Summary

The article provides a guide on crafting compelling titles for online articles that engage readers without appearing as clickbait.

Abstract

The article delves into the psychology behind irresistible titles and offers a concise guide on creating effective clickbait titles that maintain a high level of sophistication. It emphasizes the importance of understanding reader psychology and addresses the changing dynamics of Medium's platform, where getting readers to click and engage with content is crucial for success. The author provides strategies for writing titles that cater to readers' desires, encourage vulnerability, and subtly incorporate elements of sex and mystery, all while maintaining class. The article also suggests starting the writing process with the title to ensure the content aligns with the expectations set by the title.

Opinions

The author believes that many existing guides on writing titles merely scratch the surface and fail to address the underlying psychological aspects that make a title captivating.
A good title is considered paramount, as it is the first step in attracting readers to an article, even more important than the content itself post-Medium platform changes.
The author suggests that a title should reflect the most pressing needs of the audience, which requires staying current with popular trends and sentiments.
Oversharing personal experiences can be effective, but it should be done tastefully to maintain the reader's interest and respect.
Vulnerability in titles is seen as more appealing in the online world than confidence, contrary to real-world interactions.
Incorporating sexual undertones in titles can be successful, but it should be done with subtlety and class to avoid appearing crass or explicit.
The article advocates for writing the title before the article to ensure that the content delivers on the promise of the title, thus reducing the likelihood of reader disappointment and disengagement.

Satire

How to Write Awesome Titles and Clickbait People

Concise guide to creating clickbait titles that don’t look like clickbait at all

So you read and followed the instructions of the umpteen posts on how to write great titles for your online articles and it didn’t work, right? Well, the problem is all those articles just skim the surface but don’t get deep in the psychology of what makes a title irresistible to an average reader. Fear not. We are going to unpack the mysteries of title psychology today.

But first let’s see, what the real importance of a good title is.

Why is a good title really important?

Look at the following MuddyUm stats screenshot.

Extracted and manipulated from my Medium Stats

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? That’s what a good title can do to the success of your online writing career.

As of 28th October 2019, MuddyUm actually made the game easier for you. Before that, achieving success was a three-step process — get people to click on your article, get them to read and/or most importantly get them to clap. So the fans column in the table above was paramount. You had to get people to clap for your articles by clapping to their articles 50 times and making sure they noticed that you clapped for them by commenting on Facebook groups, sending private messages, etc.

Now it is a two-step process and step 2, getting people to read your article is the most important in terms of making you money. It doesn’t matter if they hate it after they finished reading it, as evident from the second row of the table above. What matters is people read it somehow.

But for people to read your articles, first they have to be duped into clicking on them based on the title (and to a degree the header image), so step 1 is still very important too. By the way that is the very definition of clickbait, but it is uncool to admit it is click-baiting. So in this article, I am going to show you how to write clickbait titles with such class that they don’t look like clickbait at all, but still as effective as any clickbait out there.

So here are all the strategies you need to write awesome titles.

Give the readers what they want most

This should be evident from the stats table above. If you address the most burningest (hey if Shakespeare did that, I can too!) needs of the reader you don’t need anything else. You can even Not Have Title Case in your title and it’ll still work!

Just be mindful the needs of the masses keep changing like the weather. So if you are someone who keeps track of the popular vibes, you are all set. You can skip the rest of this article.

Overshare something

You have done enough stupid things, right? I mean you are now a blogger aren’t you? So you should have enough things that you are ashamed of in your baggage. Pull one of them out and repackage it so that you are not over oversharing. For example, don’t write about rashes or constipation. The key here is to do it with class! Overshare it, but subtly.

Make sure you come through as vulnerable

You know, they say people are attracted to confidence in other people? That totally doesn’t apply to the online world. Actually, in the online world, most things are opposite to the real world. So make sure your title reveal your vulnerable side, not your cocksure brash side. But again, do so subtly and with a touch of class!

Add a touch of sex, but with a dash of mystery

Sex still sells, even in the online world. But…a big BUT, you have to do it subtly and with a touch of class. Don’t go and blurt out something X rated off the bat. Just give a hint, and withhold the real stuff for the contents of the article. Perhaps you can even keep hinting that the good stuff is coming later in the article and keep the reader hooked and not give anything at all. Remember the claps don’t matter at all now? But we are talking about titles here. So in the title add a touch of sexy, but with class.

Bonus strategy: Start with the title, not the article

A lot of people make this mistake, and even advise other people to make the same mistake. One reason people will click on your article but not read is because your article is disappointing compared to the title.

This usually happens because you labored through to come up with some article, overcoming writer's block and editors hiccups and all that, and somehow end up with something of some sorts. Then imagine you sit down and apply the above strategies and come up with a super awesome title. What do you think is going to happen? Obviously the article is not going to measure up to the title.

So start with the title. Spend the time coming up with the super awesome title first. Then write the article. At least the start of your article will be awesome as well, because your subconscious mind is still in the super awesomeness mode, and that will spill over into your writing.

Putting it all together

So let me give you an example for a title applying the strategies we discussed:

She said, honey, you are ok, but I have seen bigger!

There — oversharing, vulnerable and …!

Good luck with your writing. Now I have to go Google a bit more on how to write Haiku.

Disclaimer: All evidence and statistics produced in this article were manufactured following the process described in my previous article.