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Clickbait Headlines Are Not The Problem

By Jason Quey, last modified on July 12, 2017

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After all, isn’t the objective of a title is to get you interested enough to click it?

So why do we get pissed off with over-sensationalized headlines?

Two reasons I can think of:

1. Over promise, under deliver.

Remember when Facebook was deluged by titles like, “24 Pictures That Will Make You Feel Better About The World; I Just About Died Reading #9!”? When you clicked on the article, you discover #9 really wasn’t all that special.Same is true when someone makes a bold claim, but doesn’t follow through with the promise.

2. Plays with the wrong emotions.

Emotions get us to click and share. Or wait through the commercials to discover what happens to our beloved hero.

(SPOILER ALERT: she won’t die. At least not permanently. She’s the reason we keep watching). News sites, survivalist blogs, and conspiracy theory videos get a ton of sustainable traffic using this tactic. But that doesn’t mean you should.

Being in a constant state of anxiety, anticipation, disgust, _____ can be crippling. Mind numbing, even. Headlines and the copy can do that to people.

How do you want to treat your readers? More importantly…

Is burning your reader’s trust really worth that extra click?

Comments

  1. Yogesh Shinde says

    April 8, 2016 at 12:37 am

    Hey Jason,

    Clickbait titles are really catchy and attention grabbing. Popular websites like Boredpanda, Buzzfeed are using catchy titles, they are serving entertainment niche that’s why it doesn’t impact engagement. This audience doesn’t care about the content they just scroll the articles and check one after another because they are their to get entertained. They don’t care about the information and quality of content.

    What do you say?

    Thanks,
    Yogesh Shinde

    Reply
    • Jason Quey says

      April 8, 2016 at 8:32 am

      True, content style definitely affects how to present the title.

      But all titles should be catchy and attention grabbing. Clickbait titles tend to get labelled as such for a reason. Why? Same reason I concluded the post 🙂

      Reply
      • Yogesh Shinde says

        April 8, 2016 at 9:48 am

        Hey Jason,

        Yes, our titles should be catchy but not miss leading as you mentioned in the article.

        Reply
  2. David Gabriel says

    April 9, 2016 at 10:54 am

    Great article. Delivering on promises is key.

    Reply
    • Jason Quey says

      April 12, 2016 at 8:59 am

      V. true. It’s important to do so in all areas of business

      Reply
  3. Stephanie Casstevens says

    April 11, 2016 at 6:42 am

    I feel this was just as disappointing as a click-bait article… I was looking forward to an in-depth, interesting post on how we need valuable content to back up those click-bait headlines and satisfy the curiosity created by them. Instead I got something that barely scratched the surface.

    Reply
    • Jason Quey says

      April 11, 2016 at 11:14 am

      Thanks for the input Stephanie.

      Sounds like you know what people want: valuable content to satisfy the curiosity of your readers.

      Give it to them and they’ll flock to your content :).

      Reply
  4. piltdownman says

    April 11, 2016 at 12:15 pm

    This is the ultimate click-bait! Thin content. Obvious to the point of absurdity. OF COURSE it’s not the headline. If this is what a “storyteller” does, you’d better have a better narrative next time…..

    Reply
  5. Jim Nico says

    April 12, 2016 at 6:22 am

    “Succinct, Savvy, and Sustainable!” Thank you Jason.

    Reply
    • Jason Quey says

      April 12, 2016 at 8:59 am

      Good word choice Jim, and my pleasure :).

      Reply

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