-Brand Fails

April 3, 2017

5 Mindset Habits that Actually Work

March 27, 2017

On Grammar, Usage, and Not Being a Great Big Jerk

March 20, 2017

Creative Strategies for Content Writers

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A New Ultra-Easy Resource for Creating Excellent WordPress Sites

February 20, 2017

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February 13, 2017

Politics, Content Marketing, and the 2017 Super Bowl Ads

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Copyblogger Book Club: Winning the Story Wars

January 23, 2017

3 Content Marketing Strategy Fails (and How to Fix Them)

January 9, 2017

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December 19, 2016

Bad Writing Advice: The ‘Post Truth’ Episode

December 12, 2016

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The 4 Pillars Every Online Business Is Built On

November 28, 2016

Orbit Media’s Latest Survey of 1000 Bloggers

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November 7, 2016

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October 31, 2016

5 Quick Wins for Content Marketers

October 24, 2016

Announcing: An Intriguing New Tool for Collaborative Content

October 17, 2016

A New Book to Make Content Marketing Easier

October 10, 2016

Behind the Scenes at Copyblogger: Our New Email Approach

October 3, 2016

The ‘Obligatory’ Structure of Effective Content

September 26, 2016

7 Powerful Content Strategies Borrowed from Advertising Masters

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How to Handle Demographic and Psychographic Segmentation (without Looking Like an Idiot)

September 8, 2016

Ethics, Professionalism, and Good Manners for Content Marketers

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3 Questions that Can Haunt Creative Professionals

August 25, 2016

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August 18, 2016

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Are You Leaving Money on the Table with Weak Headlines?

August 4, 2016

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July 28, 2016

The One-Two Punch that Creates the Most Successful Copywriters

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A Process for Content Marketing Success

May 26, 2016

Content Marketing Best Practices: Getting Email Opt-Ins

May 19, 2016

Behind the Scenes: Adventures in Advertising

May 12, 2016

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May 5, 2016

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April 28, 2016

Behind the Scenes at the Rainmaker Digital Company Meeting!

April 14, 2016

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April 7, 2016

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Behind the Scenes: An Inside Look at the Rainmaker FM Redesign

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February 25, 2016

Content Marketing Shout-Out: Orbit Media and Andy Crestodina

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February 4, 2016

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January 21, 2016

Behind the Scenes: The Relaunch and Re-Imagining of Copyblogger.com

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September 1, 2015

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August 11, 2015

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August 4, 2015

How to Attend an Industry Conference Like a Boss

July 28, 2015

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July 21, 2015

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July 14, 2015

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July 7, 2015

Celebrating Our 101st Episode (with a Special Guest Interviewer)

June 30, 2015

Why The Phrase ‘Leaders Are Readers’ Should Die

June 23, 2015

Why You Should Think Outside the Box About Online Courses

June 16, 2015

The Proper (and Safe) Way to Republish Old Articles

June 9, 2015

How to Grow an Audience on LinkedIn by Repurposing Content

June 2, 2015

Key Takeaways from Three-and-a-Half Hours with Henry Rollins

May 27, 2015

Rapid-Fire Takeaways from Authority Rainmaker

May 19, 2015

The Proper Way to Grow an Audience on Medium

May 12, 2015

The Introvertโ€™s Guide to Launching a Successful Podcast

May 5, 2015

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April 28, 2015

Proof That Grit Is the Only Way to Reach Your Potential

April 21, 2015

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April 14, 2015

Choose Yourself Part 2: James Altucher Fights Back

April 7, 2015

Should We Fear Content Shock? (Or Could It Actually Be a Good Thing?)

March 31, 2015

Should You Really ‘Walk in the Direction of Your Fear’?

March 24, 2015

Is ‘Choose Yourself’ Good Advice … or New-Age Phooey?

