Utilising Link Bait As Part Of Your Inbound Linking Strategy
By Wayne Barker
Bait the link hook with great content for improved SEO.
Essentially link bait is just a form of content that will gently nudge website owners, bloggers and social media acolytes to link to your site. Matt Cutts himself said link bait is “interesting enough to catch people’s attention” – whilst this is true link bait should be something that is interesting enough for people to want to link to it.
How do you go about creating link bait?
The first step is to put yourself in the position of your potential fish (or audience) and ask yourself what it is they want. Usually the best link bait (or at least the link bait that is successful) can fall into a few simple categories:
- The link bait solves a problem
- It is funny (without trying to hard)
- It is controversial
- It is easily digestible (often this is why lists are good link bait)
- It looks great (infographics are good for this – and they are also easy to digest)
- It is topically relevant
Have a think about the kind of content that you have linked to in the past – be it written content, video, infographics and the like – and try and create your link bait with this is mind.
A big issue with link bait can be that a lot of website owners think that what they sell or the service they offer does not lend itself to link bait – which is not true. The most important thing is…
Use creativity when creating link bait
Creativity is key to link bait – people a more likely to go to the trouble of linking to you if you have put the effort into your link bait. So if you think your business won’t lend itself to this tactic sit down with your team and brainstorm some ideas – you may find that the perfect idea pops up when you least expect it.
So link bait is only hampered by a negative attitude and a belief that your business or service isn’t relevant to this tactic. Have a look at this post from SEObook – yes I know it is old but it is a great example of when you start throwing ideas around something will come out of it. In addition to that the general ideas that are discussed still hold relevancy for creating link bait.
How will link bait benefit my site?
If you manage to come up with some great link bait and it takes off on the Internet you will ensure a couple of benefits for your site. Short term you will get the benefit of boost in traffic for your site (and if you site is engaging this traffic can turn into customers). Secondly you will receive the benefit of those fantastic, much needed one way links – which you know are crucial to your overall SEO campaign.
Promoting your link bait
As with most things in life you are going to have to put in a bit effort to make sure your link bait is seen by enough people to get the ball rolling. Promote you link bait through Social Networking and Social Bookmarking – making sure that you are reaching out to the correct audience. For more information on promoting your link bait check out this post on link bait promotion.
So for successful link bait just follow these four rules:
- Make it creative
- Make it link worthy (funny, controversial, catchy, informational, helpful)
- Have fun creating it
- Then promote it (without being spammy)
| Wayne Barker works for Hallam Communications, an Internet Marketing and SEO training and consultancy company based in Nottingham, England.. |
This article is an original post from The Web Optimist – SEO in The Desert.
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