Have you heard of AIDA?

It’s an acronym that stands for

• Attention
• Interest
• Data (or Desire)
• Action

For today, we’ll focus on the first item – Attention.

You know how they say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover?

Funny thing about that.

The late Dan Poynter, author of The Self-Publishing Manual, famously reminded his audiences that books are, indeed, judged by their covers when sitting on the shelf at the bookstore.

It’s the same with copywriting.

Articles and e-mails ARE judged by their headlines and subject lines.

Before you can get your copy read, you have to grab your reader’s Attention.

You’ve got a powerful message to deliver, but it won’t go anywhere unless you draw some attention to it.

Pique interest when creating your article headlines.

Entice the reader to think, “I have to read this. I don’t want to miss it!”

In my earliest days, when I was writing sales copy for the bike shop I managed, I used the headline “The Secret to Riding Four Hours Instead of Forty Minutes” for an article in our newsletter.

The article was about padded bike shorts.

Believe me, that headline drew a lot more attention than “Bike Shorts: $20.”

Here are three quick tips about creating “classic headlines” that transform prospects into customers.

The first one uses the word “How” as the lead – examples include:

• “How a 40-Year-Old Can Retire in 15 Years”
• “How the Next 90 Days Can Change Your Life”

(The formula is: How + Subject (who the article is targeted to) + Benefit.)

The second classic headline is “If You / You Can.” – for example, “If You Are a Safe Driver, You Can Save 20% on Your Car Insurance.”

(Formula: If You + Requirement + Benefit.)

The third classic headline is a number, followed by an achievement – examples include:

• “Ten Ways to Keep Your Customers Coming Back”
• “Four Easy Ways to Feel Younger”

Assignment: look at your headlines and see how these tactics can make them more effective!

Check your blog posts, social media posts, podcast titles, e-mail subject lines, and more.

How can you spruce them up and make them more attractive?

I’m excited to see what you come up with!

Next time, we’ll move from Attention to Interest in the AIDA formula – watch this space!