5 Ways Listicles are great Linkbait
Lists used to be things you’d scribble on the backs of old envelopes. Now they are known as Listicles. Does that mean they are now sugar coated? Perhaps, perhaps not, but they sure taste good to those looking for a retweet. Listicles have become great linkbait.
8 ways to waste time on the internet when you should be working
9 ways to make money from your blog
6789 ways to be totally boring on twitter
19 surprising habits of my ex partners
Do you have to be cracked to like Listicles?and so on. Get the idea now?
If you think this all sounds rather obscure know this:
there are websites comprised solely of listicles.
Yes really. If you are the literary type check out Umberto Eco’s The Infinity of Lists. But this should not come as a surprise. We love to know what we are going to get before we click. We are busy in our egocentric worlds and reading a whole blog (save me!) in the hope you might just get a nugget of gold isn’t what we do anymore. It’s like explaining to a youngster that there really is a narrative worth following amidst the description in a Dickens’ novel. It’s unlikely to happen. But know: listicles are great linkbait. That’s all folks!
Mother nature likes to protect her juicy bits think lychees, figs, chestnuts prickly pears. Well she can keep her treasure. I want the action and I want 7 ways to do it right now! I also want 7 habits to become a highly successful person. Just click 7 ways into a Google search and you’ll see:
7 ways to die, to be insufferable on facebook, be happy, smart and a good runner. If you really dig deep then you’ll also find social media tips, twitter tips and all points between.
So let’s get to the Listicle shall we? We can’t wait, we want it now!
- Internet curators and content farmers (love that phrase) need a hit and they need it now. Produce a great listicle and you’ll find yourself plucked from obscurity. Told you. [Tweet “Listicles are great linkbait!”]
- No one likes reading until they have to. Gimme a list, gimme it now! Something easy gets shared.
- [Tweet “Listicles are like a stripper at the end of the show.”] You don’t have to wait for the layers to be peeled off. What you see is what you’re going to get. Some may say, where’s the fun in that? The seduction is in the title. Crack the title and you’re home and dry.
- We love précis. [Tweet “Come on, even 140 characters is considered too long for a tweet these days. “]In a listicle you get facts, factoids, tips, tough love in the space of just a couple of hundred words. Don’t expect top 10s any more they went the way of vinyl 45s. Pack it full of facts, humour, satire, tips and you’ll be shared.
- [Tweet “Psychologically the listicle has it sewn up.”] Now you know you are at the end; you don’t have to scroll down, especially important to the growing army of mobile users. You can skim and just ‘suck it up!’ . Twitter is microblogging and so are listicles so if you haven’t tried then make your next one a listicle and see if the shark in your pond takes the bait.
Look, I said 5 and 5 it is!
Further Reading
