Every copywriter knows what it is to struggle with a copy for hours, for days - fixing it, polishing it, rearranging it. We have all been quilty of leaving the headline until the last and the spending half and hour on it - or perhaps only ten minutes.

The business of judging a headline AFTER you read the copy is wrong. It takes for granted that everybody reads the copy.

Readers know what the copy is going to say.

You can write a 1st paragraph that continues the same thought you expressed in your headline. If you stop a reader with a headline about house paint, you can be sure of at least one thing about that reader: He wants more info about house paint. You will not lose him as long as you continue to give him what he wants.

Do not try to make your headline so short that it fails to express your idea properly. It's more important to say what you want to say - even if it takes 20 words to do than make it short and fail to express your idea.

If you are going to emphasize certain words in the headline, be sure that they are the words that say something.

Make an offer they can't refuse.