Your headline just may be the single most important element on your landing page. Time and time again we’ve seen the headline prove to have a huge impact on conversions. Headline writing, however, is an art and one that takes time, practice & patience.

To help inspire your headline testing, we’ve outlined 5 types of headlines to test on your landing pages.

1. Benefit-driven

One of the first strategies to try is turning your main benefit into a headline. To create an effective benefit headline, you need to understand your target audience so you can give them a strong, convincing “reason to believe.” You have to do your research to find out which benefits will encourage your prospects to act. Then keep testing to find the one that connects with them the most.

2. Offer-specific

Think: Save 25% Off, Try for Free, Free White Paper, 30-Day Free Trail. Try testing your offer in your headline. One of my favorites is Phanfare’s secondary headline — “Try Phanfare free for 2 weeks. We know you’ll love it.” Simple. Direct. And personal.

3. Question

I tend to feel that question headlines work best for segmentation experiences. You must ask a question that gets your visitor involved and leads them into the conversion funnel. This examples from iomega asks “Which Network Storage solution is right for you?” — office or home?

4. Direct

The direct headline should be used far more often than it is. No cleverness. No jokes. No wordplay. The direct headline gets right to the point. An example from SlideDeck tells us they are “hands-down, the best content slider on the web.” Its not dull, but it is direct.

5. Attention-grabbing

Attention-grabbing headlines can be one or more of the above types — they can be provocative and shocking or use a play on words. Testing clever, attention-grabbing headlines can be risky, especially if “provocative” is not your typical brand voice. Be careful not to offend your visitors.

In order to grab the attention of your visitors and keep them on your page you need a strong, capitivating headline. Have you experimented with the one or more of the five types above?

We’d love to hear your headline testing stories!