Monday, 09 July - 17:19 Category: Content

50% Of People Who Read This Headline Will Leave In 8s

SYNOPSIS: Using a headline helps entice people to stay beyond the 8 second barrier.  Here's how...

So you weren’t one of them then?  Hooray.  Awful though it is, the above headline is a true statistic and a reflection of either how poor or absent headlines are on websites. 

My marketing observation is small but important.  Take a quick glance at your website home page and read you headline.  (If you don’t have one then you need one!)  If your headline doesn’t grab you in 8 seconds then it most likely won’t grab anyone else. 

Well firstly, why do you need one?  Let’s face it that most of us surf as though our normal concentration span had been replaced with that of a concussed gnat after a really heavy night on the booze. If it doesn’t excite us within a few seconds we’re off somewhere else to look for more interesting treasure.  So, you’ve got to hit your visitor with something to make them stop and pay attention and, while there are lots of different approaches, a headline is, perhaps, the most powerful. 

(There has been so much written on how to construct headlines I thought it would be better to point you to a Google search (how to write a headline) where you can research it in your own time.) 

Here is the temptation: Because the web is a marvellous place for multimedia why not use a movie, flash animation or soundbite to get your point across?  All of these techniques are valid and they do have their place.  However, if you are looking to attract someone's attention and make them stop the only effective way to do it is through a headline.  Let me give you an example in the real world which also conforms to the 8 second rule… 

When you fill up at the petrol station and walk into the shop to pay you will very often find newspaper stands outside.  If you're in the market to buy a newspaper you will absorb all the various headlines as you walk by (probably less than 8 seconds).  What’s impressive about newspaper headlines is that they communicate a huge amount of information in very few words (including the incentive to buy).  Just imagine if we substituted those headlines for TV style adverts.  It would be almost impossible for you to assimilate all of that information as you walk by.  The same is true of the web -- some may take the time to look at pretty presentation but the vast majority will want to cut to the chase and get at the bottom line of your business proposition.  (How about that for a bewildering mix of metaphors!) 

Now all you have to do is think up a few headlines and test which is the most effective.

Click here to get great content into your website

Posted By:Jed Wylie on Mon, Jul 9th 2007, 17:19