You Will Get Upset When You See What A Bullied High Schooler Created.
15 Things Only Bodybuilders Will Understand
13 Superheroes Who Had A Worse Year Than You
I Thought It Was A Travesty. But Then I Saw This Tearjerking One Minute Video.
Try Not To Shout With Rage When You Hear The Last Sentence.
Okay – have you seen a trend from those five titles? That’s right. Those are typically Buzzfeed and Upworthy headlines (and listicles.)
Those are smart headlines, that intrigues people to find out more what’s inside. Those convert well and at this time, those are some of the best click-baiting headlines in the world.
I even jump into the bandwagon an try getting my hands dirty trying the headlines for the articles on my websites. I even started a site in a business niche that incorporates similar headlines.
To say the least, most of them are performing well, at least in term of attracting people to click on the headlines and read the content of my articles (fingers crossed!)
But I’ve seen in the past 12 months that there are more and more websites that are similar to Buzzfeed and Upworthy. Not only startups, Big names are also doing it.
And quite “disturbingly”, they are performing well, in term of attracting traffic, social media shares and advertising money.
But why would I say “disturbing”? Well, maybe it’s just me, but here’s what I think will happen: When so many websites are trying to adopt the unique approaches of the title, the headlines will become ‘stale’ – or overused – more sooner than later.
Gary Vaynerchuk, the wine guy/social media expert/entrepreneur/author/investor, explains it well in his article. He says that it’s all about the supply and demand of attention. He said that, while Buzzfeed, Upworthy, Viral Nova and other early adopters of the epic headlines enjoy the first mover benefits, the rest of the market is following them.
Thanks, marketers, for ruining everything!
Takeaway
I, along with other business owners, help marketers ruining everything. I stuffed keywords for SEO. I used exact match domain name for SEO purpose. I autoblogged. I basically ruin SEO through link building, which forced Google to overhaul their search algorithms – and taking half of the web down due to the changes.
So, is SEO dead? No. But it’s becoming less effective in driving valuable traffic to websites. Enter social media. And marketers – including me – are trying to optimize (read: ruin) things out for giving the best results for their marketing dollars.
The same thing will happen with everything else, and that includes click-baiting headlines, Buzzfeed-style. They will still work, but just like email marketing, CPC ads, banner ads, and the rest of the online marketing tools and activities, they are becoming less effective in term of delivering value.
When that happens, you’ll just ride the next trend and be the early adopter. Rinse and repeat. Be nimble and responsive to the trends – you’ll benefit (and profit) from them!
Over to you
Gary Vaynerchuk, in the same article I mentioned above, claimed that the style of headlines won’t work anymore in 2019.
I personally agree with his argument.
What do you think? Do you agree that Buzzfeed/Upworthy-style headlines won’t be as valuable 4 years from now? Please share your thoughts with us by leaving your comment.
