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[b]You May Recognise This Well-known STW Member, How They Look Now Will Shock You![/b]
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[i]Remember that a lot of this now is to get eyeballs on ads rather than communicate real info[/i]
Good point - it becomes harder to tell whether you're seeing a link to a decent article, or actually some sensationalised/advertisement crap.
So you end up ignoring them all.
The proof will be in the hits, if they drop or don’t improve then they’ll look at something else.
It is becoming increasingly mediocre.
"The proof will be in the hits, if they drop or don’t improve then they’ll look at something else"
- yes, no room for journalistic standards anymore. Just become the same as everyone else to keep the numbers up.
[quote=Drac ]The proof will be in the hits, if they drop or don’t improve then they’ll look at something else.
I'm pretty sure the Daily Mail has the same approach.
What got posted in the tags will amaze you!
Yes just like the DM. 🙄
Actually, yes. Maybe not in tone or content but certainly in execution.
Just makes the place look like another shitty content aggregator. Funny how only two people seem to be defending this nonsense and of that 50% are responsible for implementing it in the first place.
Can we expect articles to span several pages in future in order to maximise clickthrough revenue? If the place is struggling so badly that it needs to resort to these methods to generate revenue then there is something wrong. Either someone is taking the piss or they are trying to inflate figures.
See pages 2, 5, 15 and 20-24 for the answer.
I would but the site doesn't display properly so I have to click through the whole article.
It's not nonsense if it works. And it does.
What we are here for is to earn a living. We earn that by people reading our content. The more people who read it the better. Headlines have been used to attract the attention of readers for several centuries and the rationale behind it is nothing new. Keywords have always been used on newspapers and magazine covers to grab attention. As I said above, the headline is an advertisement and unless it does it's job we won't get readers. Readers do not passively discover content in the numbers required to maintain a media site that employs full time staff. The stories have to first engage that initial click and considering that approximately half (and growing) of all our story reads take place away from this website on social media and in aggregate news apps like Apple News, it's vital that our headlines do the job they are there for and attract the attention of the potential reader before the scroll past to read the next Trump update.
I appreciate that you don't like this strategy.
Im not going to stop reading the site because of the headlines,but if all it takes to generate revenue is a 'catchy' headline, then where is the incentive to write decent articles, if youve made your money the moment someone clicks on the headline and views the page,then why bother employing people to write good articles,youd make much more profit.
This seems to be the approach of most sites that employ these types of 'catchy' headlines,and i think thats why they grate so much, hopefully stw wont go that way.
The incentive is that it’s not what STW do and would piss Mark off.
I'm just really surprised that it actually works! As said, I filter this clickbait style of ad (I mean what next- PPI style, a pretty model instead of a picture of the bike?!) - they are so prevalent that I'm sure a lot of other people do too. That Trek example I mentioned earlier, I noticed the bike before the headline, the headline actually stopped me from investigating further.
But if that's what you have to do, that's what you have to do. Can't say it effects me really!
Is it just me that's had an empty sidebar on the forum for the last day or so?
FWIW I think a fair bit more could be done to improve cross-promotion of content on this site, doubt it'd go down very well though.
There’s a lot happening behind the scenes and the fact the links box has gone from the right column is part of that.
I see the Helm fork headline has now been changed to something approaching a readable sentence.
I'm just really surprised that it actually works!
Humans are simple deep down.
I'm Just Really Surprised That It Actually Works!
FTFY
Mark, there's nothing wrong with using catchy headlines to promote an article but if it looks like it was written by an illiterate fanny that once upon a time decorated their myspace page with .'*\_)(_/*'. Bollocks around their name then people will assume the content is aimed at that same sub-level. Honestly, a headline is a headline but if its a sentence it doesnt hurt to use proper capitalisation and at least make it sound intelligent.
"Exclusive Review: The X-ALP Launch Is The First Ever Flat Pedal Shoe From Pearl Izumi"
Struggling with that one eh?! Needs a glamorous modelle 😉
You Won't Believe What Five Awesome Things Pearl Izumi Have Done To Make This Flat Pedal Shoe Their Best Ever
What we are here for is to earn a living. We earn that by people reading our content. The more people who read it the better.
Is it not
What we are here for is to earn a living. We earn that by people clicking on a link to our content so that adverts are displayed. The more people who open the webpage the better, even more if they click on adverts.
I understand the need to have an eye-catching headline to get clicks, I really do. What's disappointing is when the content of the article does not reflect the headline. It might serve the ultimate aim for the publisher, but it's not clever headline writing. Where does it end? "Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster!" for an article on a new wheel size? 😆
Secret Nazi Single Speed Bike Found On Moon
What we are here for is to earn a living. We earn that by people clicking on a link to our content so that adverts are displayed. The more people who open the webpage the better, even more if they click on adverts.
well considering that's where our income mostly comes from then yes, there's a truth to this. But it's short-termism if the content behind the headline is not good enough to bring people back. One measure of that is annual growth in website visitors who read the stories, which we've had consistently for 17 years in a row so far. There are other measures too and we watch and monitor them all.
well considering that's where our income mostly comes from then yes, there's a truth to this. But it's short-termism if the content behind the headline is not good enough to bring people back. One measure of that is annual growth in website visitors who read the stories, which we've had consistently for 17 years in a row so far. There are other measures too and we watch and monitor them all.
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Well it worked for MBUK, they even put some of the hype in a column conveniently titled "hype". How is MBUK doing these days?
I take heart that behind the painful-to-read headline there's still good copy so it still works for me. We live in an age articles and publicity blend seamlessly together. I used to provide bikes to French magazines to test whilst at the same time buying advertising space. Despite the commercial link I felt the test reports were balanced and fair and never a copy/paste of our own press releases. That's what magazines need to do if they want to remain credible, and on STW the distinction between the two is still made.
"Hella fresh"?? What the hell is "Hella fresh"??