That was the ad a French company who took over bus stop advertising in Chicago used to have.  Very clever.  Worked well too, but not too well.  I used to see the ad a lot (instead of the ads they were hoping to be paid to put).  Might not have been the headline.  Maybe it was the price, to sales process, the order form.  I don't know.

But it was clever.  Clever is good... Sometimes.  It's best if you're straightforward, not too many hype adjectives.

What works best is to realize you cannot motivate people to do what you want them to.  But you can persuade them to do what they want.

My teachers used to say I'm very bright but very unmotivated.  One such time was back in 5th grade.  They were wrong. 

I was so motivated to skip school that I skipped 3 weeks straight and would have skipped more if I had not been forced not to.  And while I skipped school, I was so motivated to go to a pond at the edge of town and play that I went to the pond at the edge of town and played. 

I was also motivated to keep my mother in the dark about my skipping school.  So, just when she was about due to come home, I'd open the math book, pick an exercise 2 or 3 pages down from the previous day and wait.  As soon as she'd get in, I'd say, "Mom, this is hard.  I don't get it.  I have to do this by tomorrow and I'm stuck."  

And I was very motivated to send the letters the school sent by mail to her.  To intercept the guy (a puny classmate) they sent to tell her about my skipping school and to threaten to break his legs if he didn't run away.

On the other hand, On the other hand, when I was in college and they said I could spend a year in Paris, at the Sorbonne, and it was going to cost more than I'd make in 2 years, what my mother made in 1, I said, I'm going.  And I found a way to go.  And it was an awesome year.

I made my point, right?

So, to marketing now.

Everybody tells you that a headline's job is to be catchy, grab the reader.  Or they tell you it's to make them read the 1st paragraph.

True, but incomplete.  I see a lot of headlines on websites that fail at the last 'only job' of a headline: speak to the person who's already motivated to buy what you're selling.

Attention Parents of Obese Children.

Not a very catchy, elegant headline.  But if you were the parent of an obese child and concerned, you'd find it catchy. Chances are good you'd read the first paragraph.  Or at least begin to.  

To People Who Want To Turn Their Hobby Into An Internet Business

Same thing. Better than:

Discover the easiest and fastest ways to build an online business, learn about proven online business opportunities, work at home opportunities and most profitable online jobs.

Better because it identifies a specific target.  Because it's not vague.  Because it doesn't promise hype, just facts.  Everyone who wants to build an online business fast and easy.  But not everybody believes it's possible.  But not everybody who does will look, because they don't feel it speaks to them. 

 Compare it to:

Two years ago I was a stay at home mom, 1 daughter in kindergarten, one in 3rd grade, 1 husband, 1 house to look after.  Today I'm a business woman. The transition was easier than I thought it would be.

 Longer.  Search engines would chop it up.  So, you'd have to rewrite.

From Stay-At-Home Mom To Business Woman In 5 Months Flat.

Then you'd have the sub-headline:

Two years ago I was a stay at home mom, 1 daughter in kindergarten, one in 3rd grade, 1 husband, 1 house to look after.  Today I'm a business woman. The transition was easier than I thought it would be.

It's good because it clearly identifies a very targeted audience: stay-at-home moms who want to have a business.  Not the ones who'd like to get a part-time job, or the ones who want to cut down expenses, or the ones who want to babysit your brat on the weekends when the hubby's home.  The ones who want to get a business going, only.  And, if you actually have done it in 5 months flat, it's fact not hype.  And you'll have the proof to show.  And it won't be a face clickbank account that shows you going from $0 to $49,975 in a week.

So, target the right audience and use facts, no superlative forms of overused adjectives.

I just to get that off my chest.  Or, if you prefer, the spirit moved me.