What should never be said in a headline

Have you heard of this word?

Fascinations.

A fascination is a vignette that intrigues.

Some people refer to them as bullets.

His job is to provoke and tempt.

As one writer put it, “to create an itch that is costly to scratch.”

Like this…

The safest seat on a plane and the terrifying reasons why.

West…

The world’s most effective hiccup cure.

Bills it’s okay to pay late.

The word itself was conjured up by Mel Martin and Eugene Schwartz when they worked for Marty Edelston in the boardroom.

Of course, you may be aware of the most famous fascination of all time, which was…

What you will never… never eat on a plane.

John Carlton refuses to call them fascinations.

He says they are bullets and that’s it.

If you compare his bulleted writing to that of Mel Martin, you’ll see a world of difference.

And what an amazing learning experience you would get in the process.

Who is better?

No idea… they’re both brilliant and very effective.

Craig Clements, Eben Pagan’s secret weapon has another version of bullets.

Accumulate benefit upon benefit.

One of their bullets for Double Your Dating has ten benefits!

Many of today’s top writers say that great bullet points are the key ingredient to good writing because they are the raw material for:

Headlines

Reason to copy

Subtitle

calls to action

logic test

the order form

the whole letter

There’s no better way to get better at bullet writing than to get exposure to the writings of master bullet creators.

That is the idea behind this website.

Well, the answer to what you should never eat on a plane is food.

Why? Because it causes swelling at high altitudes.

And the answer to what should never be said in a headline is something that doesn’t connect with the rest of the copy.

I know you won’t make that mistake, but many do.

Direct mail is still the medium you need to get right from the start.

The internet has allowed some writers to get away with being lazy because they can always go back and try this or that and tweak until they get it right.

That’s fine for some very good writers like Clayton Makepeace, who will test six different tracks before launching.

But most people would prefer instant results.

So they are mentored by teachers like Clayton.

But what if you don’t have direct access to teachers?

Another way would be to study direct mail letters that have made a million or more in sales.

When you emulate them, you will have a much better chance of winning with your first full card.

Of course, you’ll still want to tweak and test.

As Gary Halbert once said, “Good copy evolves.”

That applies to copywriters too.

So it evolves and thrives.

You can also find more fascinating ideas below.