315 – Grab ’em with great headlines: Tom talks Headline Formulas

Episode 315 – Headline Formulas
[00:00:08] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody it's Tom here with episode three hundred and fifteen of Screw the Commute podcast. Today, we're going to talk about headline formulas.

[00:00:32] Now, if you've been around marketing at all, you know the importance of a headline when you're trying to sell something. I took a 4500 dollar course on this one time. That's how important it was to me.

[00:00:46] Now the problem is sitting down and thinking them up from scratch can have you staring at a blank screen for hours. Well, that ends when you listen to this episode. I hope you didn't miss Episode 314. That was how you can save enormous amounts of money on menial duties that you need done for yourself with MTurk and Fiverr. So check that out in episode 314. All right. Grab a copy of your automation ebook. It saved me millions of keystrokes and allowed me to grab customers off other competitors who were too slow to get back to people. So grab that at screwthecommute.com/automatefree. We sell it for 27 bucks, but it was free for listening to the show. And while you're at it, grab a copy of our podcast app at screwthecommute.com/app. You can put us on your cell phone and tablet and we have complete instructions so you learn how to use podcast apps, which will really save you time and stuff into the future. All right, everybody still foolin with the pandemic. We don't know what's going to happen, but I know what's going to happen in my business unless they shut the Internet down. I've been selling just like always, and I've been preaching this for over twenty six years. Okay. So so this is really powerful stuff and it's the best way that you could make money from home legitimately.

[00:02:13] Those people all over the world also need this service if you want to work for other people in addition to selling your own stuff. So I formalized this in my school. It's the only licensed, dedicated Internet marketing school in the country.

[00:02:28] It's certified to operate by SCHEV, the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia. Now, you don't have to be in Virginia because it's distance learning. So check that out. And by the way, it's a great legacy gift for your kids or grandchildren or nephews and nieces or even you. I tell you, I'd give it to them and then make them help you in your business. How about that? OK, so that's IMTCVA.org. And I'll tell you later about my mentor program, which gets you a free scholarship to my school.

[00:03:00] All right. Let's get to the main event, headline formulas. A famous study from the past said that five times as many people read your headline as read your body copy when you're trying to sell something. A more modern anecdotal study showed, listen to this, 76 more 76 times more people read the headline than the body copy. Right now, all of these suck. We want everybody that reads the headline to then read the body copy and buy our stuff. That's what we're shooting for. And I'd say it's an unreachable goal. But getting better with your headlines takes you where you are. Maybe you got one hundred and seventy six people that look at your stuff for seventeen hundred and sixty. Who knows? I don't know.

[00:03:50] But I want to take you from wherever you are and improve that ratio to try to make your headline so great people can't help to read your body copy or watch your video or read your blog post or whatever you want them to do. So I'm going to give you a bunch of headline formulas here and others and some other great resources. And I'll throw a couple of sidebars in as we go. Well, one of my favorites is the ultimate guide to and then blank. So it's whatever you are trying to to to do. But the thing is, is if you're going to call it the ultimate guide, it better be something substantial. Don't make this some little two page checklist, all right? Because then you'll get bad reviews. But if you turn out something that's called the ultimate guide, I mean, I dominated the industry for ten years straight with my ultimate guide to electronic marketing for speakers. So it's a good title. You can also go the other route, the beginner's guide. So you're cutting out all the people that are already think they're pros and you're catering to the beginners. Well, guess what? The beginners have money. And so we don't want to bother bringing in people, especially if you're using paper click that are too advanced for your beginners course. Say so. The beginner's guide to and then you fill in the blanks.

[00:05:16] Here's another one, the big list of and then you can list all kinds of stuff that apply to you. Now lots of headlines. Start with numbers. I'm going to give you a broad cross-section today and then give you some resources where you can get hundreds and hundreds of these. So lots of them start with numbers and odd numbers seem to work best, but please don't be boring with the words you use. One of the most powerful words is secrets. So ex secrets ex would be the number you put in the number there. Seven secrets to a great dating life or a great sex life or something like that you put in the blank. Here's another one, ex little known ways to cook a steak or ride a bicycle or, you know, potty train your kid, you just put it in there. Another one would be. Now, this is where I want you to substitute important, interesting words. So this would be X or let's say seven or inspiring lessons learned from playing chess with the Masters. OK, something like that. So awe inspiring is the one that really hits hard. Now, you could substitute X painstaking lessons learned from playing chess with the Masters X brilliant lessons learned from playing chess with the Masters.

[00:06:49] Now there's a book I'm going to tell you right now. It's part of the resources. It's one of the most famous ones called Words that sell. Now don't get the sequel. The more words that sell or phrases that sell, they suck. But words that sell is an absolute must is by, Richard Bayan. Words that sell. And any time you're writing some copy, you just flip through the book and it says, OK, how do you want to look credible? And I give you 60 phrases to make you look credible. OK, so very powerful book. All right, here's another form. Who else wants and then you could say to have the shiniest car on your block. All right. So you fill in whatever it is. Who else wants blank? Here's one what every author should know about Blank. Now, I said the word author, but that could be a blank also. So what every parent should know about charter schools, let's say say so you're just filling in the the who they are and what the topic they should know about.

