- How to Earn 10 Million Dollars in Your 20s
- 30, 000 Dollars Per Month with ChatGPT
- Breaking News! World War III Just Started
- Java is Dying (The subject can be any programming language or tool)
- …
If you have ever used the Internet, I bet you must have read some of these clickbait titles once.
You occasionally find these titles → you think there may be some big things → and then you click it → you were forced to watch some ads → you read the article or watch the video → you find that the article/video is totally bullshit → you are annoyed, and leave a 4-letter word to the author — > but anyway, the author still earn some money from ads → the author decides to write more clickbait bullshit to earn more money → you find more bullshit in your timeline.
This is the dark side of the content creation system, or so-called attention economy.
These spam articles do not create any value for the Internet, but because of the nature of advertising, they do make a little money. This incentivizes more writers to create this garbage.
Fortunately, things are changing.
- Platforms such as YouTube and Medium have noticed these issues, they updated their algorithm and partner programs to against BS.
- Readers are becoming more smart. They will ignore the clickbait titles and read articles from authors they believe.
The attention economy worked for a long time, but it will not work in the future. If you want to have long-term success, you should build a believable relationship with your readers.
Here are things you should do or avoid.
Don’t use a clickbait title
Your title should be a one-sentence conclusion of your article. It should provide enough information for your readers, so they can make a decision: if they need to read it.
In this case, you may lose some views, but you will get some small credit from your reader.
