Title baiting is a form of attracting attention to something in a false manner. In blogging, this does happen, and the result is not always so favorable for the blog.
Why would someone title bait?
- The blogger wants drive in traffic by any means possible.
- The blogger wishes to create controversy in their niche.
- The blogger may lack the knowledge of the topic and may be taking a megalomaniac approach.
Title Baiting: Driving Traffic By Any Means Possible
SEO has not died off. Bloggers do have to attract actual people to become an authority in their niche, and not based on search engine optimization. However when a blogger is unaware or not wanting to engage with others in order to drive traffic to their blog, they will use keywords in any manner that may be relevant to their website.
Title Baiting: Creating Controversy
Creating controversy or trouble is also a form of title baiting. It might be from an untrue or uninformed statement. However, these are done on purpose to bring in anyone without care if they engage. It is merely for traffic.
Title Baiting: Lack of Knowledge
Now, having a lack of knowledge and using it as title baiting can be both positive and negative, depending on how it is used. For instance, a positive way is if you are asking a question and would like feedback or maybe you have a poll, this might be title baiting. A negative example would be stating an untrue statement without proving if it is right or wrong. Another negative example of title baiting with a lack of knowledge is the blogger stating and assuming that other people believe the same as he or she.
Summary: Be Careful When Title Baiting
Getting traffic does not have to mean seeking any method available, including underhanded tactics. There are far more honest ways that provide much better, and much more positive results. Title baiting can have some use in some cases, but it also can be detrimental to a blogger’s reputation if used in a way to deliver false or contradicting information.
The best thing a blogger can do is make sure they have researched their topic thoroughly and have formed a complete opinion that is plausible. A blogger’s opinion does not always have to be correct, but it certainly helps if there are facts to back up a theoretical statement.
Have you used title baiting on your site? What are your thoughts about it? Do you have any other positive ways to use title baiting?
Hi Nile,
I think you’re right. Many bloggers use controversial title just to attract traffic however they don’t have valid and reliable facts to prove their points. So it’s quite essential to have good references to prove your points.
It’s helps to build your trust and reliability and your audience would love to hear what you’re saying.
Agree Pankaj… Some people just write rubbish to attract anybody, but the general public won’t return over and over again based on a catchy title… they will soon realize your stories are full of **** and move on to a more reliable source.
My motto is, titles bring in short term visitors, content keeps long term visitors!
Darcie
A catchy title that lacks quality substance is a wasted opportunity. After all, what good is traffic without conversion?
Nile, IMHO title baiting is ok if you are using it to educate or make a point. Too many people use it to take advantage of false promises in exchange for higher visitor numbers and AdSense clicks.
I completely agree with Dave on this one. Title baiting can be used and with great positive effect. Frank Kern even teaches to using it in your emails. I think the key point is that if your going to use it make sure your content is consistent with the point of the title. And we need to make sure that we are researching the stance that we are taking.
Controversy works as well. Especially when your trying to get traffic from bookmarking and social media sites. I don’t think there is anything wrong with going against the grain on a hot topic if your post is made intelligently.
Great points by both you and Dave, Clint. I’ve learned a lot, like most bloggers, from the Copyblogger series on great headlines. But I agree with Niles’ main point that we must present good research and solid content to reflect what our title is saying.
This is a great post. Almost every blogger out there using title baiting to lure more traffic. Only a handful of bloggers are working on the “honest is the best policy” slogan.
Thanks,
Terry
Hi Terry… honesty is the best policy but I do believe it’s worth spicing up the title a little at times to ensure that you pique the potential reader’s interest.
Title baiting is one thing but it’s important to remember that the title itself is a primary marketing tool that people are exposed to – whether it’s on the page or via the Google organic search results.. don’t lie but you have to make it enticing!
title is very important thing in article that attract more visitors very nice tips. thanks for sharing..
First impression is the best impression on audience , so it is better to write eye catching and informative title which can help to bring more traffic as well as interactive engagement with readers/visitors.
