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What's up with the new style of titles for the articles on the front page?
I know it will come as a shock to many of you that there are any other pages other than the forum, but from time to time I've been known to wander over there, FGF being a particular favourite.
Anyway, over the last month or so I've noticed a distinct rise in the hyperbolic worthy of Buzzfeed et al. Some examples?
Today: Reviewed & Recommended: The ShockWiz Will Turn You Into A Suspension Tuning Guru
Yesterday: Get A SRAM Guide Brake For Less Money - Introducing The SRAM
Guide
In 7 Months Of Testing, This Chain Guide NEVER Dropped A Chain
Riding With Wet Feet Is Horrible - Are Dexshell Bamboo Waterproof Socks The Answer?
And a couple of other examples:
Is This The Most Miserable Form Of Cycle Racing Ever? Enter Now!
Winter Riding Sucks! Here’s 8 ways to get you motivated
And the particularly egregious pair:
Want To Ride A Star Wars Speeder Bike For Real? Well You Can’t, But Here’s The Next Best Thing
and
If C3PO Wanted A New Fork, He Would Choose This Limited Edition Cane Creek Helm in GOLD
It seemed to start Mid-December or so.
Could it stop please? I know it's just me, but I find the seeming infantilisation of the subjects hugely irritating. Does it actually attract traffic to the site?
[i] Does it actually attract traffic to the site? [/i]
I suspect it plays well on their Facebook which probably has more readers than the site home page now.
If C3PO Wanted A New Fork, He Would Choose This Limited Edition Cane Creek Helm in GOLD
with one silver leg surely?
wwaswas - Member
I suspect it plays well on their Facebook which probably has more readers than the site home page now.
Ah, I see - I don't use FB so hadn't seen that!
Looks like someone got a Social Media training course as part of their objectives/Christmas present.
Well, I was going to agree about the amount of bollocks preceding the fgf articles, but that is nothing new (or original).
But, I hesitate to type any bollocks of complaint for fear of adding to the prevalent bollocks of editorial standards, and general forum based gonads, creating a supermassive black hole of testicular pointlessness.
I met Chipps many years back as he was explaining that Stw mag was a serious publication, for those who want a break from the constant youthful gnarr of mbuk. Oh how times have changed 😀
It doesnt annoy me as much as the continual facebook re-posting of articles from two years ago..
It’s always struck me that they don’t push the site enough on the forum pages ~ they feel like two different sites to an extent.
Coming directly to the forum the visible menu (on an iPad) doesn’t even include Home.
There is no promotion of news stories on the forum pages
Discussion about stories is separate form forum with no alerts to replies or ongoing discussion (so you see forum posts about a front page story.)
But yes, headlines have a big impact on Facebook and in search results.
I'd subconsciously noticed it, but as I don't visit the front page that much it didn't bother me. Now you've brought it into the forums... I'm livid!
Nah, is it really the case that internet users are so moronic* that they will click on [i]anything[/i] if it seems remotely exciting??
"People Love This Epic Response From Sainsbury's To A Viral Meme About Its Uniform" MAN I'm gonna LOVE that Too.
*rhetorical. I know they are.
More or less as annoying as* repeatedly being told that sexism is your fault because you don't boycot a brands products because some of their other products are pink/blue/otherwise different to the men's versions.
*illustrative example, may or may not have been one of Hannah's actual rants.
thisisnotaspoon - Member
More or less as annoying as* repeatedly being told that sexism is your fault because you don't boycot a brands products because some of their other products are pink/blue/otherwise different to the men's versions.
Well, given I don't pay any attention to the actual stuff reviewed or indeed buy anything bike-related that's remotely fashionable, that also passes me by!
Coming directly to the forum the visible menu (on an iPad) doesn’t even include Home.
Have you got it set to view in mobile format?
I can see the Home tab clearly on my iPad.
Road.CC started the trend for facile clickbait article titles (and increasingly content...) on cycling websites, and Bikeradar and STW have followed suite.
Yet another reason why Pinkbike is by far my favourite go-to site for non-forum online MTB reading. Sorry STW.
[b]This forum member started a rant. What happened next will shock you![/b]
CaptainFlashheart - Member
This forum member started a rant. What happened next will shock you!
😀
Yet another reason why Pinkbike is by far my favourite go-to site for non-forum online MTB reading. Sorry STW.
No need to apologise we all have our faults.
No need to apologise we all have our faults.
😀
Well whoever at STW Towers has had the click-bait headline writing training, it's working. I clicked on "Is This The Most Miserable Form Of Cycle Racing Ever? Enter Now!" expecting something considerably more interesting and dramatic than "just" a XC race.
Do 'P' members get normal headlines? 😉
no 🙁
Yes, our headlines have changed. And yes, it's to attract attention and get more reads. And yes, it works.
A headline is an ad. headlines generally now sit among a whole load of other headlines in newsfeeds and any one user can only click one at a time. This means the competition for attention is intense and if the headline doesn't grab the attention then the user will scroll on by and click the next one.
There's no point spending a month putting together a detailed 3000 word review of a bike complete with expensive location photo shoot only to have no one read it because the title didn't stand out.
Also, an upcoming site change will see the excerpt (that's the bit underneath the headline on the front page) removed completely. That means the headline has to carry the story. So the headlines are now longer (averaging 15 words as opposed the the previous average of 6).
It's not that complicated. Humans respond to attractive, tantalising and teasing headlines.
It's not that complicated. [s]Humans[/s] morons respond to [s]attractive, tantalising and teasing[/s]clickbaity headlines.
FIFY
thew new style is intensely irritating to me. really puts me off a site when I read headlines written in that style.
oh well - who cares.
Have you got it set to view in mobile format?I can see the Home tab clearly on my iPad.