[00:07:57] And I'm a fanatic now, this is the section I'm going to go on and on about because I'm a fanatic on how to titles, so I'll give you a couple generic ones and then I'll just if you don't think I walk my talk, I'm going to read off a bunch of my how to titles. And this isn't even all of them. I just grabbed until I got sick of doing it.

[00:08:18] So how to blank in x easy steps.

[00:08:23] How to play golf in three easy steps, how to get your spouse to take the garbage out in three easy step or five easy steps, whatever it is, here's another one. How to survive your first three days as a police cadet. All right. If you have police cadets, wear your market. Next one is how to blank without paying a dime. How to get a brand new microphone without paying a dime, something like that. I know I'm going to start running through a bunch of the ones that I have done over the years, and then there are some that I'll stop and give you a sidebar lesson that I really want you to know about. So these are some of my titles. How To is probably about 70 percent of my total product mix. Here we go. How to create an online income generator in one hour or less. By the way, every single one that I read off made a lot of money. OK, how to automate your business. That's what we're giving away with this podcast. How to be a kick butt publicity hound, how to create and distribute ebooks, how to be in front of one million warm prospects in the next 90 days. All right. I'm going to take a little sidebar here. Here is another way that I did that same title. Joint venturing, and then I put a colon how to get a million warm leads in the next 90 days, so the main title was shorter. I'll talk about that later. But what you do is you write several titles and then you do a process called split testing. This is part of copywriting and this is how people get rich because you don't know and nobody on this earth can predict and tell you which of your headlines is going to resonate most with your crowd and your your deal.

[00:10:18] So you split test to use kick start cart. Now, if you hear some background noise, it's pouring down rain and just it started. So you use Kickstartcart and you run them against each other and it will tell you which headline got you the most money.

[00:10:35] Beautiful.

[00:10:39] And it is coming down where they say, hey, OK, another sidebar, it's raining cats and dogs that came from when they used to have thatched roofs and the dogs and cats would live up in the attic section and it got so slippery and wet, one big downpours that the cats and dogs would fall down into the main living area. So it's raining cats and dogs. There you go. Extra bonus credit for than the screw the commute. OK, so split testing, very important. You're right. Lots of headlines and you split test. So you used to take months to do that, you know, by doing direct mail. But you can do it in a matter of hours depending on how much traffic you have with these online tools.

[00:11:22] Ok, here's some more how to buy an existing website and why you should do it now, how to become a professional speaker, how to create a speaker website that kicks, how to create audio books, how to create, distribute, kick a by electronic magazine, how to create, distribute and sell products, how to create quality products out of nothing. I got a whole page on here.

[00:11:42] How to create a celebrity image on camera, be in demand on TV and make big bucks to. That was Starley Murray's headline when I did a webinar with her How to Earn Big Bucks speaking at fundraisers. How to earn super large passive incomes using residual affiliate programs, how to get enormous amounts of online publicity. How to get instant hi Google rankings using video. How to get more people to show up for your live webinars. How to get started on Internet marketing, how to get your book done fast. How to improve your conversion rate.

[00:12:12] I'm going as fast as I can here. How to lose weight by sitting on your butt. That was a good way. How to put how to put up a world class website for 27 bucks. How to make a fortune with online video even if you don't have a website. So there's a little two part there. Even you can throw on that how to make a speaking business thrive in a tough economy, how to make it big in the novelty telegram business. How to make money with your digital camera. I can't wait to the transcriber. That automatic transcription tries to do this.

[00:12:45] Let's see how to make money with your digital camera, how to make up to 2000 hours a minute on the radio, how to operate a retreat center out of your home, how to pick a shopping cart system that makes you money.

[00:12:54] These are all real products, folks. Over the years that I've created with the how to. And trust me, I wouldn't have used how to unless it worked.

[00:13:03] Ok, how to play better tennis, how to sell a ton at the back of the room, how to sell a ton on eBay, how to skyrocket your visitors publicity and profits with article marketing. That was with Jeff Harry. How to star in your own infomercial. That was with Jeff Hawkins. How to star in your own TV show. How to start a blog to promote your business. How to start a license school, how to start and run a super profitable mentor program. Huh? I got to go to the next page. We got another lesson coming up here pretty soon.

[00:13:33] How to speak. You started speaking business on a shoestring budget. How to start your own Internet radio show. How do you short articles to promote your business? Kick back and make money from home. How to deliver tele seminars, kick the ears off your audience. How to be great on the radio. Kick up a media storm. I did a whole series of these kick things. Kick the ears off your audience. How to be great on the radio, kick up a media storm, how to get free or really cheap publicity, make them laugh, how to use humor and presentations.

