Even in the offline world, leading ad copy writers usually test half a dozen headlines, often getting results that surprise them, before finally settling on the one that has proved to be the hottest seller.

What all this clearly tells us is that it pays to spend a lot of time on your headline. It is not too difficult to figure out why. Clearly the headline will decide how many prospects will read past it and ultimately how many will click through to land at the desired target site.

The most common mistake made by people who write headlines is to try and appeal to everybody. Quite often this will end up not at all appealing to anybody. Actually your headline should flag the exact people you are interested in. The more specific the headline, the better the response your headline will get.

The other common mistake is to tell the whole story in your headline. Have you ever come across a headline that tells you the entire contents of what follows? Naturally you will not bother to read it. This is one of the reasons why headlines that ask questions are so effective. Curiosity is a very strong human emotion that many leading copywriters use in their headlines. One of the most powerful techniques commonly used is to create lots of curiosity as you direct them to the target web site. Curiosity is a very powerful motive in humans and it works every time.

A good place to learn how to write good headlines is to scan through the headlines of leading supermarket tabloids. There is probably no other harsher and more demanding school for headline writing. One headline can sell a few thousand copies of a supermarket tabloid while another on the very same story can sell a couple of million copies. The same truth can be applied to the potential sales you are capable of making at your site, based on the headlines you choose for your ads.

Headlines are even more critical online because it is all that people see before they make a decision on whether or not to read something. At least in the offline world a reader can quickly scan through the first few lines or paragraphs. This is not possible online and you will therefore lose them or win them purely based on your headline.

In other words, the readership of your ad will entirely hinge on how good and effective your headline is. The best article, the best ad or content can gather dust, hardly being read, just because of a poor headline. This is something that happens very often online these days.

Your headlines are so important that they will easily make or break your online business.