Click now or the dog gets it

Carnival barkers stand outside tents along the midway calling out, luring you to just step inside and see... "Click bait" is their cyber-equivalent. It's a website link that gets attention, piques curiosity and draws you to click through just to see what's on the other side.

News sites like CNN and USA Today are rich with click bait. So much so that someone has created a blog of some of the best examples. WTFCNN is funny on the surface and illustrative on a deeper level. This is what it takes to draw people into and through your site.

It's easy to scoff at click bait, the same way you laugh at Dancing With The Stars--after watching it all season. The purpose of your site is to draw visitors into a deeper relationship. Using click bait helps that happen if, for no other reason, to satisfy their curiosity. Understanding what makes visitors click and writing with that in mind magnetizes your copy, bringing your core messaging into alignment.

Have a laugh. Learn a lesson. Are you baiting visitors? Or, simply giving them choices.

I've been having challenges with FeedBurner, which distributes these stories to MogerMedia.com and to you via email, dropping links and graphics. So, just in case you didn't get the link, here's where to see that  bucket of click bait: http://wtfcnn.blogspot.com/

Plus, if you've missed any links in the past, visit www.admissionsblog.net and see the full entries.