Honest Writers Don’t Use Clickbait

You don’t have to lie to your readers

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

She’s covering her ears when she should be protecting her eyes, trying to shut out the lies of what she’s been reading. She looks disgusted, and she’s right to be so. Who is she? She’s your reader and she’s frustrated that she’s been lied to again.

According to Bernard Marr & Co., 7 billion humans use the internet daily, and Google processes more than 40,000 searches every second.

With so many businesses and content creators trying to get our attention, it’s no wonder so many people resort to clickbait. By definition, it works. Clickbait is a hook that draws the reader in. You want the reader to do something, and that something is usually to spend her time or money with you.

Let me ask you a question: Aren’t your readers the people you’re trying to build trust with? They are the people you want to trust you; yes?

So why would you lie to them?

After all, isn’t that what clickbait is? It’s a lie. Okay, you want to feel better about yourself. You don’t want to feel like you’re tricking anyone. You’d rather call yourself a fantastic marketer.

You can tell yourself any story you want to.