March 17, 2015

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March 3, 2015

Dan Pink on How to Succeed in the New Era of Selling

February 24, 2015

Here’s How to Answer the Most Important Question in Life (and Make a Living from It)

February 17, 2015

Sally Hogshead on How You Can Unlock Your Natural Ability to Fascinate

February 10, 2015

How to Learn from Your Successes

January 27, 2015

How to Learn From Your Mistakes

January 13, 2015

Lessons Learned from Conducting Two Monster Audience Surveys

December 16, 2014

Adaptive Content: A Trend to Pay Attention to in 2015

December 2, 2014

The Most Important Lessons You Should Have Learned in 2014

November 18, 2014

How We Built Our Careers Online (And What You Can Learn From It)

November 4, 2014

Interview with Brian Clark: How Customer Experience Maps Help You Develop a Smarter Content Strategy

October 21, 2014

How Empathy Maps Help You Speak Directly to the Hearts of Your Audience

October 7, 2014

How to Ignite a Feeling in Your Audience

September 23, 2014

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June 26, 2014

How to Curate Knowledge, Turn it Into Wisdom, and Build Your Audience

June 19, 2014

How Successful Writers Curate Ideas

June 13, 2014

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June 6, 2014

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May 30, 2014

How Freaks and Misfits Can Succeed in Business: A Conversation with Chris Brogan

May 23, 2014

The 2 Reasons People Don’t Click on Your Buttons … And How to Overcome Them

May 16, 2014

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May 9, 2014

How to Be Authentic

May 2, 2014

How to Close With Style

April 25, 2014

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April 17, 2014

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April 11, 2014

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April 4, 2014

How to Use Internal Cliffhangers

March 28, 2014

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March 21, 2014

How to Tell a Seductive Story

March 14, 2014

How to Create Exquisite Subheads

March 7, 2014

How to Write Killer Bullet Points

February 28, 2014

How to Write Damn Good Sentences

February 21, 2014

How to Use Persuasive Words

February 14, 2014

Michael Stelzner on Capturing Emails and Committing to Quality

February 7, 2014

How to Nail Your Opening

January 24, 2014

How to Write a Magnetic Headline (in Under 15 Minutes)

May 18, 2012

Seth Godin on When You Should Start Marketing Your Product, Service, or Idea

May 11, 2012

How to Attract an Audience by Integrating Content, Social, and Search

March 30, 2012

Why You Should Build an Audience Before You Build a Business

March 16, 2012

How Chris Brogan Built His Content Platform

March 9, 2012

Jay Baer on How to Turn Interested Prospects into Lifelong Customers

March 2, 2012

A 30-Minute Copywriting Course from a Master of the Craft

February 24, 2012

The Path to a Legendary Copywriting Career

February 17, 2012

5 Tips for Affiliate Marketing Beginners

February 10, 2012

Why Not Sell Physical Stuff With Digital Media?

February 3, 2012

Whether You Call it Blogging or Not, Online Content Still Rules

January 27, 2012

Answers to the 3 Biggest Email Marketing Questions We Get

January 20, 2012

How to Newsjack Your Way to Free Media Exposure with David Meerman Scott

January 13, 2012

Steven Pressfield and the War of Work

November 18, 2011

The Strategy Behind the Copyblogger Redesign

November 11, 2011

7 Ways to Create an Email Marketing "Snowball Effect"

November 4, 2011

Warning: If You're Not a Privacy Nut, You're Losing Sales

October 28, 2011

The 3 Kinds of Writing That Builds a Business

October 21, 2011

The Art of Seductive Writing: A Conversation with Robert Greene

October 7, 2011

Why Content Marketing Doesn't Suck

September 30, 2011

Are You Weird Enough to Succeed at Content Marketing?

September 23, 2011

What Works With SEO Right Now and Why No One Does What You Want

September 16, 2011

Are You Flushing Your Marketing Down the Social Media Toilet?

September 11, 2011

Seth Godin on Blogging, Business Books, and Creating Content that Matters

September 2, 2011

The Return of Copyblogger Radio …

June 10, 2011

Answered: Your Most Burning Content Marketing Questions

June 3, 2011

How to Get All the Clients and Customers You Can Handle

May 20, 2011

Is Content Marketing Worth the Work?

May 13, 2011

How to Write Nearly Undeletable Emails

May 6, 2011

Is the Online Gold Rush Over?

April 22, 2011

The Art of Enchanting Online Marketing with Guy Kawasaki

April 15, 2011

The Market for Something to Believe in is Infinite: An Interview with Hugh MacLeod

April 8, 2011

How to Constantly Create Compelling Content

March 25, 2011

The Content Marketing Question You Need to Answer … Now

March 18, 2011

Good SEO is Simple. Really.

