by: Scott Bywater

John Caples, one of the greatest ad men ever written writes "I have seen one advertisement sell 19 1/2 times as much goods as another." He also states "the headline is the most important element of most advertisements." The goal of this short article is to show you step-by-step how to write one... and get more customers for your business.

FACT: Most people don't spend anywhere near enough time on creating a strong, compelling headline.

Which is why many copywriting experts... including John Caples, David Ogilvy, Brett McFall... and yours truly... recommend you invest at least 80% of your time on the headline.

Why? Because if the headline doesn't grab the attention of your reader... then you can be guaranteed that nothing else will.

So how many headlines should you write?

I always recommend that you generate at least 30-50 headlines to grab your customer's attention. Then choose the best headline you can find.

And how do you get ideas for headlines? The best method is to base your headlines on proven and tested formulas.

You'll find a bundle of these formulas in...

* How To Write a Good Advertisement by Victor O. Schwab

* Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples (available from Amazon.com)

And here's a few examples to get you started:

* WARNING:

* Announcing...

* Who else wants...

* How to...

* 7 good reasons why...

* At Last...

* If you want... then...

Let's make this practical with an example of how a mechanic could apply this to his business:

* WARNING: Don't call any other mechanic until you read this

* Announcing: The mechanic that guarantees he'll fix your car on time... or your money back

* Who else wants a mechanic that specializes in fixing BMW's (perhaps this could be used in a BMW Magazine!)

* How to instantly make your car as safe as possible

* 7 good reasons why you should call Scott's Mechanic's right now...

Or let's combine the one above headline with the If... then approach...

* If you want a mechanic who guarantees they'll fix your car, here are 7 good reasons why you should call Scott's mechanics right away...

Remember, come up with 30-50 of your own... circle the 5 you like the best and then nut it all down to your one headline of choice.

And if you're smarter still, you'll take 2 or 3 headlines and test them against each other. Why? Because even the greatest advertising men in the world cannot always pick the best headline.

The only way of truly knowing what will work is by using the headline to advertise your products and services... and see if your customers respond with their wallets.

Because that's worth more than all the opinions in the world - right?