The heading is the first text your customers see in web marketing and it should be connected to the copy on your site. Like your title tag, it needs to stand on its own and contain your key phrase.
Unlike your title tag, though, it should directly support the paragraph beneath it. The title tag can be relevant to the entire page without referring to the first paragraph on that page. But even a level 1 heading needs to have some connection with the first paragraph of copy.
If your writing gets to the point, this shouldn’t be a problem. Your point should be clear in the paragraph immediately following the headline.
Here’s an example: Assume that the first paragraph on the page discusses the award-winning service of Harrison’s Bikes. The heading could be
<h1>Award-Winning Seattle Bicycle Repair</h1>
That ties into the paragraph copy, connects to the title tag, and includes the target key phrase Seattle bicycle repair.
Writing a great heading is an art all its own. The best authorities on the subject are David Ogilvy and Brian Clark of Copyblogger. You can get Ogilvy on Advertising, by David Ogilvy (published by Vintage Books), at any bookstore.
