Way back in July I was trying to figure out the topic for my next short course.
So far I’ve published two short-form courses this year – on content optimization and on selling with stories.
I wasn’t sure what to tackle next.
So I asked everyone who reads my newsletter to take part in a short survey.
I made two suggestions for my next course:
– The Craft of Conversational Copywriting
– Headline Writing for Online Writers and Copywriters
My guess was that most people would choose the second option. But I was wrong. About 60% of the people who took the poll chose the first option.
Hmmm… well, the whole point of asking people questions is to listen to what they say. Give your readers what they want!
So I started work on outlining a course on Conversational Copywriting.
And struggled, and stumbled, and ground to a halt.
Then I tried a couple of other topics. With the same outcome.
Finally, I circled back to the topic of headline writing.
And that course has been flowing out of me like honey on a warm summer’s day. : )
There’s a lesson here.
Yes, ask questions and listen to what people want from you. That’s marketing 101.
But… if you force it, if you try to create something that doesn’t come naturally, you’re going to struggle. At best you’ll create something that is forced, and certainly not your finest work.
You can apply this lesson to many different areas of your professional life… whether it’s choosing a niche for your freelance business, or deciding on which clients to approach next.
Yes, listen to the market. But also, listen to yourself.
All that brings me to the real reason I’m writing this…
I’m almost done putting together the slides for the course on headline writing. Next up is to start recording the lectures.
But… before I get to the recording stage, I want to reach out once again and ask you this:
If you were to buy a course on writing headlines, what three things would you really, really like to learn?
Do you have any burning questions on your mind when it comes to writing headlines for online content?
(This course is not about writing headlines for sales letters or sales pages. It’s about writing headlines for content pages, blog posts, home pages… and even for ‘kind of headlines’ like email subject lines and tweets.)
Got questions or requests?
If you have any questions you’d like answered in my new course, or requests about what you’d like to see covered, please let me know.
Send me your thoughts via the form on my Contact page.
In return, I’ll make sure you are among the first to hear when the course goes live. And you’ll get a special contributor’s discount as well!
Thank you in advance!
UPDATE: My course finally launched! Check it out…
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Is it best to phrase the headline as a question?
Well, that depends. ; ) Sometimes a question can work really well as a headline. Other times… not so much.
For example, let’s say I’m selling snow boots and my headline reads “Isn’t it time you had a better pair of snow boots?”
A lot of people, for a variety or reasons, are going to think, “Nope. Not really. I think the ones I have are OK.”
I just lost the sale. The door slammed in my face. With questions, it’s like being a lawyer in court… You have to be 100% sure of the answer before you ask the question.
So I might do better asking this question… “With winter coming, don’t you feel you deserve a warmer pair of snow boots?”
You’ll probably get more people saying Yes to that question.
So… be careful with questions. : )
Nick