March 4, 2011

Did Social Media Kill the Marketing Star?

February 25, 2011

How to Write (and Execute) a Simple but Powerful Business Plan

February 17, 2011

How to Kick Groupon to the Curb and Become a Local Hero

February 3, 2011

Convert … Or Die

January 27, 2011

Attention: Is Your Headline Getting Any?

January 20, 2011

How to Craft Landing Pages that Work

January 13, 2011

Why Every Smart Business is in the Media Business

January 5, 2011

2011 Content Marketing Predictions

December 15, 2010

Tim Ferriss on How to Reinvent Yourself with Blog Marketing

December 8, 2010

The 6 Elements of an Influential Web Experience

December 1, 2010

Your Staggeringly Unfair Marketing Advantage

November 17, 2010

How to Get Some Action

November 10, 2010

The Foundation of All Marketing that Works

November 3, 2010

Introducing Copyblogger Radio

January 27, 2011

Attention: Is Your Headline Getting Any?

“There’s just no quiet in Vegas.” ~Barry Manilow

Same thing online, Barry.

Like driving down the strip, even at an ungodly hour, our old pal the Internet feeds us an unending spread of exactly what we want.

Between the inbox, RSS, Twitter, and name-your-social-network-of-choice, the competition for our attention is aggressive and utterly incapable of mercy.

How can your stuff get read, watched, or listened to if it’s buried alive (see: invisible) under the non-stop avalanche of an entire civilization’s most mundane and brilliant ideas?

It all starts in one place…

In this episode Brian and I discuss:

  • The brutal reality of how many readers you really have
  • What David Ogilvy said about headlines, and why it’s even more important today
  • The 80/20 Rule of headline writing
  • The four indispensable ingredients every great headline must have
  • What types of headlines are perennially popular with readers, and how to write them

Hit the flash player below to listen now:

Attention: Is Your Headline Getting Any?Robert Bruce
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  • Click here to download the mp3 | 34.8 MB | 28:56
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Want to discover the smartest ways to mix social media, content marketing, and SEO? We’ve got you covered with Internet Marketing for Smart People. It’s a FREE 20-part course and email newsletter that delivers the techniques and strategies you need to know as an online marketer.

Links from the Show:

  • How to Write Magnetic Headlines
  • How to Write Exquisite Subheads
  • What’s the Premise?

About the Author: Robert Bruce is Copyblogger Media’s Chief Copywriter and Resident Recluse.

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Comments

  1. Randy Kemp says

    January 27, 2011 at 9:37 AM

    Bruce:

    This show I’m very interested in, since headlines are the starting point for great copy. I look forward to points covered.

    Randy

    Reply
  2. Paul Wolfe says

    January 27, 2011 at 10:16 AM

    Robert/Brian

    Are there any plans in place to ever transcribe the PodCasts and post the transcriptions? Or will this (great) content be Podcast only?

    Paul

    Reply
    • Dave Grimes II says

      January 27, 2011 at 3:00 PM

      I would like to second this! Transcriptions would be awesome!

      Reply
  3. Bamboo Forest - Tick Tock Timer says

    January 27, 2011 at 10:31 AM

    I’ll be tuning in for this bad boy. Anything on headlines is a must read, or in this case, must listen.

    Reply
  4. Radu Tyrsina says

    January 27, 2011 at 10:31 AM

    ๐Ÿ™‚ I am eager to start podcasting also…but I wonder – is my voice good enough? ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • Sonia Simone says

      January 27, 2011 at 12:00 PM

      Don’t let that slow you down. You sound like you. That will work just fine. ๐Ÿ™‚ Plenty of great podcasts out there from folks w/average voices.

      Reply
      • Ricardo Bueno says

        January 27, 2011 at 12:06 PM

        Funny, I hate listening to my own voicemail message. Naturally, that made me hesitate a little. Now, I’m rockin’ and rollin’!

        Reply
  5. Hashim Warren says

    January 27, 2011 at 10:58 AM

    Two of the most popular marketing blogs, from Seth Godin and Chris Brogan seem to break all types of headline writing standards on a daily basis.

    Chris’s headline yesterday was “YOUR PLACES”

    Seth’s headline yesterday was “The shell game of delight”

    Not many “U’s” in there, as far as I can tell.