Your title baiting is really interesting! I never thought like that before. Keep writing. I would like to see more interesting articles here! How is life going on? Nice to see Nile river flowing through Illinois 🙂
I am familiar with link baiting but just stumbled upon title baiting since I haven’t personally used it and would never dare explore the method. Traffic should really come naturally and I also hate being a victim of title of link bait. When I search, I want to see relevant content only. So I hope every webmaster should think it this way. Blogging is a give and take process. You post quality content, you get more visitors.
I feel cheated when article title has nothing to do with its content. I generally scan the post first. If I found that I am deceived in the first scan, I prefer not to visit that blog anymore. After all, we are all busy, nobody has the right to get even few seconds of time by crafting a great headline that has nothing to do with content.
This is something I’ve never done, as mentioned though something you have to do right.
Bloggers should never disappoint their readers by using titles which do not match with the content. Readers are the life of a blog. So, never should a blog cheat them!
Hmm I have never knowingly used title baiting and never intend too.
You make some interesting points an dall bloggers should take note! Will Share this post out to my blogging friends!
Keep up the good work Nile.
Phillip Dews
I’ve been surfing online greater than three hours these days, but I never discovered any interesting article like yours. It’s lovely worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all webmasters and bloggers made excellent content as you probably did, the net can be a lot more useful than ever before.Anyway great article with great and rich content.Good jib admin.keep it up
Excellent article. I certainly love this website. Continue the good work! Thanks for sharing this.
Nile, this is interesting blog post… I had no idea about
Title Baiting.. now I know some thanks to you.
We all know that the first impression counts and that apply about writing for sure…
Thanks a lot for yoru contribution to do better.
nickc
I visit this site its good . I like your post also its a good information for us .
thanks
Nile thank you for your explaination of the correct way to use this technique. I like the catchy headlines when the rest of the information in a blog post or email ties it all together. However, when some one use a bait headline that has no connection what so ever to the content it turns me off from that person. Great post.
Great points Nile. I have used some pretty crazy Title’s before but I did not see any increase in traffic because of it.
Hi Nile,
I just go crazy when I go to a blog that does that. So what happens is I stay on that blog for 30 seconds and jump off.
So, the person that uses title baiting gets a bounce off on their blog. It could have a heavy impact when you look at the time factor that people stay on your blog. Right?
Titles have to be congruent with the post. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.
Thanks for the head’s up
Donna
Hello Nile,
Titles are so important, we want to make them interesting so that others will want to click on it and read.
Now if the title does not relate to the article, it confuses the reader, and most will not stay long, and will not return.
Alice
Why should we use unethical methods. There are a lot of good ways to drive traffic. Blogger’s duty is to tell the things that is true.
I’ve don title baiting before. Now, I no longer do it because it makes the bounce rate higher.
I remember hearing that one of the ways to drive traffic to your blog is just to talk bad about another popular blog. It seemed pretty shady to me,
I don’t think you have to resort to name calling or stuffing keywords all over your page until it doesn’t make sense to drive traffic. If you create quality stuff and participate in the online community you should do pretty well.
I am really inspired with your writing talents as smartly as with the structure in your blog. Is this a paid subject or did you customize it your self? Either way keep up the excellent quality writing, it is rare to peer a great blog like this one nowadays..
No. This is my own writing. I do not accept sponsored posts any more, nor do I pay someone to ghost write.
Hi! Excelent information once again. Thank you for this share.
I believe title baiting is exactly why people have so many problems finding content they are searching for. My personal favourite is when it says “free” and then when you register there is payment required. Hate when that happens!
I belive bloggers should write honest content and make titles related to the content. Otherwise they are just fooling people into clicking their links.
Your post describe about the most important factors which have to ensure while blogging. really a rich content about things we have to take care about on blog posts. I really understood about title baiting just because of your post.
Lots of different ways to use a title, hopefully it’s always a descriptive, so people finding it in the search engines, get to the topic they’re looking for. Thanks for listing all the different ways to use a title Niles!
Nice article Nile. I think there should be a healthy amount of title baiting. I mean, you want to stick out and drive traffic, which can be done several different ways. The balance should be, it should still accurately reflect the content. So, if you want to drive traffic with a controversial title, then it should be a controversial article. Just my opinion though.
This reminds me of people that use so and so “is dead” – Do they really think “Facebook is Dead” or are they just trying to get a rise out of people. I believe the latter. It seems like a trick to that many writers use to bait in readers.
