I saw a headline the other day that was along the lines of... "Someone in [town] thinks you are dumb. Click here to take an IQ test and see if they're right!" It was for one of those mobile phone subscription services (how on earth are they still legal??). It was very eye-catching. Personally I used to use a lot of ".... Sucks!" in headlines, always got attention, but of course could easily lead ot negative association. Any thoughts?
Sometimes negative association is a good thing. If your post is meant to be controversial, for example, they can be very affective. That said, insulting is a bit different than simply negative. It has to be especially relevant to the content or what you're offering. Otherwise, you'll just piss people off by catching their attention and not meeting their expectations (and the next time you try it, your audience won't necessarily respond the same way).
Yeah they tend to lose effectiveness if used a ton, then people just develop a complex and don't want to participate haha..
I guess that the fact it caught your eye and you're posting about it here - it's very effective marketing!
It is eye catching, but should have results beyond expectaions, else you could have a negative impact.
Such headlines definitely work.. Your motive was to grab attention and make the visitor click.. Your content pitch can take care of the rest and if the writer is smart enough, the so called insulting headline can easily be justified with a good concept in the article. The reader will either smile at a smart title by the end or will frown as he reads on and find content making no sense but continued negative approach. It's all in a writers' hand(words) to be admired for the title or to be kicked.
Insulting is a no-no for me. I prefer something like thought-provoking or controversial that grabs as much attention.
I would say something which makes a person thinking is the best headlines....I think your example " Someone in town thinks you are dumb.. would work and make the person think about himself... I think it would work... My Opinion... Its free!
Im so against the insulting headline approach, while im fully aware its an attention grabber, il make sure i dont click on an article, ad, whatever because i feel whoever placed it could think up nothing other than an insult to try and stand out.
friggin myspace... haha i saw that same thing yesterday. it really is effective, but honestly it sucks how we're so attracted to negativity.. and they know that.
I understand why those types of headlines work in the "Jackass" "GirlsGoneWild" society we live in... people are beginning to think it's cool to be demeaning, and many of us fall for it. Now I'm not about censorship, but I do long for the day when people understand edification again and learn how to use it. The headlines or mail subject lines that get me most are the ones that say "You have earned a comission" only to open it up and get a sentence like: "Don't you wish you would find emails like this in your mailbox every day?" I mean, DUH! Of course we would, that's why we do Internet Marketing, but not to have someone jerk our chain with a false statement... whether it's getting them attention or not. I have never invested in anyone's product that has used what I consider deceptive advertizing. They obviously get enough buyers or otherwise they wouldn't use it. I would hope that Marketers can find enough creative ways to get attention without having to put someone down or insult them. Cheers, Smiles and Success, Crazy J a.k.a. Johnny Hollywood Comedian turned Internet Marketer
Problem is, if the negative headline grabs your attention, it grabs everyone else's too (good? no!) and a nanosecond later (OK, maybe a bit longer!) EVERYONE is using negative headlines ... just like the torrent of spammy "you've got a commission" Crazy J mentions ... and before you know it the efficiency of the negative headline is gone, and all the bandwagon jumpers are waiting for a real copywriter to come up with a new 'hot trick'. Summary - good (in moderation), like almost everything else that we all know ... just don't over use it, or you end up with golden goose poop, not eggs (sorry, its late where I am and my brain is shutting down!)
Its the same as those ads. that says someone in your city has a crush on you, click here to find out. good tactic actually
If you are being cynical etc within the post, then I would certainly use an appropriately cynical or eye-catching headline.. It draws readers in.. Otherwise it is a bad idea... 'cause unless it's cynical or something then people are going to feel let down... Glad I studied English Lang+Lit A-Level now lol I'd never really realised it'd help me out with blogging etc.. So I thank you for this thread also lol Chuckun
Insulting headlines can work quite well, as long you don't let the readers down by either attacking them in the article, or by providing little value in the article. A reader might think to themselves, "Who does this person think they are?", and then read on to find out if there is merit behind the rough introductory line.
Any shock method is good to entice readers to 'read on'... But you have to be selective of which shock methods will work best with the content of an article for example.. Such as "We're all going to die!" (shock method.. a lame one at that..) followed by an article on the irony of life or something, pointing out things most people won't've considered yet... (this is a very poor example but you get the idea, different shock tactics will work for different things depending on the idea of the article/post/page etc) Chuckun
Some of the negative headlines you used as an example are definitely attention grabbers... as long as they aren't too insulting, it should be fine
The way I see it, negativity is like profanity. Use it only when there's really no other way to get your point across. Otherwise it makes you seem unsophisticated, and we don't want that thought of us as writers, now do we?