"I Read Conversation Agent Every Day," says Christian Bale

This is the testimonial headline. You know that when someone says you are good, it is more effective than when you say it yourself. Writing a good headline is an art. There are several kinds of headlines you can use. I've used many, including:

• The "how to" headline - for example, How to Build a Social Media Strategy. I noticed that I write variations of that like How a Blog is Born and How Social Networks are Disrupting Everything you Know About Business.
• The "question" headline - there are many here. From Should Comments be Portable? to Your Face, Everywhere, Are There too Many Social Networks?
• The "reason why" or a version thereof - like 3 Trends and Top Ten Reasons to Work with a Smart Agency and Top Ten Reasons Why Your Customer Service Fails.
• The "command" headline - for example Forget Influentials: in Viral Marketing Context Matters.

There are more. Today at The Blog Herald, we talk about taking the best ad headlines and making them yours, building on the tradition of P.T. Barnum, N.W. Ayer and others - some of the master copywriters of years gone by. These people have blazed a trail for all of us inventing new ways to persuade and move people to action.

What magic promise is in your titles? Share which ones you use the most here. For a limited time only!

UPDATE: In case you are Christian Bale, the title was an example, but do feel free to read.

Comments

[Paul Chaney]

Great post Valeria. But, of course, the question on everyone's mind is, does Christian Bale really read your blog everyday? ;-)

[mvellandi]

Yeah, you caught me so off guard the rest of your article slipped right past me - the burning question is all that seems relevant now. Sorry - I'm sure that wasn't intentional.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Paul - I wish! I was looking at some information about the new Batman "The Dark Night" and thought it would be fun to play with it a little.

@Mario - it's creative Friday ;-) Not at all. I wonder when the movie comes out. Or did I miss it?

[Stephen Denny]

If it's any consolation...

"I read Conversation Agent. Every. Day." says Stephen Denny.

And I'm probably taller than he is. So there.

[Steve Bannister]

Valeria,

Thanks for the info. on what type of headlines to use for my posts. I already use some of them but I didn't really think about some others.

Great post!

Cheers,
Steve

[Paul Soldera]

Valeria, you missed the 'bait and switch' headline. Where the headline itself has absolutely nothing (or only glancing relevance) to the topic discussed, but is purposefully intriguing...:)

Paul

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Stephen - I sent you an email last night, it bounced back. You cracked me up with your note. Then again, you are the one who sends the best notes to CMOs. You do look taller.

@Steve - there are so many styles to pick from. The idea was to trace some back to the work of the first ad copywriters.

@Paul - hmmm, maybe I did not have examples to share for that style. Let me go and find out how t do that ;-) Hope you're enjoying this delicious weekend at the end of a perfect-weather week.

[Silvio Berlusconi]

"I Read Conversation Agent Every Day."

[Valeria Maltoni]

That is way too funny!

[Brian Clark]

“I Read Copyblogger First Thing Each Morning,” admits Angelina Jolie.

I wrote that one over two years ago, and it still hasn't happened. :-)

http://www.copyblogger.com/how-to-write-headlines-that-work/

[Valeria Maltoni]

Oh my, Brian. Now I feel like somehow I ripped you off! Are you sure Ms. Jolie is not reading you? She doesn't know what she's missing.