“The Art of the Title”

In 1970 I opened a real estate company, Petrowsky Real Estate Company. The place to advertise at the time was two local, throw away, weekly papers. I noticed at the time that I only read about certain properties that were for sale. I quickly recognized that it had everything to do with the title and looked to emulate what was getting my attention.

I decided, I was going to focus on listings. My mission was to have more listings than anyone else in the area. So, how do I get the attention of folks that were considering selling. I asked the two local papers, what I needed to do to get the front page. Basically I was told, you have to be a regular advertiser and wait your turn. I asked what the cost was, I don’t recall what I was told, but asked if I paid double how quickly could I get my turn.

So, I worked it out to have both front pages on the same day. OK, here is the heading that I used:

“SEX, NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION”

I then shared my value proposition and what I was looking for. The phone came off the hook and the rest his history as they say.

Then I started blogging, here I am again, making sure as often as possible that the headline conveyed a message quickly.  As we all know, you only have a few seconds to get someone’s attention and then make sure you are not disappointing the reader.

More times than not, I find myself making a decision if I am going to read the article or blog based on the title. How about you?