The most frequent H1 mistake I see on Indie Hackers (and how to avoid it)

I joined the Indie Hackers community a few weeks ago. Since then, I’ve looked at a ton of early-stage landing pages. I’m a copywriter, so analyzing pages and making them convert more visitors is my main thing.

And people do a pretty good job! But there was one thing that tripped up almost everyone: The illusive H1 headline.

When a visitor lands on your page, they think, “why should I care?” And to answer that question, you need to tell them what you do and why it’s for them.

You don’t need to tell them:

How much time you put in
When you launched
Why you built it
How much it costs
Who else likes it

Sure, the answers to those questions belong on any sound, well-thought-out landing page. But they do not belong in the headline.

What belongs is your value proposition.

When writing a value proposition for a startup, it’s extremely easy to get sucked into a particular feature or brand image that you want to communicate.

You’ve found a problem and built a solution, so, naturally, you want to communicate all the hard work you put in. But trying to explain everything you do in one memorable sentence will only dilute your message. And ultimately, that means fewer conversions.

Landing pages are full of value propositions. Every single headline is telling users why they should try, use, or buy a product.

Is your value proposition for:

Your Brand?
Your Product?
A Feature?

For example:
On a homepage: A single feature won’t convey the true power of your solution. Even if that one feature is exciting.

On a product page: Features don’t belong in your H1 - the outcome of using your product does.

The bottom line, think carefully about where this value proposition is going and what job it needs to do.

Avoid “clever” headlines

They just don’t convert. If you’re writing a headline for the top of any page, it should be a simple and clear as possible.

People land on your website thinking, “huh… what is this? Unless you give a good answer ASAP, your bounce rate (and conversion rate) are going to suffer.

If you landed on my website and read “Copywriting unleashed.” as the headline, what would you think?

At best, that this a website that has something to do with copywriting - hardly attractive.

But at worst, you’d bounce to another website where they actually write copy, not unleash it.

Think about what makes you different from the alternatives

Many Indie Hackers focus on features in their headlines. And if you have a feature that no one else has, it makes total sense!

But what about when your competitor develops the same feature?

Take a look at these two examples:
User.com: Turn each visitor into a happy customer
Hubspot: There’s a better way to grow.

Their headlines are very different despite being direct competitors. And it’s one of the reasons why user.com (the newer startup) can pull clients away from Hubspot. They differentiate on customer happiness instead of company growth.

Some formulas will help you get started

I’ve pulled these together, so you don’t have to face a blank page. Formulas are not templates. Don’t use the first version you write; continue to refine and iterate :)

I’ll illustrate each formula and a possible headline in action using peppertype.ai, an AI content generator that just launched on Product Hunt. Keep in mind that these examples were literally written in 5 minutes. Usually, you'd want to explore a bit deeper than the '5 seconds' benefit.

The [what you are] that does [what users get by using you].
The AI-driven writing assistant then generates high-quality copy for your business in seconds.

Your new AI writing assistant. Generate quality copy in seconds.

The only way for [target market] to [unique differentiator], [plus benefit/outcome]
The only way for marketers to create quality content using AI, and go from idea to written delivery in seconds.

What top marketers use to create content in seconds.

The only way to [what you do].
The only way to generate smart content in seconds.

Now you can generate smart content in seconds

We do [what you do], but the difference is [unique differentiator].
We create content using AI, but the difference is we do it in seconds.

Forget hours, generate your copy in seconds with AI

Cut your [pain you solve] and dramatically [improve/grow/scale/boost/upgrade/etc] your [problem user has] with out [what you do].
Cut your time writing content and dramatically grow your online presence with our AI content assistant.

The AI content assistant that will understand and grow your brand

We [automate/scale/grow/etc] [what you do] with [how you do it].
We automate your digital content creation with AI that acts like the assistant you wish you had.

Automate digital content creation using AI.

How do you decide which headline to use?

So you’ve written a bunch of value propositions. What are you going to do with them?

Judge them and mercilessly narrow them down, that’s what!

Check if the headline conveys the following:

Unique or exclusive message
Desirable outcome or benefit
Describes something specific
Is to the point with no unnecessary words
Is memorable

And from there, you test!

Let me know if this is helpful, and I’ll keep writing similar content on different topics. Also, let me know if it’s not helpful and what would be more useful (shorter length, studies, screenshots, template files, newsletter, etc). Thanks!