Have we Reached Peak Clickbait?
If you’re as allergic to the click-driven attention economy as I am, the internet is becoming an increasingly suffocating place to make a living.
Scrolling through my LinkedIn, Medium and other social feeds, the titles of most articles look like a laundry list of the various species of clickbait titles you might read in an article titled: “10 ways to drive more clicks to your article”.
If you’ve spent any time at all on the internet, you may recognize the following species of clickbait.
The promise of exorbitant wealth
If you follow X,Y,Z steps…
How I made $12,0359 on GumRoad in 1 month
How to EASILY make $1000k month in passive income
The contrarian piece of advice
This species of clickbait challenges conventional wisdom and then rarely, actually argues the original point.
Stop writing every day
Don’t Take Notes During Meetings
Quit the Medium Partner Program
The coming apocalypse
The classic motte and bailey technique of leading with an extreme position, only to soften that same stance in the article.
SEO is Dead
Podcasting is Dead
GPT3 will replace writers
Usually, by the end of the article the author will say something like “ ‘X’ isn’t quite dead, but things have definitely changed ”.
I could go on, but we’re all too online for our own good here. We know what’s up.
I don’t blame content creators for writing this way, and I’m sure most are doing it not because they think it’s good writing, but because they assume it will get their articles read.
But does it really?
Is clickbait (actually) dead?
Clickbait like the above is a clear signal that the author is writing for themselves, not the reader.
Personally, I do not read these articles.
Ironically, what I do click on is what I’m calling anti-clickbait.
Unlike clickbait, anti-clickbait signals that the author has something unique to communicate. That they’re passionate about what they do, and that they have something original and meaningful to share.
A clickbait article signals that the author has nothing of value to say, even if they actually do.
In an internet that is increasingly saturated with clickbait, following the advice of a popular article titled:
“How to Write a Catchy Title for Your Content”
is a bad idea.
Why?
Popular advice on how to stand out online is inherently self-defeating because it inevitably becomes generic.
In other words, following that kind of advice is a recipe for less clicks because your article won’t stand out among the thousands of creators who took the same advice.
How do you write anti-clickbait titles?
Simply put, you should aim to be original and interesting.
The primary reason for producing content should always be to add value to the reader’s life, or that you genuinely have something that you want to communicate with your audience.
The title should describe the point that you want to make, which should be unique and stimulating — what people actually want to read. If your article is interesting, the title will reflect that, and people will click.
If you’re thinking “what can I write that will get me clicks” it’s obvious. It will show, and discerning readers will scroll by.