What is linkbait?
It sounds nefarious doesn't it? Makes one think of "bait and switch" or that run-down old bait store by the lake—the one where they store the containers of nightcrawlers in the same cooler as the egg salad sandwiches. Blech.
In reality linkbait is simply online content designed to attract an audience who will link to your site. But isn't all content supposed to do that? In theory yes, but linkbait goes one step further. Instead of supplying the usual insight that your readers have come to depend upon, linkbait reaches out beyond your core audience, offering content that is topical, controversial or in some manner more exciting than the usual fare.
It means to create something that naturally attract backlinks for your web page by getting people to talk about it, discussing it on forums, blogging about it, posting it on del.icio.us/Furl/Digg/Shoutwire or linking to it from their sites.
Linkbaiting is a variety of creative social media marketing campaigns that utilize viral concepts to generate links and traffic. Simply stated, it all boils to one thing – your website content needs to be amazing and Build Online Buzz! You have to impress your readers or customers by offering them something special; be it a useful guide, a new web tool, a catchy joke, or a controversial view point, so long as it gets attention, links and traffic will follow.
Example of linkbait
Linkbait is more than supercharged content. It's content with an edge, this edge could be something like a Top 10 list on a popular topic, a controversial opinion such as a vilification of Firefox (who would do such a thing?!), or a contest offering a popular prize.
For example, Fetch Softworks has just announced their Take Fetch Back to School, Win a MacBook Contest (4 runners-up win new iPod Nanos). This contest should be great linkbait because it is geared to students, staff and faculty just beginning the academic year; offers great prizes; and is happening at a time when some of those prizes, the new iPods, are making a lot of news. As a user of their product I've already started pondering what to write, and as a blogger I've already linked to them. So I think it's working!
List of LinkBaiting ideas: (from Jim Westergren)
* Make a valuable resource (lists, special reports, history of, how to, etc.)
* Interview (e-mail/phone) prominent people and publish it.
* Build a useful tool
* Write an interesting article
* Run a newsworthy ‘event’ such as a contest
* Test something new that has not been done before
* Be the first in doing something on the internet
* Write something controversial
* Be the first to write the latest news in your niche
* Be the first to expose a scammer
* Disagree with an authority
* Write some funny humor
* Make an interesting picture
* Be the first to research and document something
* Make a theme, plugin or piece of software
* Make a tool that others can put on their sites but that links to you
* Make a joke about a known person
* Make a resource that is just in time for a major event
* Write an outrageous theory and back it up with logics
* Write useful comments on something that is happening
* Give something valuable for free
* Coin a new acronym in your niche and get people to talk about it
* Become an expert in your niche and write valuable information
When to use linkbait?
Like your birthday present, linkbait is for special occasions, meant to add to your content rather than replace it. The bait is only part of the overall mix. If you tried to use linkbait in every blog post you would soon end up with a site lacking in continuity. That wouldn't really serve your goals. But on occasion, if you come up with a clever idea that is related to your goals, adds value to your regular content, and attracts attention, then go for it. Strategic bits of linkbait can help you expand your readership, acquire more incoming links and raise your rankings while adding a bit of excitement for your regular readers.
I could proceed to bore you with more details, caveats, pros and cons, but plenty of others have already written on the topic. If you are considering adding linkbait to your marketing toolkit, the following resources should give you much of what you need to know.
Linkbait Resources
Spamming
Very aggressive marketing efforts by unethical SEOs, a.k.a “Black Hat SEOs” attempting to manipulate the search engine results is spamming. Use of doorway pages, cloaking, keyword stuffing, shadow redirects, misleading content and other deceptive actions are discovered sooner or later by the search engine formulas and penalized when they're found.
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