Your website’s content will get noticed (read) if you use your headline and first paragraph to let readers know precisely “what’s in it” for them. Here are some techniques to make that happen.

First, you can’t know which page web visitors will see first, since there are many different ways to enter a site. Some will land on the homepage for sure, but blog posts and other content will show up in search engines (that’s the hope, at least!)…so don’t assume that any one page is more important than the rest, although the homepage does deserve the most attention.

Second, only a tiny percentatge of visitors will be responding to even the highest quality ads. You’ll have to work a bit harder for the rest of your readers. To get conversions, you’ll have to use the content on all your web pages.

Who Is Your Site For, What Do They Want?

When you’re busy creating content, it’s easy to focus on SEO and forget that your website exists to sell your products and services! Even if you don’t forget such a thing, can the same be said of everybody who writes for you? It’s sometimes hard for experts in a field to put themselves in the shoes of a visitor, who will spare just a few seconds to find a reason to read the content.

When constructing an argument or presenting a product, it seems logical to first present the building blocks of your case before giving the end result. The end results should be something that will make your readers’ lives better.

People Purchase Benefits Not Features

You should always spell out the benefits before describing features. A feature is a description of what you’re selling or offering. Benefits are more important, they are the things that those features do for your customers.

For instance, people don’t purchase light bulbs for features like being long lasting, bright, and cheap! People purchase light bulbs because they don’t want to live in the dark, and for benefits like “saving money” or maybe “saving the planet”.

Your Headline Is The Most Important Part Of Your Content

If your headline does not promise something of interest, then your article won’t get read and you’ll struggle to sell. This is because most visitors arrive at a page, read a headline and then make a decision to stay or go.

*Also, please note that these guidelines are just as appropriate for blog posts, e-newsletters and other online communications!

A few good guidelines for headlines:

Promise benefits – tell readers exactly what your content will do for them

Don’t make readers think too much, don’t be overly clever, obscure or ironic

Don’t make visitors read the story to then understand the headline

Do ask a question about a problem and then entice with a solution

Do provide things Top 10 lists or 3 Best Ways To…

Do make sure your first paragraph is as clear as possible, elaborating on the most important idea you’re trying to get across