So last week I began reading The Internet Business Book, Volume 1 by James Brausch. I'm currently on page 172. But I want to tell you about page 4, which happens to discuss headlines.
Basically, James did a study on headlines to determine how long a headline should be. Here is what he says:
The results were surprising. The average sales page has a headline of only 10 words comprising 55 characters. The profitable sales pages had an average of 14 words and 82 characters in their headlines.
He explains a few more details of his study and then concludes:
That is my new recommendation. I intend to only use headlines that are at least 80 characters long and no longer than 131 characters and I advise the same to my clients.
This was a revelation to me.
You see, I had been typing in headlines much longer than 131 characters. Why? Because it seemed that I could get a higher score in Glyphius by adding more words.
Well, that is not exactly a good idea. Because the results of James's study show that the majority of profitable headlines are no longer than 131 characters.
One version of Glyphius has a headline filter that automatically applies these character limits. If you are writing a headline, make sure you use the headline filter.
If you have a version that doesn't have the headline filter, just make sure your headlines stay within the character limits supported by the study.
Hey Ryan,
I just picked up on Glyphius 2007, and compared it to the prior version. At first, I just thought it scored everything lower. Then I found where v.2 scored a change higher, while 2007 scored it lower.
I'm glad I'm working with 2007, and I've already changed many things.
Posted by: James Alenteal | October 31, 2007 at 11:04 PM
Hi James - I find it's good to stick with the latest version of a software program. Many times there are significant changes that aren't always obvious.
Posted by: Ryan Healy | November 02, 2007 at 01:08 PM
Interesting point about the headlines. One thing I have noticed is that on Jay Abrahams list of 100 best headlines (google it, its a great free resource) they are mainly short. Rarely two sentences. Hmm something to think about! :)
Posted by: John | April 28, 2008 at 07:37 PM
Very interesting bit of information. I'd always suspected the optimum length must be somewhere around that range, but it's nice to see some actual empirical findings on the subject.
Posted by: Tom McSherry | October 10, 2010 at 03:49 AM