Your website headline is almost always the most important element of your entire website…
It’s pretty much the single most important factor that determines whether or not your website performs to its full potential… or not.
So, why is it so many website owners don’t seem to spend enough time finding a message that resonates with their clients?
My guess is that many website owners just don’t understand the importance of this one simple line of text.
They maybe don’t know that roughly 5 times more people read the headline of your web page than the actual content of the page.
How Your Website Headline Affects Your Profits
This means when you spend $1 to get a website visitor, about 80 cents of that is just for them to read your headline.
And what happens if they don’t like, understand or respond to your website headline?
That’s right.
You’ve just wasted 80% of your entire advertising budget.
Yup: EIGHTY PERCENT.
Now, if you’re anything like me you’re probably already thinking about how you can improve your website headline.
But before you click away, there’s one more thing to be aware of.
See, there is a second element directly connected to your headline.
And that is your “Call to Action” Button
Here’s a good example of both elements in action:
As you can see, this website headline is simple, but very clear:
Send Email Your Customers Can’t Ignore.
And the “Call to Action” Buttons give two very clear, very simple and powerful options:
1) Get Started for Free
2) Watch the Demo
Now, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know what this site is offering.
It’s clearly offering an email marketing service.
It says as much in the sub-headline.
And you get two very simple and clear choices in the “Call to Action” Buttons.
Both of which are good for you AND good for the website owner.
This is a great example of Clarity of Message.
The website headline makes the functionality and the benefits of the product or service extremely clear.
And it does this using a small number of words: 6 to be precise.
Plus, the user is immediately guided to the website owner’s two preferred actions.
‘Get Started’ is obviously the website’s preferred choice.
And ‘Watch the demo’ of their service is an acceptable “next best” alternative.
So, there you have it.
Website Optimization – Start Here
If you want to make a quick impact on your website’s conversions, start with your headline.
After all, your website headline is also your potential client’s starting point.
Test out a handful of headlines with supporting call to action buttons that:
- Explain the functionality and the benefits of your product clearly
- Lead your website visitors to your desired course of action
Keep it simple – The functions are at the start in this example (car hire, search)
and the benefits come after (compare, save)
And remember, the point of your headline is to grab your potential customer’s attention quickly and clearly.
It’s there to make them want your product or service.
And it’s there to make them click your call to action button.
My Headline Works – Job Done?
Of course, it’s easy to think that once you’ve got a winning headline your job is done.
But the truth is our job as marketers is almost never done.
There’s almost always something more you can do to improve your website’s conversions and profitability.
But the headline is almost always the first place you need to look at.
So, start here and see the impact it has on your conversions.
Have an honest look at your website – as if you were seeing it as a client for the first time
Take a look at your website headline now and ask yourself, if it:
- Grabs your attention
- Explains what your product or service does
- Includes the benefit of your product or service
- Is short and simple
If you’ve ticked all these boxes, chances are you have a pretty decent headline.
BUT chances are you can make it even better.
Remember, keep it short and simple.
And test out a few different headlines just to be sure you have a winner.
They can be similar or very different.
But each headline needs to fulfill the criteria I listed above.
Be as sure as you can be that the headline your customers see is the one your customers respond best to.
Then you can start sending some paid traffic to your website and scale up your online business 🙂