Baiting can be a great help to catch the attention of viewers but you have to be careful when using this technique in blogging, you may named as a spammer. You have to write quality contents in order to get readers on a daily basis and will increase your traffic.
I totally agree that “Creating Controversy” is one effective method of title baiting because it immediately goes viral which is of great advantage to increase traffic fir your site.
Great post Nile! This can help many people that have thei own blogs.
Hi
I can’t understand the logic here other than that it is down to making short cuts to success as quickly as possible. Lets be honest this just doesn’t work so if it back fires they only have themselves to blame
Hi Nile,
A great title baiting tactic, which I like very much is adding a famous person in your title to make a point, like
“The Bruce Lee of WordPress Plugins”… you know?
I think people are tempted to click on this titles because it makes them a bit curious.
Awesome post, have some great headline ideas after reading it.
Have a great day Nile, cheers.
It is just awesome stuff i have ever read about Page Title now it provides me lots of ideas. I am really inspired with your writing Skills. This is interesting blog post. I had no idea about
Title Baiting.. now I know some thanks to you.
I hate it when bloggers title bait! I will leave the post. GRRR.
Yeah i tried to play with my blog tittle and i see that more traffic comes in one tittle and less in other. So i picked up the best and just leaved. BTW: thanks for sharing it! Jhon.
Nice post Niles. Title baiting is dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing. Stay well clear from making false claims in your titles as this is the fastest way to lose credibility.
I am guilty in the act of title baiting but I am still a beginner blogger who is constantly looking for ways to write compelling article titles. Now I realize that the content must deliver what the title states too. 🙂
Title is nothing when your readers are loyal but title is every thing when there is no loyal audience @Nile
You have said about the important things that every bloggers have to keep while posting. This post highlights all about title baiting. Thanks for sharing
Title Baiting is of no use if you don’t have the information to prove your points. In the long run it only show a dishonest character.
Bloggers should never disappoint their readers by using titles which do not match with the content. Readers are the life of a blog. So, never should a blog cheat them!
i think title baiting is bad for seo
because it will increase bounce rate , low pageview , and little time on site (like 4 or 5 seconds)
thanks for great post
Hello
title is the best thing to make people attract ,Because search engine only show title and few words of meta description.Which are too short for getting exact idea what the whole post is all about.But this is totally wrong and stupidity.A visitors irritates when he goes to wrong post.This is very dangerous for the reputation of once blog.Thanks for nice sharing.
title is main thing it will also help us in the search engine optimization, if our title is common than we can able to drive the good traffic on our blog, thanks Nile for sharing such a nice article.
🙂
I don’t think title baiting helps people so much, they do help search engines to rank your page well, so I always try to put as much keyword relevant to content!
Hey Nile,
Nice post and Thanks for sharing this post with us. I never used title baiting for my blog and I think it is not good approach for increasing traffic as it affect the trust between the readers and blog.
Controversy starting in your title is KEY to getting the eye candy for folks. BUT, you idea of title baiting when it comes to placement and optimization is something to look out for aside from the normal HOT topic title.
I’ve seen this many times. I hate it. I prefer be forthcoming with their intentions than to be fake.
Definitely! The content must always be substantial. It will reflect your intellectual capacity of you as a writer and of course the outcome of the information you shared.
Title is very important for the website. The context statement of the blog help you to make an impressive blog system which give you a new horizon from which you have easily explored the new things.
Thanks…
Hi Nile,
Interesting article. Honestly, I do not know this method of driving traffic is called title baiting. I have tried once and only one time on my previous personal blog. To my surprised I got lots of traffic and readers expressed their satisfaction with the curiosity I have created. I was just trying to attract people’s attention about a newly launched product but it was all positive article.
Thanks again for all your explanation.
Cheers
Pearly Quah
Underhanded tactics such as title baiting only lead to disaster. You lose credibility so fast.
I never heard it put in those terms before Nile!
So called “title baiting” sounds like a just fancy way of describing how some
rather cheesy marketers using the old “bait and switch” tactic in order to
generate interest in something that most potential prospects probably
wouldn’t normally be interested in!
Thanks for helping to expose an all too common and (at best) questionable practice!