The Importance of Headline Testing in Your Internet Marketing Campaign

Anyone can create a website in under five minutes. All it takes is a host, domain, Wordpress install, and some content. Content can be pulled from article directories, so there is not even a reason to right fresh content, in the beginning. With ease comes oversaturation, meaning there are millions of websites out there for readers to choose from and the top marketing dogs are the ones that pull in all the hits. Marketing a website often involves a marketing campaign, including PPC ads and email marketing. Both of which, require catchy headlines to convert into traffic and sales. What is the key element to a strong Internet marketing campaign - the headline.

Headlines Draw the Eye and Entice the Mind

The success of an Internet marketing campaign can be determined by how many conversion, or click throughs are generated from the campaign. Despite, the fact that creating a website takes only minutes, it can take years to perfect Internet marketing to lure traffic and convert to sales. One of the most effective ways to start out strong is to create a strong headline.

Headlines are the words used to draw in the reader. Most of the time, headlines consist of only five to ten words, but they are the most important words an Internet marketer can write. The three key elements to a strongly converting headline are keywords, format, and call to action.

Keywords are the link between the Internet marketing campaign and the product or service being offered for sale. The reader should be able to answer the question, "What am I going to read more about if I click through the available links?" Well-built websites typically have two or more researched keywords or keyphrases being marketed for search engines. Long tailed keywords with specific focus on a given area are not the best choice for marketing headlines - instead, it is best to stick with a clean set of keywords that leave no doubt about the content, product or service to follow. Example:

Bad Keyword Choice: massage therapy Oakland, CA

Good Keyword Choice: reduce stress with massage therapy

Both keyword choices can be successfully integrated into a website, but both are not created equal in terms of Internet marketing headlines. Once the meat or keywords, of the headline are chosen, the next step is formatting the headline and luring the reader in with a call to action.

Formatting Headlines and Convincing Readers to Click Your Link

The most effective headlines for Internet marketing are questions and tips. Questions simply state something the reader may already be thinking. If the marketing list is organic, made up of people who have a real interest in the product or service being provided, they will have questions about the product or service. Example:

Bad Format: Reduce Stress With Our Massage Therapy

Good Format: Do You Want to Reduce Stress With Massage Therapy, Today?

The good format asks a question the reader may be asking themselves. There can be hundreds of questions asked by website readers and each could be used as a question headline for an effective Internet marketing campaign. Another successful headline may offer the reader something they have been looking for all along - facts / tips about your niche. Example:

10 Reasons Essential Oils are Medically Proven to Reduce Stress With Massage Therapy

5 Facts About How You Can Reduce Stress With Massage Therapy

10 Top Reasons to Reduce Stress With Massage Therapy in "Year"

In each of these cases, the reader immediately understands what they are going to read on the other side of the link. The Internet marketer has given just enough information to lure in the reader - this is called a call to action and is the third element of creating an effective marketing campaign.

Testing Headlines for a Successful Internet Marketing Campaign

No list of dos and don'ts will replace a good, old-fashioned test. Many Internet marketers choose to run several campaigns at one time, tracking each with marketing software or analytics accounts. The easiest way to test headlines is with free, online websites like MailChimp. Beginners can test out several different headlines and based upon reader reaction, find out which one is most effective in converting email readers to website readers.

If PPC ads are being used, the same headline writing tips should be followed, but tracking is normally included on the website where the PPC ad was created. Yahoo and Google tend to be the most commonly used PPC ad generators and both offer detailed reporting including number of link clicks and location of the reader via IP address. In order to fully understand the effect of the headline as part of an Internet marketing campaign, analytics needs to be used on the destination website.

Analytics tracks readers and can also report visitor IP address. Some analytics accounts will even show the hot spots on the website where visitors frequent the most. Testing a headline in an Internet marketing campaign is about more than just the headline, it is about the effect that headline and the subsequent web content have on the reader.