"Clickbait" means such titles that evoke a great desire in the Internet user to click on a link to the article, and then usually disappoint the reader. Clickbait titles do not have much to do with the content of the article - their goal is primarily to increase the number of visits to the website, as well as the benefits of advertising.
Where did the "clicked" come from? "Clickbait" comes from the combination of two words: "click", meaning "click", and "bait", meaning bait. It is catching Internet users who, intrigued by the title - shocking or suggesting unprecedented information, which in addition is to change the reader's life (This simple method allowed him to earn 5 million and quit his job. Check how you can quit your job), click, excited ... and suddenly they feel the tension ebbing from them because they have completely different information in front of them than they expected.
Winners and losers of clickbait titles
Clickbaits are to win in a huge flood of messages that reach the internet user every day, who is not able to assimilate them, indeed, who does not find time to read them. Although they are equated with tabloid portals, they can be found more and more often on news portals. You don't have to look far - a website has published an article with an astonishing title that said a dragon's body had appeared on the beach. The photo showed this unusual animal. What was the article about?
About new photos for the series "Game of Thrones".
Fans of the series would love to hear the message communicated under the title "Check out the latest Dragon pictures from Game of Thrones!" The rest of the Internet users will think twice about clicking the next clickbait title on a given portal.
How to create non-clickbait titles that attract attention?
Give the reader a specific
The title of an article can both grab the reader's attention and contain a key query. Would you like to click on the headline "How to write a good title?" Or on "5 patents for titles encouraging to click"? Some will say that all these "TOP 5", "10 ways to ..." or "3 methods by which ..." have already been fully exploited, but ... still work. At the outset, the reader is given a specific topic - if he clicks, he or she will get acquainted with a certain number of practical tips.
The anti-guidebooks and "10 myths ..." statements are also popular, and they can be seen even on the website of the breathalyser calibration service - www.kalibracja-alkomatu.pl. A hermetic topic, concerning only those who have a breathalyzer and are looking for information about its calibration. They get not only a presentation of the offer, but also a handful of practical information, which - thanks to a limited number - they will remember more easily.
However, the title of our article does not specify how much advice it contains, but uses a different method.
Make a controversial thesis in your title
"Clickbait titles are irritating." Not everyone has to agree with that - some people, with amusement and satisfaction, click on successive bait links, and then send them to their friends with the text "Look at the title and see what they gave inside, haha". Others, due to e.g. marketing preferences or profession (e.g. working in a tabloid - be it paper or internet), are passionate about following clickbaits, and stick the most valuable pearls into their collections as inspirations to create their own.
If you put forward a thesis in the title of the article that divides people into two groups defending their arguments, you increase the chance for discussion in the comments and sharing the link further on two principles:
inconsistencies - an agitated reader will look for supporters of his theories among his friends to attack you,
agreement - someone who agrees with you will send a text summarizing his position to other people who share similar views or to convince them.