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“On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.” - David Ogilvy

Any advertiser or copywriter will tell you that the headline is the most important part of a written ad. But what exactly is a headline? What makes a good headline? And more importantly, how can you come up with headlines that get the job done? This article will explain all these things, both for newbies and old pros alike.

The headline of an advertisement is the attention-getting statement. Its main purpose is to grab the attention of a specific audience, and give them a reason to read more of the ad. This is why the headline is so important.

With all the advertising clutter out there today (it’s estimated that the average consumer is exposed to hundreds if not thousands of advertising messages every day), you must grab your customer’s attention right away if you want him to read your sales message. It doesn’t matter how good the rest of your ad is – if your headline doesn’t get attention, the customer won’t bother to read the rest.

So, what makes a good headline, anyway? Well, a good headline has several elements. In “The Copywriter’s Handbook,” Bob Bly details four functions that a good headline can perform:

1. Get Attention
2. Select The Audience
3. Deliver A Complete Message
4. Draw The Customer Into The Body Copy

A good headline, then, is one that does one or all of the above.

So how do you go about creating a hard-working headline? First, ask yourself three questions.

1. Who am I selling to? (your target audience)
2. What am I selling? (your product or service)
3. Why am I selling it? (your marketing objective)

Once you’ve answered these three questions, begin writing your headline. I generally recommend writing out several headlines first, and then choosing the headline that you feel works best for your objective, audience and product. Others suggest writing the rest of the piece (the body copy), and saving the headline for last. Experiment and see which way you prefer.

In the end, like all advertising, never forget that the main job of the headline is to sell your product. Just keeping that in mind will guarantee that your headline gets started on the right track.

Guest blogger Karim Pearson is a copywriter and internet marketer based in New York City. Visit Karim’s website at http://www.firstclasswriting.com