Bahahahaha, their death has already started!

My predictions for the slow (but certain) death of those annoying Click Bait Headlines is coming true sooner than expected.

On August 19th I posted a video about how bullshit headlines like this will die:

"You won't believe what this old man does....it took my breath away!"

6 days later on August 25th, Facebook (who is one of the largest drivers of traffic on the internet) announced they will be cracking down on these headlines because they scam people into clicking below-average articles and videos.

Booyah!

In Facebook's statement they interviewed people, and came to this conclusion:

…..when we asked people in an initial survey what type of content they preferred to see in their News Feeds, 80% of the time people preferred headlines that helped them decide if they wanted to read the full article before they had to click through.

I'm telling you this so you don't get enticed to try scammy headlines also. They do tend to get more clicks, but this sketchiness will eventually bite you in the ass.

Instead I want to make sure you're always using headlines in your marketing that are relevant to the content the person is about to read/listen/watch.

For example just look at the slide below.  It'll give you a no-brainer way to write a headline without scamming anyone:

Feel free to share this with your colleagues!

//ips-cic-filestore.s3.amazonaws.com/v328378/pages_media/5_easy-headline-formula.jpg

A formula like this will give a birds-eye-view of your article.  Example:

[Here's how to make amazing tacos]

+

[in 10 minutes]

+

[For under $5]

You see how there's NO mistaking that article.  Meaning the reader will get exactly what they came for.  Which means they will be happy.  You will be happy.  And Facebook and other traffic sources won't penalize you.

Cheers to making stuff people LIKE!

Neville Medhora.

P.S.  Here's the relevant links from this post:

• My article on clickbaity headlines: here

• Direct YouTube link to the video:
• Facebook's clickbait penalization post: here
• Easy Headline Formula image: here
• Headlines That Sell: here
• Writing a great advertorial: here
• Writing a Tagline: here