Link Baiting
Link baiting does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s the art of creating something on your website which naturally attracts back links. This is done by people discussing it on forums, in articles, on blogs, social book marking sites such as delicious and of course the social networking sites such as Facebook.
Creating a successful piece of link bait takes time, determination and tenacity. You won’t succeed every time but if you keep plugging away you will start to see a pattern emerge as to what works and what doesn’t. As a rule of thumb things that create an online buzz will generally be the most successful pieces of link bait.
After some consideration I have summed up various ideas for link bait that work well:
- 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 (keep it legal)
- 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 humour
- Make an interesting picture
- Be the first to research and document something
- Make a theme, plug-in 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