Why You Should Never Clickbait as a Writer

Headline tips from Neil Patel you need to know

Headlines are the first thing that people see when it comes to your writing. They will either grab the attention of readers and site visitors or bore them.

Neil Patel

About a decade ago, clickbait was common in storylines to get the reader’s attention. Clickbait is still common today as you see it in many storylines.

If the clickbait is legitimate, meaning the writer can back up the information, then it works.

However, if you’re a new writer with nothing to back it up, please do not clickbait your title. You lose all credibility in my eyes. So do not use a title to clickbait to grab your reader unless your story relates.

Who are you?

Fake headlines or headlines that are too “click-baity” can lead to giving your brand a bad wrap.

Neil Patel

Many writers have written for quite a while. So if they use a clickbait title, I’m sure they can back it up. They have gone to battle with the changes in blogging and worked their butt off to make their name known on the platform.

If you just started writing for the first time and don’t have any supporting evidence, here’s a hint. Don’t waste people’s time.

To me, time means more than just about anything.

You only get to use time once and once you use it, it’s gone forever.

This is not my first writing gig.

• Previously, I wrote for Quora and left as a paid writer with 6+ million views.
• I wrote a couple of articles published in local newspapers and national magazines.
• Before that, I wrote letters to the editor and complain about something which was published in local newspapers.

Each experience was different.

In any writing experience, don’t clickbait unless you can cite examples or show some proof. When you can show proof, you connect with your reader so much more.

What to do instead

8 out of 10 will read your headline

2 out of 10 will read your article

Neil Patel

You only get this many reads because you didn’t catch your reader’s attention with your headline.

Ouch.

This is key.

If you only spend a few minutes writing your headline or use the first thing that comes to your mind, then you’re doing something wrong.

You want your headline to be appealing to get your reader to read the rest of your article.

These are tips Neil recommended.

Use six to seven words in your title

Six to seven words is the magic number to get readers to check out your article. This will do much better than an article that has three words or twenty words.

When the title is too short, this doesn’t give the reader much information.

If the title is too long, then this is too much information to read. People have short attention spans so make your words count.

When your title is six to seven words, that is good for SEO. In addition, this is enough for the search engine to carry your full title. There is a chance for your title to get cut off if it takes too long.

Use adjectives in headline

When you use adjectives in your headline, you have a greater chance of a reader clicking on your article.

Personally, I use Coschedule which offers a lot of good adjectives and tips for your headline.

For every article I publish, I use this tool and think it’s a lifesaver.

Use the current year in your headline

If you add the year 2020 to your title, this will let the reader know that the article is fresh.

For instance, this is much better than saying the “Best Food in New York”. You could say the “Best Food in New York Updated 2020”.

When you look for information today, you want the information to be current. The latest information is what you are trying to find.

Use a headline generator

Neil recommended a new site I have never used. After a few tries, this is a powerful tool you may want to add to your kitbag.

Check out Portent’s Content Idea Generator.

You type in one word, and the site gives you a headline in a few seconds.

I was pretty amazed when I did this.

For this example, I typed the word “clickbait” and look what came up.

A full title was produced off of one word. The headline may or not work for you, but you can take this as a guide to fit what you’re writing about.

Make sure you save this website to your favorites and try out this tool.

Use Copyblogger headline formula

The next example Neil gave, he recommended searching for Copyblogger headline formula.

When I searched for this, several examples appeared. The latest one dated this year gave an example of 10 headline examples you can use.

This is another tool you can use for your headlines.

Headlines are key and people don’t like to waste their time. Spend a little of your time, finding the best title for your article to get viewers to read your story.

Know your reader base

If you’re just starting out, you have no idea who is your reader base. After you have written several articles, you’ll get an idea of what type of articles your reader prefers over others.

Some topics your readers will love while others will put them to sleep.

Find out what your reader wants to see from you and write about those topics.

When you write headlines that cater to your reader base, you’ll get a lot of traffic and read time.

From clickbait to picking the best headline for your article.

You spend a lot of time writing your story. Make sure you spend a lot of time picking the right headline.

This could be what is holding you back.

What tip did you like best?

See these other articles for more writing tips:

Tom Handy is a top writer on Medium, former Quora writer, and father of two kids. He retired from the Army and sits on several non-profit boards. You can find him on Twitter @tomhandy1 and Life is Like a Game.