Do Clickbait Headlines Work?

You’ve seen them: Five Celebrities You Won’t Believe Were Once Priests! The Three Things You Do Everyday That Might Be Killing You! Dog Growls at Man- You Won’t BELIEVE What Happens Next! They work. We click. But do clickbait headlines work?

It depends. Do you want loads of empty traffic heading to your site only to leave unsatisfied? Then yes.

Do you want to build a read community and an lasting fan base? Then no.

Clickbait headlines do work to get people clicking. They do. I’m sure you know of at least one thing you clicked on recently that you were sort of ashamed of, because YOU KNEW BETTER. I always know better. I tell myself not to click, but I do anyway. What if we could take the principles of clickbait headlines and make them work for us in a way that wasn’t smarmy? I say YES. Let’s do this.

Why You Shouldn’t Use Click Bait Headlines

Click bait headlines are called that because they dangle there in front of you, irresistible. They are shiny. They play on your curiosity and the most basic aspects of human nature. But like the fancy lures from the bait & tackle shop, they aren’t REAL. You click because you almost can’t help yourself, even if you know better. Only you DO believe what happens next. The celebrity whose face was on the image for the priest posts isn’t even mentioned in the article. The three things you do everyday aren’t killing you, even killing you softly.

Click bait headlines fail to live up to what they promise. They break trust. And trust is THE best online currency you can have. So unless you REALLY only need page views and not people, then maybe trust doesn’t matter. Maybe click bait would be an effective tool.

For most of us, the click wouldn’t be worth it. Most of us, I think, want actual readers, not just numbers. But we still need to BRING people to our site in order to make readers. This is where CLICKABLE headlines come in.

Clickable vs Click Bait

Click bait headlines draw you in and make you act, but they don’t deliver on their own promise. CLICKABLE headlines have the intrigue that gets you itching to click, but they deliver. The headline matches the content. Whether we are talking blog post, social media link, or an email to your list, you want something that draws people in but doesn’t tick them off.

Click bait headlines result in unsatisfied readers. Often they mean a first-and-only visit. You don’t want to return to a site that tricked you into getting there. But a great headline that brings you to a site with awesome content builds trust and has the potential to turn a passing reader into a long-term fan.

How to Craft Clickable Headlines 

Make Them ITCHY. You know that itch you just HAVE to scratch? That’s the kind of headline you want to create. In this way they seem very much like click bait. Psychologists call this the “information gap,” where curiosity urges you to take action. Just be sure your content and your headline match up.

Brainstorm. Then brainstorm some more. In this Slideshare, the guys from Upworthy say that you should craft 25 headlines. That’s about 24 more headlines than I usually craft for anything. Why so many? The idea is that you push until you’re thinking outside the box. The process becomes faster and you become better.

Use Tools. I have a few go-to tools when I’m really trying to craft a headline. The first is the Coschedule Headline Analyzer, which gives you a grade and then suggestion for your headlines. Another is the Emotional Marketing Healine Analyzer (which needs a better name and up-to-date site). It tests headlines according to the impact on emotions.

 

I don’t know that the importance of headlines for your posts, subject lines for your email list, or titles for your books can be overemphasized. The simple truth is that people click when they are intrigued. Getting them to stay is another matter and another post. Let’s utilize what does work, but in a way that is authentic and not smarmy.

How hard do you work on your headlines? Do you really think it matters?