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Google is the premier search engine on the web today. There’s no denying it, and both users and the stock market alike are clear indicators of how important Google is to search engine efforts. In some ways, Google controls the Internet economy moreso than even the all-powerful Microsoft. Appearing high on Google’s search pages for a given term - related to whatever business you’re involved in - is more valuable than any billboard or television commercial.

But is Google really the gateway to all web business? When a search engine optimization specialist tells you “Your site isn’t Google-friendly” does that mean you have to kowtow to the one company whose motto is “Do no evil”?

Yes and maybe. The same strategies that work well on Google work well on almost any search engine - Yahoo, MSN, Altavista, etc. Relevant keywords, related content, powerful links to and from related, high traffic sites - they work regardless of the search engine.

But should your site be written to appeal to Google’s search bots? Or should you write to your human site visitors? Can you do both?

In an ideal world, yes, writing for both Google and other search engine bots and human visitors should operate the same way. But while search engines prize keyword density, human readers can usually tell if a site is designed for search engines. Search engine optimized copy is not quite as natural as normal marketing copy.

For example, here’s a paragraph Google might read as very powerful for selling web design:

360 PSG, a web development company, offers website design, custom web applications, and a powerful content management system for any business website. Our web designs fit any small business. They work for e-commerce, online portfolio pieces, and online news releases.

Now, that’s not bad, but it’s a little dry. At the same time, it’s readable, simple, and clear.

Another tack we could have taken was straight-up advertising-style copy:

Take control of your website with 360 PSG. Our powerful web designs can help your business establish a strong web presence. Our Fission CMS makes it easy - just login, click, type and save, and you can have unlimited pages, and unlimited web options. Find out more today.

That’s not bad either, as ad copy - it’s inviting, it sells our system as easy to use, and effective, but you’ll notice there are very few words or phrases in that paragraph that count as keywords.

In that first paragraph, we had “website design,” “custom web applications,” and “content management system.” The second paragraph had none of those words together.

If someone is searching for those particular services or products, the first paragraph is more likely to attract search engine results. The second paragraph might be more effective selling to human readers, though it’s much less likely to attract search engine results.

So it’s a fine line to walk - on one hand you want to attract search engine traffic. On the other, you need to drive sales through your site.

Here at 360 PSG, we focus on both - the subtle techniques that boost search engine ranking, plus the effective copy that attracts visitors to a sale once they’re at your site.

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That’s it; you might not read the rest of this article. But that’s okay.

Why?

Well, you’re on this web page, reading this article, right? That means my web headline worked. Your headline words are, as this article’s headline says, the most important words in web advertising, particularly for small businesses hoping to get noticed in web business. They got you to read this article, and if you want some tips for getting more attention for your advertising, keep reading.

In advertising as well as journalism, headlines are one of the most important aspects of capturing a reader. They are the hook, the words that direct readers’ eyes to the juicy text you have below – and by extension that product or service you’re trying to sell. With the web, those words not only hook eyes, but as we’ll see later on, they hook search engines too.

Grabbing eyes

Your headline can be many things – coy, clever, subtle or beat-you-over-the-head obvious. Though it should always have one goal: to attract readers.

Headlines don’t necessarily mean sloganeering, though that strategy can permeate a headline. Effective ads that use slogans often stick out, mainly because that slogan permeates all their advertising. Good examples are classics like Apple’s “Think Different” or Volkswagen’s “Think Small” campaign for the original Beetle. Oftentimes the headlines for these ads featured a twist on that slogan, with different images accompanying different copy below.

Advertising legend David Ogilvy called these somewhat abstract slogans and headlines “irrelevant brilliance.” But that doesn’t mean your ad headlines have to be clever, funny, punny or witty.

Have a look at this list of 100 of the greatest advertising headlines of all time. It’s an old list, with some classics you’ve probably heard before and with influence you’ve seen throughout advertising today. You’ll notice a common theme among most of them – they are almost literally calls to action. Few of them mention brands. Almost all of them address a specific issue, and many use language directly related to their field or industry.

Many of these headlines follow a similar formula: “How to…” “Quick solutions to…” “If you have (a problem), this is how to fix it.” That formula is simple and direct – it addresses a potential customer’s issue and offers a solution. Direct headlines also zoom in on a target demographic.

But traditional advertising trends have gotten away from that directness. Current print and television campaigns try to capture customers with humor, wit and charm. In those forms of media, with a relatively captive audience that is already reading the publication or watching the television channel the ad is on, ads can risk an indirect route to their sale. On the web, that old-school directness, along with capturing your readers’ attention, will help in other ways to get your ad noticed.

Capturing machines

Search engine ranking is now the hottest trend in web advertising, and with good reason. Web users are reliant upon search engines like Google and Yahoo to help them sift through the gigantic amount of information on the web. It’s the modern yellow pages – searchers enter a topic, hoping to find the information, product or contact they need to address an issue. With search engines, these searches get more specific, which is where your headline becomes important.

This article’s headline is designed so people searching the phrase “web advertising” will be directed to this page. It’s these key phrases that search engines look for, and where they are placed. Which is why your headline is so important – it’s the first thing a search engine sees when indexing a web page.

Sites like the above-linked Gap campaign are well designed and effective, but you won’t find that particular ad by Googling “t-shirts” or “colors.” That campaign is designed to be a viral campaign, spread both through word of mouth (or e-mail) and for searchers who are more likely looking for one of the bands or artists featured in the campaign. For the Gap, this works – they’re selling a lifestyle, and capturing that tangential attention is important. For small businesses, particularly those without the budget to design these complex campaigns, the direct approach is both the simplest and most effective solution.

So on one hand, it pays to be cute. Well written and interesting ad copy will capture a reader, but only once they delve far enough into an ad or article. But a direct headline – that’s the stuff that gets your ad noticed. (more…)

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