Does anyone know of any good books that teaches you to write eye grabbing headlines?

Well,

You've got to options:

#1 You can modify an existing successful headine to fit your product/service

#2 Dredge up the "masterpiece" of a headline the way Eugene Schwartz did


I have a video of Schwartz speaking at Rodale Press. He was teaching the copywriters "how he does it". He taps into his subconscious by filling his head with a ton of information about the product/service, and the market, then he walks away and shaves or something.

And suddenly, BAM!

He's got something like, "Sneakly Little Arthritis Tricks" that ended up being envelope teaser for one of his smash successes.


Now the flip side of the Schwartz method would be the Dan Kennedy approach. He says it's an entire waste of time to try and think up a headline. You have tons of great headlines you can modify to your product of service.

The "Who else wants...

Or "If you have 5 mintues then...

Etc.


Now, I've been able to work closely with some masterful copywriters. One's who use the Schwartz approach... and one's who use the DK approach. And I know one great one, who uses both.

I've seen this copywriter not only "think up" something but they also, swipe like mad. In fact I've seen a "swipe" that was actually a word for word swipe from Bencivenga.

I hope I opened you up to the options you have when writing options. With this information, I think others will chime in to tell you how to pursue either of these themes.

Offline marketers have always piked that longer copy always outsells shorter copy. IMI (Internet Marketing Illuminatti) members somehow thought they'd carry it to the next level and say..."ergo long headlines outsell short headlines." "If a 17 word headline in the offline word has sold hundreds of millions of dollars of products/services then a 34 word or 51 word MEGAheadline should do even better." Halleluejah (and don't forget to carry over all that stuff you've learned in typewriting class and apply it to the world of typography).

I really can't find a source for the top 100 Internet MEGAheadlines. I guess the reason would be that the top 100 Internet MEGAheadlines collectively have sold only a few hundred million dollars worth of product/services and the top 100 Offline HEADlines have sold BILLIONS of dollars worth of products/services.

I've said it in the past and I'll say it again. . .MEGAheadlines have peaked. We're going to be coming full circle. MEGAheadlines are going to be red flags for scam sales letters. The headlines you'll be seeing in the future from IMI members are going to be "old school." Why? 'Cause IMI members will finally read (again) and understand the purpose of a headline.

Caples is god of copy. Makepeace has come on to the scene like Jesus F. Christ. His disciplies will be the Fortins. . .the Carltons. . and .the Kilsteins of the Internet. Caples wrote the OT. . .Makepeace and these guys will write the NT of copy.

Write that down.

Amen.

(Holy crap. . .that Almaden "boxed" Mountain Burgandy has a kick to it.)

http://www.abraham.com/articles/100_...r_Written.html

http://www.abraham.com/articles/37_M...Headlines.html