BroadVision Marketing Blog

By Guest Blogger Ann Mullen  I still remember the first time I came upon the term swipe file. It seems like it was just yesterday. Wait, it was just yesterday.

For the sake of those of us who weren’t around the last time the term was used, which was in 2009, Wikipedia defines a swipe files as “a collection of tested and proven advertising and sales letters. Keeping a swipe file (templates) is a common practice used by advertising copywriters and creative directors as a ready reference of ideas for projects….Swipe files are a great jumping-off point for anybody who needs to come up with lots of ideas.

Swipe files are also commonly used by Internet Marketers who need to gather a lot of resources not only about products but also about marketing methods and strategies.”

A lot of times the swipe file is for various headlines.

Still confused? Here is an example of a swipe file headline: 10 Exercise Tips to Use Without Moving a Muscle. The main swipe part is the idea: (Some Number) of Tips to Do (Something). In other words it’s the old Snake Oil Routine.

Topics: marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Wikipedia, Headlines, Headline, Swipe file, Snake oil, Social Media, Business, Blogging

Does your headline grab your audience’s attention to get them to stop and read your blog? Your headline is that critical first impression that will draw people in or leave them looking elsewhere for information.

If you don’t put enough thought into your headline, you can have outstanding information; but no one is likely to read it. Stella Anokam of www.stellaanokam.com in a recent article “Why You Should Spend Time To Write Attention-Grabbing Headlines” said, “Do you know that over 50% of your traffic (and sales too) are lost due to your headline writing?”

Topics: Keywords, Headline, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Blogging