The Hedge: Why Do People Fall for This Junk?

You see them everywhere. Headlines that sound like the writer is guessing. Articles titled "This Could Change Your Business" or "Why You Might Want to Try This Strategy."

Here's what kills me: if the writer is not confident enough to say it will happen, why would you believe it can happen?

When someone writes "This could help your business," they're telling you they don't know if it actually works. When they write "This might be the solution," they're admitting they're not confident in their own advice.

Compare that to "This will help your business." Now they're taking a stand. They're saying they believe in what they're about to share.

Which one would you click on? "5 Things That Could Improve Your Website" or "5 Things That Will Improve Your Website"?

The second one sounds like the writer has actually tested these things. Like they know what they're talking about.

But we keep falling for the hedge words. We click on articles full of "might" and "could" and "possibly." We read content from people who sound uncertain about their own advice.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

We can all agree that journalism standards have hit the floor. Editors nowadays care more about likes and follows than writing factual content. They craft these wishy-washy headlines because they know uncertain people click on uncertain promises.

The dirty secret? Most of these hedge titled articles have nothing to do with your success. The goal is to separate you from your money with a false hope of getting rich quick or some fake shortcut to success. They're selling you dreams wrapped in "might work" because they know if they promised it would work, you'd come back angry when it doesn't. Ultimately, you end up feeling the guilt for it not working.

Every time a writer uses hedge words, they're undermining their own authority. They're telling you they're not sure. They're positioning themselves as someone who has guesses, not answers.

And yet we keep reading.

The hedge protects them, not you. They get your click, your email, your money. You get another "strategy that could potentially maybe help if the stars align."

The next time you see a headline with "could" or "might," ask yourself: would you bet money on advice from someone who sounds that uncertain?

Stop clicking on hedged headlines. Demand solid knowledge-based content from the people you follow. Your time is worth more than maybes.

Jono