Yet the most frustrating thing for me is the use of ‘templates’ by online marketers.

In one article I read recently, I was confronted with 9 easily adaptable headlines that have been used – over and over again – for the last 40+ years – I know since the 1960’s! And the most worrying aspect to this article was how prevalent all these headlines still are.

Take a look and you’ll see what I mean: http://www.infomarketingblog.com/9-headline-templates-that-have-a-prayer – you can find any one of these ‘headline templates’ on the internet, being used and modified for a variety of different markets.

Now I understand the reasons behind why the man who created this article did this. His ultimate goal was to show online marketers – like you and me – what type of headlines work, and how they can easily be adapted to every niche available.

And also, I cannot deny that these headlines do, do their job – they grab you hook, line and sinker, and make you want to keep reading.

I suppose what bothered me most about this article is the whole lack of creativity. For me, personally, I love playing around with headlines and experimenting, and with these 9 templates there is none of that. If anything they are highly repetitious.

Take the following example he provided.

Original: ‘For golfers who are almost (but not quite) satisfied with their game – and can’t figure out what they’re doing wrong:’

Examples provided:

• ‘For Internet Marketers who are almost (but not quite) satisfied with their conversions – and can’t figure out what they’re doing wrong:’
• ‘For mutual fund investors who are almost (but not quite) satisfied with their portfolios – and can’t figure out what’s missing:’

See what I mean? Now obviously this headline is more suitable for offline publications, but the impact is still the same. It is the same headline being recycled over and over again.

Now maybe I am looking into this too much. But this article does get you thinking about all the different headlines which are currently being used – and recycled – across the market. It is surprising how little variance there is.

To say that copy is undervalued on many websites wouldn’t be an understatement. The number of websites I find daily that are poorly punctuated, poorly laid out and actually tell you nothing about the company or the product you are investing in is astounding.

The problem is many online marketers rely on the show, rather than on the tell; the features rather than the benefits and as a result their copy suffers.

What they forget is that by supplying just a few strong paragraphs of copy which discuss the values of their product/service, that they could in fact turn a consumer’s interest into a real, profitable sale.

Consider it for a moment.

If you went into a shop looking for sun tan lotion, the first thing you would do is read the label. Why? To see what makes this product better than the product sitting next to it.

Without this copy, there is nothing for the consumer to use in order to differentiate which is better.

This is the same of websites. The only problem you have got here is that this time consumers have got nothing substantial to touch. All they got to rely on is an image provided by you.

Yet by adding a few strong paragraphs of copy, detailing all the perks and benefits your product has got to offer, you can tell them why your product is better; why your product is why and most importantly why they should choose you.

So take the time to tell your story properly. Do that and your ‘show and tell’ combo will work.

Rowena x