Copywriter Ted Nicholas talks about headlines.

Ted Nicholas on headlines

If a copywriter sold $6 billion worth of products over the years, would you listen to what he had to say about headlines? I would think so.

One of the best ways to educate ourselves as copywriters is to listen to the advice of marketers who started selling products long before the internet age. And without a doubt, Ted Nicholas is one of the first names that should come to mind. When you look at lists of top 10 copywriters you don’t always see his name – he doesn’t seem to get quite the publicity as, say, Clayton Makepeace or Gary Bencivenga. But when he gives advice I pay attention.

Not only did he start selling way back before the internet, but at age 21 he started a candy business when he was $96K in debt (talk about pressure). But he grew this candy business to 30 different franchises and it was during this time that he discovered the power of copywriting.

He went on to self-publish several books (long before “e-book” was even a word). He is now a marketing consultant and highly paid copywriter.

When a master copywriter talks about headlines…

The other day Ted sent out an e-mail about headlines (you can subscribe to his list too at TedNicholas.com). It was so good and so full of helpful information – unlike most e-mails these days – that I want to share some of it with you here.

Ted says the headline is 90 percent responsible for the success of any piece of copy. Before you raise an eyebrow at that, consider that Ted has spent $100 million dollars over the years testing every aspect of copy in his campaigns. He does several headline tests for each campaign.

Why? Ted explains: “With exactly the same body copy, the winning headline alone can pull 8 to 15 times MORE when compared to the losing headline.”

Most copywriters take shortcuts with headlines at some point, to the detriment of the sales letter. As I’ve written about before, one symptom of this is the long-winded headlines one sees on online sales letters. Rather than take the wrong kind of shortcuts, Ted recommends his “fill-in-the-blank” shortcut for writing headlines. Headlines fall into one of these 11 categories:

1. How to (Blank)
2. Secrets of (Blank)
3. Stacked Benefits
4. Problem/Solution
5. How to/Guaranteed
6. Get Benefit Fast, Regardless…
7. Solve a Problem…
8. Visualize it…
9. Ways To/Reasons Why
10. Problem Solver…
11. If…Then

Here’s an example he gives of a Problem/Solution headline:
“No More Bad Hair Days! Here’s a Proven Way to Maintain the Perfect Look Any Day of the Week!”

Let’s play a game. Pick one of the categories above and come up with one GOOD example for a ficticious product that solves bad hair days. And leave your best headline the comments section of this post. I’m sure we’ll see some GREAT examples.

The next time you brainstorm headlines for a sales letter, for an e-mail or even for a PPC campaign, pull out this list. Try to write headlines for each of the categories and then choose your strongest headline from that and then test it against the others.

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27 comments so far ↓

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Trying to really emphasize and identify the underlying problem, desire.
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or

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“You’ll have to keep reminding them that your eyes are *down here*.”
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-Learn the secret ingredients which releases stress from the hair.
-Patience is always a keep factor with health hair. Using our product will allow your scalp to be grateful for the beginning of the ending- to rectify a new look.
Comment #:19 by tamika thomas

Hi Mikey-

I like your “hair” posting.. short and sweet and what people want to hear.

Tamika
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Comment #:27 by Brandon

Brevity is also important when writing headlines / page titles for the Web. The days of people carefully pondering headlines are fading. It’s the instant communication generation, and it will require some new strategies and testing for online copy. Nice article, Miguel.