In the search engine optimization (SEO) industry, linkbaiting is debated as being a technique to gain links or just a result of producing good content. Whatever your intentions are, linkbaiting can gain instant success in a link building campaign. Generally speaking, linkbait is some sort of content (article, picture, poll, etc.) with the main intention of gaining links from many different sources. With the advent of “Web 2.0” and the popularity and rise of social bookmarking sites, one good piece of linkbait can gain you more visitors and links than you could request in a year. It is a common technique for new sites that are looking to gain some attention to their young web site. So you can now see the debate. Putting out good quality content that just happens to garner many links and lots of popularity wasn’t necessarily meant to be linkbait, but many hope for this type of success.
Many people are able to break out to web stardom by trying linkbait while others continue to try but are unable to create content that makes them stand apart from the other millions of web pages. Many users create top 10 lists or tutorial style documents which many web users find interesting. After creating a good piece of linkbait, you can submit your article to the social networking site, Digg along with other social networking sites and news sites. If you already have a presence in the online community, you may not even have to do the ground work yourself. Those web authors that already have significant readership may find that some of their readers often submit their articles and help create links back to their site.
If your goal is to increase your web traffic and links through the linkbait technique, there are a few different options you can try. More and more people are using the web for their up to date news. The Internet is also a place where you can find industry specific news that you won’t find on major network television or radio shows. Writing content on your web site or blog about the most current news can help you get quick success. You will need a few people to link to your blog early in order to get your article publicized before it becomes old news.
Another approach you can take is to talk about something controversial and create a buzz about it. Your whole web site can be dedicated to this or even just a blog post. This one can be a little tricky because you will see many passionate people and you may need to step in and moderate at some point. You should never purposely abuse or slander an individual just to create a buzz and bring people to your web site. Doing so can even result in legal issues. There are plenty of debatable topics in the world that will cause a stir.
The most common and potentially the most lucrative way to get more visitors and links is to get your web site and article listed on the front page of Digg and the most popular social bookmarking site, del.icio.us. This will prove to be very difficult but a front page listing on these sites will guarantee you many links and lots of visitors. You will definitely need some very interesting, well written material to get on the front page of these social bookmarking sites.
Crazy web sites with even more bizarre domain names seem to do very well in the online community. If you have something people want to see or read like funny jokes or interesting videos, you will find lots of people willing to share your web site with other. Humor and video sites are some of the most linked to web sites on the Internet. Viral marketing and campaigns are great at getting people to fall in love with your site and getting them to want to be a part of it by sharing it with others. It may take more time than other methods but this can be one of the most productive methods of linkbaiting. Because users have the ultimate vote, bad content will always fail. So be creative and you can do well with linkbaiting.
