Linkbait: The 5 most important linkbaiting tips in online marketing

October 31st, 2006

Recipricol linking is dead. Directory submissions and link building, whilst still worth doing, are becoming harder and less cost effective in terms of time spent. The best SEO firms are now using ‘link bait’ techniques to create content that people want to link to - and sites like Digg.com and blogs worldwide are providing better traffic for some of these sites than Google or any other search engine.

Link Bait Lesson 1: Good link bait focuses on the Reader not the Author.

Why should people care about you? Make the focus of your link bait about them - Something cool they can do, some way they can impress their friends (even if it’s by sending them a funny picture they found, for example).

Link Bait Lesson 2: Controversy will incite passion. Passion drives links.

This seems dangerous - but to motivate people to spread your message you need to get them excited about your content. Make it stand out - different, edgy and controversial.. or at least exciting and new. Don’t get fooled into thinking that people will link to your website unless you give them something to get passionate about.

Link Bait Lesson 3: Make it easy for people to share your site.

People are lazy. Give them an easy way to share your content and the chances are that you’ll have a much better response. Email to friend and Social bookmarking links are easy enough to implement - if your page is featured on Digg, Reddit or other content exposing website then use their tools to make it easy for the effect to snowball.

Link Bait Lesson 4: Participate

Get to know the tools that are driving traffic to your site. Knowing how Digg works, for example, gives you a much better understanding of the type of content which is popular, and how to present your entry for best results.

Link Bait Lesson 5: Be real

The most important rule. The social web can spot a faker a hundred miles off, and won’t reward those who are trying to ‘game’ the system. You should be concentrating on producing quality, unique content that others will link to, which is relevant to the main content of your site.