Sell Like Crazy

HEADLINE ESSENTIAL #1 – YOU NEED A HEADLINE THAT
GRABS THEM AND PRACTICALLY FORCES THEM TO READ
YOUR MATERIAL
“On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body
copy. When you’ve written your headline, you’ve spent eighty cents out of
your dollar”.
- David Ogilvy
People who write copy and craft headlines and ads for a living are called
copywriters. And which publications have the highest-paid copywriters on
the planet? You might think it’s a huge advertising agency, or maybe Coca-
Cola, or Nike, but you’d be wrong.
The answer is gossip magazines and news publications. Like Women’s
Weekly, AARP and The National Enquirer.
For those wondering what The National Enquirer is, it’s one of those trashy
gossip magazines in the US that you see near the checkout in supermarkets
and convenience stores. But there’s a good reason why they pay their
copywriters so much. The writers for The National Enquirer are among the
best anywhere on earth. I’m not being sarcastic. They really are. If you
doubt that, here’s something for you to consider.
Approximately seven million people read The National Enquirer each and
every week! Enquirer articles are superbly written. They are clear, concise,
crisp, and, all in all, the most easily understood articles of any publication.
And what do Enquirer writers excel at above all else?
You guessed it – HEADLINES. Their headlines are so powerful and have
so much grabbing power that every week, people who’ve sworn they’ll
never again buy such a publication are almost forced to purchase it despite
themselves.
Let’s take a quick look at the attention-grabbing pulling power of their
headlines now.

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Look at the wording: ‘Exposed!’ ‘Revealed!’ ‘Confession!’ ‘Horror!’
‘Secret!’ ‘Torture!’
These are all emotional trigger words that strike up very visceral emotions.
Now at this stage you might be thinking, ‘I could never position my
business as these trashy mags do!’
Slow down. Be patient and stay with me.
It’s not just the National Enquirer that does this. Let’s look at something a
little closer to home and see what we can learn about how to create an
irresistible, attention-grabbing headline.

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Take a moment to look at each one of these covers and see if you can see
some commonalities, other than of course all being fixated on ‘Better Sex!’
and ‘Getting Chiselled Six-Pack Abs!’ Something else should jump out at
you, something that adds to the grabbing power of their headline. Let’s take
the first one, Glamour Magazine with Jennifer Lopez on the cover. Notice
the use of numbers…