Say you had the headline:

"New book written by the ex-CEO of Google... reveals how to get a top 5 ranking on Google within 29 days... 100% guaranteed or i'll pay you $30"

Where is the benefit in that headline??

Is the benefit... ""How to get a top 5 ranking on Google"

???

I suppose this is a silly question... but it the "How to get a top 5 ranking on Google" part actually the "benefit" in that headline?

I don't think there IS any benefit in the headline.

You get to the benefit when you ask, "Why would someone want to get a top five ranking in Google?"

It's not obvious and it doesn't go without saying.

After all, I could show you LOTS of people who have a top five ranking in Google and are getting no benefit from it whatsoever.

So it's not the Google ranking itself that is the benefit but something else. Try again.

Marcia Yudkin

Ah Ha!

That's what i thought someone would say! But that's the thing is, if the headline said...

"How To Make $14,000 A Week On Ebay!"

Is there ANY benefit in that headline?

You could just say the same thing as you said before marcia... that you get the benefit by saying... "Why would someone want $14,000?" And this could be to buy a new car, or an airplane, or a boat, etc. And they are all the sort of hidden benefits.

My point is... Everyone is always saying... PUT YOUR MAIN BENEFIT INTO YOUR HEADLINE. However... i see TONS of salesletters written by pros which are simple.... How to headlines like i wrote above and that contain NO benefit like you pointed out.

So i am confused! Why is everyone telling me to put a benefit in my headline and not doing it themself!

I've been searching for this answer everywhere! What the heck is a benefit then?

Yes... i know that it is the "what's in it for me" answer. I know what a benefit is!

But how do you use it in your headline. How do you tell your prospect?

It seems like no one REALLY knows... or is it just one of those things that is impossible to explain. If we are all told to put the benefit in our headline... there surely must be a formula to do it?

Marcia... take your site's headline for an example...

"Through hands-on practice, learn to turn words into money
Six Weeks to Masterful Copywriting"

Where is the benefit in that? Can you point it out to me?

Dear bencivengacarltonhalbert,

In our society, making more money is perceived by most people as an end in itself, or as a self-evident benefit. Someone who knows how to turn words into money has the ability to make money whenever they want.

Getting a top 5 ranking in Google is not understood by most people, even in the Internet marketing arena, as an end in itself because if you get a top 5 ranking for keywords that no one searches for it is useless, and if you get a top 5 ranking but have a lousy web site that doesn't convert anyone, it doesn't get you anything, either.

People want a top 5 ranking in Google in order to get something else - and when you state that something else, your headline will be more powerful.

Here's another example. People usually regard having abundant energy and vibrant health as self-evidently beneficial. Good nutrition, however, is a means to that end and not an end in itself.

There are a number of marketing books that list things that most people in our society regard as ends in themselves. A top 5 ranking in Google is not on any of those lists.

Hope this helps!

Marcia Yudkin

Yeh it helps me. Thanks.

Well I view the purpose of the headline is to make the reader read your next line. The purpose of the next line is to make them read the one after and so on. Benefits should be stated UPFRONT - it doesnt HAVE to be in the headline. The headline doesnt have to sell anything upfront, but if it targets your audience and draws them further into the copy, then its done its job. Nobody reads a headline then clicks 'order'.

I've seen excellent headlines long and short that use the elements of fear of loss, curiosity, testimonials, Facts, and they speak to the reader directly.

Perhaps Marcia will call a vaguely similar thread on CompuServe (back in the day). The "guru" asserted "full featured" -- or something like that -- was a benefit.

If I recall correctly, my counter was "The Ten Features 72% Of [Product type] Users Say Contributed to Their Last Pay Raise" ...or some such.

A top 5 ranking on Google, as our full-featured guru tried to explain, leaves a wide variety of potential prospects to infer benefits not explicit within the text.

At least that is the theory. In practice leaving the reader to infer something is dangerous at best. People gravitate to this kind of headline because it is a "everything to everbody" kind of appeal. One-size-fits all headlines hold out the intoxicating promise you don't have to segment, or really know why the customer would want to buy.

How about

My Boss Asked Why We Don't Rank On The First Page of Google Search Engine Results for Our Main Product
....When I couldn't come up with a good answer I thought my boss would fire me

A bit of a force-fit to my first headline, but you get the idea.

Related to this, I recently read in Breakthrough Advertising that you have to be sure that your headline is believable. If your main benefit is incredible, you need to save it until you've laid the credibility groundwork for it.

Lane