I have written so many posts about creating a Speaker Website that Sells, from your bio to your meeting professionals page, but the truth is your compelling headline may be the most important thing you write for your website.
Your headline might be the ONLY thing your prospect reads, so you have got to make it count. But remember, don’t try to be overly clever here. Never make your promise hard to understand. get to the point quickly and be clear. Grab their attention and hold it. And that’s easy to say, and harder to do, I know. But here’s some good news
Write your compelling headline last.
Yes, I mean it. Your headline is the last thing you should write. At least, the headline you are going to stick to. Be realistic, you are going to write dozens of not hundreds of headlines before you come up with ‘the one’. Just like with love, you need to ‘meet’ and eventually ‘date’ your headline before you make it your own.
Here’s how my process goes…
1. Start with the reason for the page you are writing.
It sounds super obvious but I never write without the outcome in mind. What do I want this page to DO? What do I want this website to DO? Like a child (and your prospective customers) if you don’t tell them what you want them to do, they are unlikely to come up with it on their own. Like most of us, the ultimate goal is to get hired to speak, but is that all?
2. Don’t forget your target audience – write only for them
3. Choose your most sought after benefit
While ultimately the content of this post could apply to any business owner, I know who my tribe. I work with Speakers and I build Speaker Websites. Of course, that is in my compelling headline. I could get creative and clever but why bother? I know that the headline will not only be very SEO friendly, but it solves the exact problem my niche audience is searching for.
4. Don’t over complicate things.
I have seen a lot of headlines that are just too wordy you don’t even know what the content is all about. Although it’s tempting to use big, catchy words, you should always stick to the basics and make your headlines easy to understand.
5. Cut to the chase and be straight forward.
Getting people’s attention online can be challenging, you need to play it right. Your readers are looking for interesting topics that will answer their questions. Drop those irrelevant terms and keep it simple.
You can inject some of your target keywords here and there, but make sure they are relevant, and they sound natural.
What are your challenges in writing interesting and compelling headlines for your website?