[00:14:01] Now, this is where I want to take another sidebar, 70 percent of bestseller books on The New York Times and I check this again. I heard this years ago. I checked it and I checked it last week. Seventy percent of the best sellers, because some of these things are headlines, can be book titles. Start with a three word or less main title and then a descriptive subtitle, so Make Them Laugh was the main title and then the descriptive subtitle, How to Use Humor and Presentations. So if you go to the New York Times bestseller list today, you'll you'll probably see the same thing, 70 to 80 percent. Are that three words or less in the main title. And then a descriptive subtitle. Here's one Pranks For Profit, How to Run a profitable practical joke business. That was my entertainment business a long time ago. Repurposing that's the the main title. One Word How to Sell Your Knowledge in 19 Different Ways. The new breed speaker. You don't really count the word the you could just say new breed speaker. How to become an info proner. And then last month, we move on to something else, this blog to book how to write your book in 90 days or less, you see, so I am just immersed in how to and have made millions and millions of dollars with how to titles that are very clear of what the person is going to get if they buy the thing. And summer online courses. Some are.

[00:15:37] Oh, I forgot even one of my main ones, copywriting901. The fast track, the writing words that sell, that's something that I beg you to get that I mean, you'll kiss me forever if you start using that copywriting, is it? Which is what we're basically talking about here is one element out of 30 or so that you need this to sell stuff is the most important skill I ever had in my entire career.

[00:16:02] But anyway, let's move on to some more formulas for you. Here's one. Here's a quick way to and then you fill in the blank. Here's a quick way to put on your makeup when you're running late. They. Now, here's another one get rid of and then you put a problem in there, so and then you put once and for all on the end of it. So get rid of pesky disgusting roaches once and for all. So I just put a problem in there and I really put extra words in. Pesky disgusting was put in there to modify the word roaches and then put once and for all. Ah, here's another formula now you can have and then put something good in there and then put a really great circumstance.

[00:16:50] All right, now you can have the car of your dreams with no increase in your payments. So the car of your dreams was the desirable thing and no increase in payments was a great circumstance to be in.

[00:17:03] Ok, let's see. OK, do something like a world class example. So you're doing something like somebody else that's known to be world class or like a Mercedes, let's say, because it's a world class brand, so I wouldn't sell online like Tom Antion or cook a steak like Gordon Ramsay say. So you put in the great thing that they're going to do and then compare it to something great. OK, here's another formula. You're running out of blank. Here's how to fix it. You're running out of energy. Here's how to fix it, so I just threw in the word energy and maybe you're into working out fitness supplements, whatever. Here's another formula, blank versus blank, which is best. So here's an example of affiliate marketing versus direct sales, which is best.

[00:18:02] That's the title. All right, folks, so you can see there's all you have to do is fill in the blanks. And I only gave you a little fraction of all the formulas there. So in the show notes, there's a website called Buffer, but there's a long link and you got to go to show notes. And it gives you examples from all kinds of great marketers who gave you their favorite headline. So it's really a good link to go to get that words that sell book and then that copywriting course is copywriting901.com. I have a free webinar if you want to see five really critical things that you can do to increase your sales right away. And it's really, really powerful. It's the most powerful. Like I said, I spent 4500 bucks for one element being taught on headlines. There's thirty one or more elements in a sales letter that you need to know about. And I cover them all here for two hundred ninety seven bucks. All right. So you're crazy. I mean, the first program you put out will probably pay for it.

[00:19:12] Ok, if you want help with this and all kinds of all the other things involved in being successful online, check out my mentor program. It's the longest running, most successful, most unique ever on Earth.

[00:19:24] I'll put it up against anybody. I triple dog dare you to come with somebody and we'll compare features and see who wins.

[00:19:32] To you, it's a great value, you can get in for a low price compared to what everybody else is, because I have a partnership program where I technically it's not a partnership, but it's where I don't get paid big money unless you make big money.

[00:19:48] So I get a commission on the things that I taught you how to do, but it's capped. So once I get my money, you know, you don't have to pay any more money. And I always structure it so that you are making money. I don't get anything unless you make money to say so. That's it's like I said, the longest running ever. And people just love that. And seventeen hundred students later, it's still going strong.

[00:20:15] Plus you get a scholarship to the school that you can gift or use yourself.

[00:20:22] And the one one guy is in my mentor program.

[00:20:27] Gifted it to his daughter and she's up to 6000 dollars a month as a side hustle. I mean, just amazingly powerful stuff that's needed by every business on Earth. So check it out at greatInternetmarketingtraining.com and the Internet marketing training center of Virginia, the distance learning school that goes with it.

[00:20:45] All right. That's it. Catch y'all on the next episode. See ya later.

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