    Are they just outliers, or is there something I’m not understanding about headline writing?

    Reply
    • Brian Clark says

      January 27, 2011 at 11:57 AM

      Seth doesn’t care, but has such a huge following and huge trust that enough people read anyway. At least I do.

      Brogan writes terrible headlines, and I guarantee he suffers for it. But it’s his choice. It’s just too bad that people follow his lead on that, because they don’t have the benefit of a large following that developed over many many years and owes quite a bit to his early adoption (and amazing use) of Twitter.

      Also, check AdAge for the most popular marketing blog. The fact that we can beat Seth and Chris (who both started way before I did) comes down to one thing — we try harder. ๐Ÿ˜‰

      Reply
      • Hashim Warren says

        January 27, 2011 at 12:26 PM

        I have to say that I was similarly skeptical of the importance you put on email subject lines being specific and clear. And I thought I had open rates to prove it, since mine were above my industry’s average.

        HOWEVER

        I did test your advice with my email marketing. My first test failed and I switched back to being “clever” and “mysterious”.

        Then, for some reason I tested it again, but this time for a few days. My opens and click thrus skyrocketed. My opens are now double my industry’s average. It was amazing.

        I do see many popular email marketers going with vague subject lines, but maybe they understand something I don’t. I’ll stick with your advice Brian, for email, blog posts, and now landing pages.

        Reply
      • Derek says

        January 27, 2011 at 12:27 PM

        Why do I feel like renting a Hertz truck right now? ๐Ÿ˜€

        Reply
        • Derek says

          January 27, 2011 at 12:29 PM

          Note to self. When you comment on the blog post while you’re listening to the podcast, the podcast stops. Whoops.

          Reply
        • Brian Clark says

          January 27, 2011 at 12:40 PM

          That would be Avis who tries harder, but at least you got the reference. ๐Ÿ˜‰

          Reply
          • Derek says

            January 27, 2011 at 12:53 PM

            I knew it was Avis, but they were the smaller company. You’re in first place, so you’re Hertz ๐Ÿ˜€

      • Bamboo Forest - Tick Tock Timer says

        January 27, 2011 at 2:52 PM

        I’ve noticed this phenomenon with Godin’s and Brogan’s headlines myself.

        I reached the same conclusion Brian did.

        But think of it this way… if a big celebrity had a blog, would that celebrity still get tons of click-throughs? Of course! Because people want to read what the celebrity has to say regardless of a poor headline.

        But with a guy like me, who’s only a semi celebrity, I gotta really work the headline to maximize people reading my stuff. Which is why I’m always trying to improve this challenging craft.

        Reply
        • Sonia Simone says

          January 27, 2011 at 3:32 PM

          Exactly.

          People read the next line with Brogan & Godin because they already know it’s going to be good. Quirky weird headlines make it harder for new people to find them, but that’s offset by the large audiences they’ve managed to build

          If you don’t already have the attention you want, don’t short-circuit that process by saddling yourself with bad headlines.

          Reply
    • Brian Clark says

      January 27, 2011 at 12:07 PM

      Also, we’re not talking about just blog posts. Try using one of those vague headlines on a landing page and measure conversion. That’s the true telling point.

      Reply
  6. Genna says

    January 27, 2011 at 11:04 AM

    Great conversation today! Also loved the new intro!!

    Reply
  7. Ricardo Bueno says

    January 27, 2011 at 11:17 AM

    You know, sometimes I feel like I’ve written an epic headline, and when I come back and look at how that article has been shared socially, the results indication yeah, not so much. Maybe it’s the headline, maybe it’s the content, heh. But I’ve been using PostRank Analytics. It shows me how my social network shares that content (how they engage with it through ReTweets, Facebook Shares, etc.).

    Anyway, for me, when I write a post, I start with the headline first. Then I rewrite it until it’s just about right.

    Great show fellas!

    Reply
  8. BarnabyA says

    January 27, 2011 at 11:30 AM

    Hi Robert.

    Thanks for sharing this information. I started listening a while ago and have switched it off… so I can focus properly later!

    Headlines must equal “compelling events”. Hook, effect and impact!! “The Facebook will end on the 15th March” viral headline earlier this month would be a classic example ๐Ÿ™‚

    Cheers

    Barney

    Reply
  9. Donny Gamble says

    January 27, 2011 at 12:59 PM

    I used to struggle writing good headlines. I never had a problem writing quality content, but I always had the problem of no one reading my content because the headline did not grab their attention.

