It is common today to come across headlines that promise the world but lack all the substance they claim to possess. There is a simple term for this phenomenon: click-baiting. Click-baiting ensures that publishers have a constant flow of traffic, traffic that may not even be useful to them in the long-term. Audacious titles and headlines give a false impression to people and sensationalize blogs and articles.
When this happens, people may click on the links and will usually be disappointed with the content and return less to your website. Click-baiting is one of the bad effects of SEO and content marketing. It started out as a practice to hook the readers and get them to click on your link and visit the page, so that your own advertisers feel impressed with the traffic statistics.
As all bad practices would have it, advertisers soon begin to realize that the traffic is not of any importance. Those who are attracted by catchy headlines invariably are not the kind of audience that you or the advertisers are looking for anyway.
With that in mind, let us discuss why you should avoid click-baiting in this article.
1. Clickbait makes you look less authoritative
Clickbait tactics are not used by respectable companies or newsrooms. We do not see Apple or Microsoft using clickbait techniques on their blogs. We also do not see the New York Times or Guardian using catchy titles to attract traffic.
Their quality of content attracts their traffic and that is how it should be. When you use tactics like clickbaiting, you will look like a rookie or a novice who is trying hard to grab attention. Anyone who tries hard to prove a point usually doesn’t. It backfires on them.
2. Clickbait attracts the wrong kind of traffic
Those who are attracted to catchy titles may expect something sensational. Unless you are releasing a waterproof, dustproof iPhone which also can travel to the moon instantly, you should not indulge in sensationalizing your blog or your titles. The kinds of people who click on those links are basically looking for something sensational.
When they see your article lacks the punch that they thought it would have, they leave your website disappointed. The rest of the people who are looking for serious content are usually put off by the presence of catchy titles. In the end, you get nothing at all.
3. It is not a timeless solution
Clickbaiting depends on terms and trends that reflect a fad in our societies. They are attractive and catchy only for a certain demographic and for a certain period of time. When the trend shifts, your content becomes irrelevant. No one will bother to go back and read your content again.
This means, you cannot possibly create timeless content when you write catchy and trendy titles. Timeless solutions depend on the quality of the content and the seriousness of what is being published. If your article depended on titles to attract people, you probably are writing the wrong way.
Focus on your content so that it speaks for itself
To conclude, we can just say that you should focus on what you write. Hire excellent content writers who are efficient and talented. They should be able to write well without resorting to tactics such as keywords or clickbaits. This ensures there is a certain level of quality to what you publish.
Eventually you will be respected as someone who writes content that is worthwhile and of high quality. At the end of the day, that is what is required to ensure that your readers keep coming back and probably convert as well.
