Link Baiting: A Free SEO Guide
SEO Quotes are provided by up to 8 top companies in the UK. They include:
If you string many strong links together, eventually you’ll have pulled together a mighty chain. More specifically, if you implement or string along a number of strong techniques together, you’ll eventually end up with a strong and fierce plan. It’s a plan that’ll serve you well in the present, short and the long term. Link Baiting can be your plan to lap up the success you deserve. All it takes is to gear yourself up with some lucrative knowledge of the golden rules and, some spirit to keep you going. There are quite a number of types of link baiting techniques around; those that are known as controversial and, those which are informal or comprehensive. The common thread amongst these two kinds is that they both evoke emotions and more importantly, links. Links are what you want.
Link baiting- The Concept
The core idea is to create a piece of content which is centered on a set demand from a specific audience. So, it is important that you establish the following. Who do you want to relate to? Why would they care? What would make them likely to spread your idea? Some of the most common link baiting techniques are; to talk about a specific community, give people a way to feel important about themselves, someone they care about, or something they feel should be important.
Wikipedia defines link baiting as:
“Link bait is any content or feature within a website that somehow baits viewers to place links to it from other websites. Attempts to create link bait are frequently employed in the overall task of search engine optimization. Matt Cutts defines link bait as anything "... interesting enough to catch people's attention."
Link Baiting Techniques
The tactics that people use vary quite a bit in terms of what they see as ethical or acceptable behaviour. Some people use these techniques with the motivation of getting links where as others do not. Many of these techniques are activities that bloggers and webmasters use in their day to day work
1. Identify and connect
Human emotions are your motivation. Tap into the sense of empathy. Make sure that your idea is done in such a way that it especially appeals to one group and or especially offends another. Consider this; if other people are fighting over guessing your intentions you will get quality links. Make your link bait look comprehensive. Remember, perception is more important than reality.
2. Create belonging/community
It’s human nature to want to belong and to be a part of a community. Give your readers a place where they are part of a community and you will find that they’ll quite often link to it from their blogs. People quite often link to the comments section of posts, or comment threads that they themselves have participated in rather that the post itself. Many bloggers also participate in and link to discussion forums. Use this to your advantage.
3. Scoops
Most of us look a good scoop. If you’re related to being the first to break a story in your niche, use the opportunity. The amount of others that link to you giving you credit for being the source of their own news post can be quite massive.
4. Go the extra mile
To further your progress, cite research, further reading, and link out to related resources from within your content. You won’t realise it at first but it makes your story look well researched and associates your work with other trusted names or brands in your field. Consider cite-ing a few people that you want links from. Then dress up your link bait using quality design and or relevant images from sites like Istockphoto.
5. Free Tools
We all require tools, or would just like to have them to make life a little easier. Give other website owners a useful, fun or cool tool that they can use on their blog. Make sure it links back and points back to your own.
6. Quizzes
We’ve all completed a quiz, or at least attempted it. Quizzes, surveys and tests are widely popular on the web. So, why not make great use of it? Moreover, if you’re smart you’ll make provision for a botton – it can be quite viral.
7. Humor
Laughter is the best medicine but can do so much for your linkbaiting too. Some of the best and most effective linkbaiting techniques have a humorous edge to it. It can be a cartoon, a funny photo, a story or even a title that gets a laugh. People enjoy humor and are always ready to pass it on. This is your key to success.
More Link Baiting for SEO techniques >>