    Reply
  10. Niall Harbison says

    January 27, 2011 at 3:38 PM

    Out of all the blogs I think you guys have got it spot on because the headlines are interesting and I want to click in to every stroy every time I come here. On other sites like say Techcrunch I’ll stop on the homepage and scan 20 articles before I find one that I’ll actually bother reading. That sort of model is only really an extension of Twitter and just sort of devalues the content massively as people chase page views to monetize.

    Reply
    • Brian Clark says

      January 27, 2011 at 3:59 PM

      Niall, good point. The big advertising-driven blogs have the mentality of “let’s publish so much that they’ll click through on something.” For the rest of us, we need people to click through at the highest rate for everything we publish. Big difference.

      Reply
  11. Martyn Chamberlin... says

    January 27, 2011 at 9:26 PM

    Well as usual, great show guys.

    I’m going to have to start spending more time writing headlines.

    That last sentence was the understatement of the year. Cough.

    But seriously, I shucked out $80 of cold, hard-earned cash this morning and bought Genesis/Freelance. Gotta say, I’m loving the piss out of it. You can tell that to Brian Gardner or whoever runs that shack over there. It rocks.

    I was going to say that it blows Thesis in the smoke, but figured that might be kind of rude. And we all know I’m a super nice guy.

    Reply
  12. Ben Greenfield says

    January 27, 2011 at 11:37 PM

    Thanks, guys. I didn’t have time to finish the podcast. What are the four characteristics (one word is fine, I’ll figure it out)…thanks!

    Ben

    Reply
  13. Stuart says

    January 28, 2011 at 3:17 AM

    These headlines that I’ve seen can fall into 3 categories for me:

    1) Those that are clearly aimed at SEO (Create Killer SEO Headlines)

    2) Those that are aimed at catching the reader’s attention (How I made $X in X Days)

    3) Those that are just awful (Spend Money Fast!)

    I always keep my headlines in Column 2, I’m not interested in creating content purely for keyword’s sake. I have fun creating new and witty headlines, it’s one of the reasons why I enjoy blogging! (And because I can write whatever I want and get away with it) ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Reply
  14. Georgia Christian says

    January 28, 2011 at 3:26 AM

    I particularly enjoyed the points on which indispensable ingredients a headline must have. It needs to be useful to the reader, have sense of urgency, be unique and ultra specific. I found these really well defined and great examples were given with each, making them easy to put into context.

    Great post. Thanks.

    Reply
  15. Bash Bosh says

    January 28, 2011 at 12:58 PM

    This is a very good episode. I think headlines are very important today and most of us think “whats good for me, it is good for my readers”. I honestly think that is not completely right, a headline need to be useful for the targeted readership. There is no perfect headline which may draw the attention of all your readers.

    Reply
  16. ryanve says

    January 29, 2011 at 12:31 AM

    I love writing headlines, it’s one of my favorite parts of writing, and I always Google my headlines first to see if they’ve already been written. I like your 4 U’s.

    Reply
  17. Phil says

    January 29, 2011 at 12:50 PM

    Thanks for the help with headlines. I put a WAY better headline on my blog yesterday than I ever had before. I used to just list one word (pretty boring, I know), but now I have learned the folly of my ways. Thanks – great as always.

    Reply
  18. Lauren says

    January 30, 2011 at 9:42 PM

    Dear Brian,

    As always kick-ass information. But, tell me, must I really face the oh so brutal reality of my bleak reader stats???

    Your almost friend,

    Lauren

    Reply
  19. Frank Klesitz says

    January 30, 2011 at 11:56 PM

    Here’s my trick – I keep a bookmark in my web brower to Cosmo magazine, along with all the past Cosmo article covers on Amazon. When I need a headline, I just use their ‘formulas’ and they work like a charm. In other words, I keep an online ‘swap’ file of bookmarks to publications that employ the highest paid copywriters in the world.

    Anyone know how much a Cosmo headline writer makes?

    Any other magazines you look for when it comes to great headlines?

    Great podcast Robert. Thanks for all the information you give freely.

    Reply

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