Viewing in Portrait not Landscape. Same on a web browser when you narrow the window beyond a certain point - home/news etc disappear into the burger menu.
Oh yeah.
I’m usually in landscape as I have a keyboard plugged into my iPad Pro.
thew new style is intensely irritating to me. really puts me off a site when I read headlines written in that style.oh well - who cares.
More or less this, apparently, although I didn't actually realise until I saw the thread. I've unconsciously not read the socks and chainguide reviews, despite usually being interested in winter socks and actually looking for a new top guide. I guess 'stupid headline = low value content' in my unconscious.
It's not like I haven't been looking for something to read either, I had a half a car journey from Scotland to Surrey to fill today and I still didn't manage it. I'm sure I'll put up with it, but it grates- I liked ST as a magazine exactly because it tended to be a little more 'nice'.
[quote=swanny853 ]I guess 'stupid headline = low value content' in my unconscious.
Good point. I reckon I/we get so used to filtering out clickbait style headlines on Facebook and in linked ads that it has an effect here too.
A headline is an ad.
[b]But Must The Headline Have Every Word Capitalised As If The Writer Is Shouting At Us To Generate Clicks? [/b]
You [s]Will[/s] Won't Be Amazed To Find Out That It Seems That It Doesn't 😉
[img][url= https://s17.postimg.org/6q1ol650v/Screenshot_20180105-185649.pn g" target="_blank">
[i]There's no point spending a month putting together a detailed 3000 word review of a bike complete with expensive location photo shoot only to have no one read it because the title didn't stand out.[/i]
So we get
[b]This custom built Trek Fuel EX is absolutely jaw-dropping![/b]
(On FB today)
Headlines for morons
Headlines for morons
(On FB today)
Well then. (-:
Is there not perhaps an argument for promoting the same article with two different headlines? Best of both worlds then, maybe?
[img] 
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I don't mind change, but this is just another step towards Idiocracy (the film, that is).
But as mentioned above, these headlines generate new traffic and clicks from the type of people that respond to that writing style, whilst others have pointed out that they have a tendency to ignore clickbait titles as worthless articles with a big bow on top.
So what happens when the only people clicking these articles do so because of the title, and probably, to just look at the pictures 😀
Meanwhile, your beautifully written, 3000 word piece is actually read by nobody, as those who may actually have more than a passing interest never click, on account of the bollocks titles.
There's a front page?
Got to agree, I filter out spammy headlines as well. There is a sort of halfway house that works but if they have their goals set correctly I imagine that stw are more capable of seeing the actual numbers rather than what we think the numbers are. Remember that a lot of this now is to get eyeballs on ads rather than communicate real info. about trek bikes (for eaxmple). This is what happens when we don't want to pay for content 🙁
But Must The Headline Have Every Word Capitalised As If The Writer Is Shouting At Us To Generate Clicks?
I don't like this either and it's only been house style at a couple of places I've worked (the more downmarket, youth-orientated ones).
As well as being harder to read, it also disguises proper nouns and product names.
Also - wet socks aren't really horrible.
This Cane Creek Helm Fork Is Dead Brilliant, But It Ain’t For Beginners
That is so terrible that it has to be a bit tongue in cheek, surely?
I gave up caring about clickbait headlines after Slate did the [url= http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/06/09/ziplock_bag_tricks_how_to_get_the_air_out_of_plastic_baggies_for_better.html ]ziplock bag trick that will change your life.[/url] Never managed to take anything on that site seriously after that.
swanny853 » I guess 'stupid headline = low value content' in my unconscious.
Yup.
cdoc - Member
I don't mind change, but this is just another step towards Idiocracy (the film, that is).
Insisting that all change is good is just as illogical as thinking it's bad.
I still think STW is the best bike site out there and the content of most of the articles is pretty much as good as ever.
However, the advertorials and genuinely awful headlines have pretty much put me off the homepage.
Please don't dumb down the magazine as well.
+1 on the capital letters. Makes it so bloody hard to read. Please make it stop!
Mark - Resident Grumpy
Also, an upcoming site change will see the excerpt (that's the bit underneath the headline on the front page) removed completely. That means the headline has to carry the story. So the headlines are now longer (averaging 15 words as opposed the the previous average of 6).It's not that complicated. Humans respond to attractive, tantalising and teasing headlines.
So we get a dumbed down headline and less of an idea of the tone or content of the article?
I thought the whole point of this place was to offer something better than the competition?
Yes, our headlines have changed. And yes, it's to attract attention and get more reads. And yes, it works.
That explains it then....I thought that STW had employed a 13yr old child to write the news headlines
[quote=somafunk ]
Yes, our headlines have changed. And yes, it's to attract attention and get more reads. And yes, it works.
That explains it then....I thought that STW had employed a 13yr old child to write the news headlines
Both explanations are possible, and it costs less to employ a 13 year old.
It's almost like when Metallica decided to cover their 50 year old bald spots with beanies and be 'down wit tha yoof' by going nu-metal for that single, disastrous album.
STW seems to be ditching it's USP within the market and going for short term clicks and likes in order to boost rankings and revenue.
Which is fine, I suppose, just a shame.
It's almost like when Metallica decided to cover their 50 year old bald spots with beanies and be 'down wit tha yoof' by going nu-metal for that single, disastrous album.
Well look at the Sun and the DM, clickbait obviously works in other branches of journalism.
What a time to be alive, can't wait for a sidebar of shame on the new site.
I get why they changed, Mark, but isn't the danger then that if every headline is written in a clickbaity style they all just blend into one mass of gibberish, so nothing stands out? I like STW precisely because it hasn't followed the mass market and dumbed down to readers with the attention span of a gnat.
[b]You May Recognise This Well-known STW Member, How They Look Now Will Shock You![/b]
😀
[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.
[img] 
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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"??